I came into CMJ Day One with one female emcee on my watch list, the inimitable Nicki Minaj. I left with three. The first of the feminine flows came in the form Dominique Young Unique, a sassy nineteen year old out of Tampa Bay. Clad in a tube top that kept falling off and leather pants that must have been spray painted on, Ms. Unique managed to steal attention away from her striking looks with an even more striking flow. Her rhymes were rad and her energy inescapable, and within seconds the crowd was hooked.
Aided by a DJ and a frenetic keyboardist who looked like an ambiguous Scandinavian villain, Dominique demanded the attention of the audience, many of whom were merely in the venue for later acts. Her beats got funky and her lyrics stayed fiery, and by the end I was completely sold. Don’t miss seeing this stick of dynamite live.
