Jessy Moss - Street Knuckles

Blonde and standing six-feet tall, British-born, Australian-raised Jessy Moss is the Amazonian rap-singing songwriter/producer last heard from on record guesting on Cypress Hill's ‘Stoned Raiders.’

Her debut CD, ‘Street Knuckles’ (“knuckles” being Australian slang for stories) (scheduled for U.S. release on 7/29/03) weaves together rock, hip-hop and R&B, intercutting hip-hop verses with sung choruses. Moss co-wrote the album’s songs with Rick Hahn, and co-produced the record with Hahn, Butch Vig, and Camara Kambon.

At a time when there are disappointing few satisfying major label pop releases from young female artists, Moss’s ‘Street Knuckles’ comes through. She’s tougher than Nelly Furtado, more musical than Avril Lavigne, younger than Madonna. The albums best songs –“Pick a Card” “Landbitch” “Owed a Living”—are textured, idiosyncratic, and relatively free of cliches. She’s a better-than-expected rapper, and her Australian accent gives her rhymes a flow that’s refreshingly unique.

“This record is kind of about retribution and forgiveness,” Moss says, adding with a laugh “sometimes more about retribution than forgiveness!”

“People are more resilient than they make out,” she says. “I feel a lot of songwriters do this ‘poor me, and yeah, this is therapy’ thing . . . I hope my tracks aren’t misconstrued as a big sulk about hardships – another person having a fucking whine – because when you’re being autobiographical, you run that risk. But I believe we can handle whatever people dish out. We can. Just deal and get on with it.”

No touchy-feely pop princess, she.

Matt Parks (June 18, 2003)