The Singles Jukebox

Somehow, probably still best known for working with Groove Armada. Oh, and “Dollar Sign”. Which is tremendous, btw…

[Video][Myspace]
[7.50]

Melissa Bradshaw: One of the most unmistakable, celebrated voices on the UK urban scene since garage over the toughest funky riddim: Banton plus Stush is the symbolic funky-bashment fusion from heaven. Absolutely one of the biggest hits on London floors this year.
[10]

Chuck Eddy: In the “Sirens Remix,” $tush is as much a siren as the actual sirens when she wants to be — i.e., her ear-piercingly squeaky “Fuck! you and Fuck! your playlist” part. And otherwise, she’s the police car itself, speeding to run you down.
[8]

Anthony Easton: I am impressed by how quickly she works, and the Minnie Mouse squeaks.
[6]

Alex Macpherson: Hard House Banton’s loose-limbed “Sirens” was one of those club tracks that seemed both so rhythmically fucked-up and such a satisfyingly complete entity that you could never imagine anyone even attempting to vocal it, let alone improving on it by doing so. After hearing “We Nuh Run”, you can’t imagine how “Sirens” ever existed before Stush got her hands on it. Her patois-driven, pissed-off, nineteen-to-the-dozen chat transforms a house instrumental into a batty-shaking, waist-wining soca anthem; she rides the twists and turns of the galloping beat with ease, tongue-lashing everything from the racism of the British media to girls giving her screwface in club toilets. “We Nuh Run” has the best intro of any song in 2009 – sirens and chants building the tension before Stush finally snaps with an attention-seizing opening line, “They don’t wanna have a pretty dark-skin gyal pon di TV,” at the precise moment that the bass drops. Incredibly, the song only gets better from there. Every few lines, there’s another example of why Stush is one of the best, most distinctive MCs around: her mocking mimicry of vacuous, insecure girls in the third verse’s comedy of manners, her outraged squeak of “DJs all refuse to play this – fuck you, and fuck your playlist!” She may sound like a fluffy animal, but this chipmunk has teeth that can fuck you up.
[10]

Edward Okulicz: Few have ever squealed with such gleeful, spontaneous enthusiasm or righteous command, though to be a bit of a downer, any particular part of this song is indistinguishable from another making it seem like it’s about nine minutes long. I have to admit, it wasn’t until I looked at the lyrics that I understood; they took me back to the time when I was five and hearing a swear word was like the worst thing ever, and Stush sounding like she actually is five most of the time completes the illusion.
[5]

Martin Skidmore: Modern dancehall, or something like that, with plenty of energy, but the prominent bassline sounds rather tentative, and I kept wanting the track to really explode. I really like Stush’s dancehally vocals, except when she breaks into squeals, but this never quite takes off as I was expecting.
[6]

Rodney J. Greene: A nails-tough voicing of Hard House Banton’s hectic UK funky anthem “Sirens,” Stush’s forceful chatter peppered with spontaneous squeals. Her mantra passes comment upon the riddim, as defiant of the implied boys in blue as any of her named nemeses.
[8]

Ian Mathers: While “We Nuh Run” is basically yet another version of the classic “I awesome and I will lay waste to all who oppose me” track, that stridency and momentum as well as the personality of Stush’s performance (“DJs who refuse to play this / FUCK you and FUCK your playlists!” is genuinely charming in context) raises it to the top of its class.
[7]