KB the Boo Bonic

Scars Are Sexy

Kara Bowers’ debut LP, Scars Are Sexy, finds balance in changing up the MC game. The Houston-bred local steps into her DJ Rapid Ric-mixed full-length with tough songs, showing off her muscle first on “Click Clack” and “My M.O.” While both might initially come off like typical one-up raps, when she spits, “Why I care about a hater, I’m too busy being fly,” it’s an assertion of self, not material things. Her slang is Southern, and when she really gets going, her flow develops a distinctive hiccup, as on ladies’ night anthem “2 Playa.” On “Touch Bass” she channels Jean Grae when she assures you she’s a “lady laced with guts and grace.” The title track is the clincher here, Bowers both singing and rapping until she finds her center: “If you wanna battle, go ahead and rap me/If you wanna hurt me, go ahead and test me/If you play dirty, it’ll get messy/But scars are sexy.” A local game-changer.

***.5

This article appears in August 20 • 2010.

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