This morning, I hit the subway, Ipod tight on the tympanic, ready to put some new music on background duty while I finished the final pages of “Confessions of a Subprime Lender”. The album of choice? Mae Day’s Cherish the Day. It’s actually a mixtape, a collection of sliced and diced, classic Sade tracks, for Mae Day, a rapper out of Detroit, to make her own. It starts off slow, nearly two minutes without a lyric spoken, but by track three I literally stumbled mid-paragraph.. she’s killing it.

Every interview or profile I’ve seen wants to compare her to MC Lyte. MC Lyte and I Cram’d to Understand for a good hot summer, Mae Day sounds nothing like her. Some hedge and say she’s the best since MC Lyte. I’m not going there either. If comparisons must be made, I’d note a hint of Kanye, with a sprinkle of Jay-Z’s whisper flow. No surprise that an 80’s baby would be influenced by either of them. Best thing: Mae Day has the wordplay and lyrical content to follow those footprints.

For the moment she’s walking the independent path, but Cherish the Day sounds complete, like it should be on a major label. That blip is addressed on “Keep Looking.”

“This some bullshit though. We was out in Phoenix and niggas was like, just open, cornering me and everything, like damn. Made a whole crowd and shit. They was like.. they gon’ pass. Jay don’t sign females. Don’t even bring it to him. SMH. Shout out to Def Jam.”

That’s a classic industry mistake. I’d ‘single’ this in a minute.

Mae Day “Give it All (Dirty)”

Go ahead and grab the full tape @ MaeDayMaeDay.com