The possessive case

Princess Superstar has invented her own musical genre.

Princess Superstar once said she wanted to "own everything like I was an apostrophe". Does she?

"Totally," drawls the dance music royal also known as Concetta Kirschner. On Saturday she plays at Unity, three years since her gig at Deep, Hard N Funky, "a party that was like, totally mental".

Don't be fooled by the vacuous accent. Since she romped on to the underground hip-hop scene in the 90s, Superstar has put out five critically acclaimed albums, remixed half of New York's indie set and even made up a musical genre. "Flip-flop" is a complicated mash-up of styles. Her hands work two turntables, splicing together classic tunes with a dirty, electro-clash bent.

It's inspired by the hodge-podge music scene of New York. Early on she was labelled the "female Eminem" but she's more like a musical Jenny McCarthy, a talent prepared to exploit her sexuality with humour. Her rhymes are likely to make you blush, laugh or get her into the pages of Playboy and Esquire.

"It's a joke but it's not a joke, y'know," she says. "I don't take myself seriously but I take my music very seriously." So much so, she won't hand over the reins. She's the brains behind her own label, the Corrupt Conglomerate. Last year she was accepted into Mensa, although she admits her dad sent in her IQ score from a test she sat at age seven.

"I like to think I have some substance behind what I'm doing and some political views and a sense of irony. You can't just be a, like, drugged-out, lost artist. It just doesn't work anymore."

She keeps track of her sales, manages her website, princesssuperstar.com and controls her brand. She says she's turned down major labels for years because their offers would make her look "cheesy".

They probably would have balked at her last release anyway. My Machine was a concept album where Superstar took us on a synth-rock adventure to a future devoid of soul and individuality.

The other stuff she's working on is just as left-field: remixes for CSS, Data Rock and the Glimmers, and her next album of "party jams".

Most weekends she DJs in Europe or America's cooler cities: San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago. "The dance music scene is humungous, not so much in New York but everywhere else in the world. I'm playing to thousands all the time."

Lowdown

Who: Princess Superstar (real name Concetta Kirschner)

What: New York hip-hop royal

Releases: Strictly Platinum (1996), CEO (1997), Princess Superstar Is (2002), DJs are not Rockstars (2004), My Machine (2005), Now is the Winter of our Discotheque (2005)

More info: www.princesssuperstar.com

When & where: Unity, St James, Saturday (dance party also features Concord Dawn, Nick Dwyer, Soane, Daniel Farley & Jonathan Marshall, Mikey Havoc, Mark Emerson, Scottie Lewis, Karn Hall, Anthony and more).