By Stephanie King

I don’t drive, but if I did, it would be purely so I could motor around with the windows down on the hottest, stickiest day of the year, the bass ramped up to its maximum, pumping out this powerhouse of a – yes, I’m going to use it – choon.

Opening with a pounding beat and rhythmic handclaps à la Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss, Dominique Young Unique announces her presence with a drawling Hello world, it’s ma world, y’know. This irresistible anthem for the super-talented and disgustingly young (she’s 18) Dominique sounds capable of conquering it.

She delivers her lines with machine-gun speed and tough enunciation as a James Brown-style guitar lick ripples through the beginning, a cheeky counterpoint to her playful bad-girl-on-helium vocals. In the first third of the song, the stomping hand claps give way to a crackly breakdown and a combination of both muffled and razor-sharp beats. Matched by her expertly controlled rapping, Show My Ass comes off as a confident, well-produced example of virtuoso MCing, but perhaps nothing special.

But instead of sticking with this tried, tested and quite tired formula, the song slides into a trippy break of ultra-feminine sighs, before launching into something altogether gutsier. Sticking with the same rap, the song undergoes a series of refreshing changes to its backing track, as the handclapping shifts to a bass-heavy club beat, like Snap’s The Power on amphetamines, overlaid with breathy girly vocals.

The song accelerates into hyper-drive as a 90s dance beat takes over with all the high energy euphoria of C & C Music Factory with a shot of Salt-N-Pepa’s hard sexiness. This build-up is pulled back to the grubbier bass-driven beats, pushing each syllable of Dominique’s rap to its limit. As a maniacal Buggles-esque new wave sample drives her chant of I’m doing this right, the song leaps into a frenzied celebration.

Throughout, Dominique fires out her relentless rap, each change in backing accentuating different stresses and phrasing in her confident, perfectly timed performance. Finishing with a single, dynamic vocal, her brassy, elongated vowels stretch out into the perfect urban battle cry.

Dominique Young Unique is an irrepressible MC with bags of personality and talent. Produced by Yo Majesty’s David Alexander, the track shares some of their street-smart vocals and quirky samples, but none of their harshness. A playful and irreverent rap of the highest order, Show My Ass is dynamic, creative and above all, very, very fun.