Uffie is the newest French pop-electro sensation, a phenomenon that started with Ed Banger’s Feadz and his girl, picked-up a snowballing pace from myspace and it’s legions of bloggers, and is now one of the hottest acts around. Cute and sexy 18 year old Anna-Catherine Hartley is the face and voice of Uffie, she writes fresh and dirty lyrics and delivers them hip-hop style in a fake London accent that perfectly combines sweetness with I-don’t-take-any-shit toughness.
 
Miami born Hartley grew up in Hong Kong, but picked up enough Miami bass and southern crunk from her visits to the US to be a huge influence on her current productions. It was after she moved to France, where she was initially involved in the Fashion world, that she met Feadz and the Ed Banger crew. She originally booked Feadz for a party, they hit it off with a shared love of all things crunking, started dating, and it wasn't long before he asked her to do some vocals for his tracks. Though Hartley was initially more than a little averse to singing, after encouragement from Feadz and she now sings/raps sleazy come-hither lines with unabashed confidence. Her lyrics are spontaneous and fresh, drawn from what she's 'thinking about'.
 
Her first track was the blogosphere sensation Pop the Glock, a lyrical rap song reminiscent of the stripped down style of old school Audio Two’s classic Top Billin’. It was a limited release 7” on Paris label Arcade Mode before being issued as a full 12” on Ed Banger, and has since gotten well over a million plays on myspace. The flip side of the 12” has the notorious Ready to Uff, written by Feadz and produced by Mr. Oizo, which created a few ripples of controversy (barely noticeable in the tidal wave of adoration) for it’s overtly sexy lyrics.
 
But Hartley isn't pandering to male fantasies, or messing with their expectations when she says she's 'ready to fuck', she wants to, as she said in an interview with the DVD magazine Slices, tell the world that girls wanna go out and get laid on Saturday night too, just like guys. Grrrl power.
 
Uffie live is, like the records, a culmination of the synergy between Hartley and Feadz, with Oizo’s production influence present in the distinctly Ed-Banger style. Hartley takes to the stage with (almost) as much sass as her lyrics suggest, in baby doll dresses and high tops, to whip up the crowd for 20 minutes, with Feadz behind her all the way.
 
> www.myspace.com/uffie
 
Appearances:
> CTM.07 > À BOUT DE SOUFFLE