Michael Hirtzer

Hip-hop is Princess Superstar's first love, but that didn't stop her from trying her hand in the grand tradition of ballroom serenades. See her gentle come-on, "Fuck Me On the Dancefloor," recorded with the late producer Disco D, "Do It Like a Robot" or her 2003 club jam "Wet! Wet! Wet!" Sample lyric: "Scorch Hibachi and I'm raunchy/ Wet like sake damn foxy/ Nasty girl watch me/ I'm getting on my knees/ You keep watching hockey."

Subtlety is not her strong suit.

"Men always talk about sex," Princess Superstar, born Concetta Kirschner, says. "But as soon as a woman talks about sex, it's a big deal. I wanted to turn that on its head."

That mission has kept Kirschner busy for more than ten years. Since releasing her debut album in 1996, Kirschner has steadily dropped verses that would make Peaches blush, so much so that Salon magazine proclaimed her "too raw to be a pop powerhouse."

Kirschner, talking on the phone from a taxi in New York City, giggles when asked about the article.

"I am a pop powerhouse, but not some little polished phenomenon," she says. In January, "Perfect Exceeder," a mash-up of tunes by Princess Superstar and the Dutch producer Mason, hit No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Then, in February, Kirschner released her latest mix CD, "American Gigolo III: The Best of International Deejay Gigolo Records."

She says she started going to electro parties a few years ago. Nodding off more than nodding her head at hip-hop parties, the electro scene was "much more playful and innovative."

Touring on the strength of her mix CD, she plays "an eclectic mix... hip-hop, electro, house, rock," she says. "I've never been one to pay attention to genre, so it's cool that that's in."

She may never be the female Marshall Mathers, "Feminem," as Salon called it. Kirschner may, in fact, be the female Kool Keith, the Cool Concetta, as it were (she collaborated with the former Ultramagnetic MC on "Keith N' Me" in 2003). "There's not a lot of female rappers," she says. "I'm really lucky, which is why I don't take my position lightly."

Princess Superstar performs with Junkie XL April 7 at Vision, 632 North Dearborn, (312)266-1944, at 10pm. $15 presale tickets and rsvp at visionnightclub.com

(2007-04-03)

Also by Michael Hirtzer

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