Juice Menace is trying to put Cardiff on the map, and her first release of 2020 ‘Bounterfeit’ is a great statement of intent

‘Bounterfeit’ is the latest release from Cardiff’s 19-year-old rising star Juice Menace. Having been in the game for not that long, Juice Menace has still managed to keep some buzz around her. For those that have been watching carefully, you would have seen she actually did a GUAP Sessions with us last year. Despite her having a relatively quiet 2019, with only 3 solo releases, Juice has set the tone right for 2020. Even with this seemingly small catalogue, she has managed to work with the likes of Flyo, Nastylgia, Elevated and more.

Juice Menace is not your typical female rapper either and that’s very clear on ‘Bounterfeit’. She raps just like we expect guys to rap – there’s gangster elements, the aggressiveness, and the cocky delivery we’d typically expect of a man. This is directly in contrast to what is popping for female rappers at the moment, with most finding a lot of success in flipping the female narrative whilst still playing on their seductive natures (e.g City Girls, Megan Thee Stallion, etc). It is nice to see a non-sexualised female rapper, there hasn’t been a new one in a while. Prominent mainstays like Little Simz and Lady Leshurr have been holding that front down but it’s nice to see a non-English rapper take up that mantle.

Beyond her trademark style on ‘Bounterfeit’ we see her traversing a beat that is borderline Grime borderline Drill. Jaime La Cree did a great job on the production for this, it perfectly compliments Juice without overpowering the track or outshining her.

If this is how Juice Menace is starting the year she can do great things in 2020. With some consistency in output and quality who knows she just might be the person to put Cardiff on the map.