8 Welcome to RAGGED Thanks for checking out the interactive version of RAGGED, presented by Filter with support from American Rag. We’ve prepared a few pointers to make your visit easy and enjoyable. Nothing too complicated, we promise. RAGGED is best viewed in full-screen mode, so if you can still see the top of the window, please click on the Window menu and select Full Screen View (or press Ctrl+L). There you go—that’s much better isn’t it? Right. If you know the drill, go ahead and left-click to go forward a page; if you forget, you can always right-click to go back one. And if all else fails, intrepid traveler, press the Esc key to exit fullscreen and return to a life more humble. Keep an eye on your cursor. While reading RAGGED online, you will notice that there are links on every page that allow you to discover more about the artists we write about. Scroll around each page to find the hotlinks, click ’em, and find yourself at the websites of the artists we cover and our generous sponsors. Want more? You can hear audio from our artists, enter contests and find links to more great content at raggedmag.com. Questions or comments? Email info@raggedmag.com.
COBRA STARSHIP’S Gabe Saporta
Passion Pit kid sister kate nash AND MORE
Kid Sister
Just One of the Girls By Lynn Lieu PhOtOs By Chris strOnG
Even before the release of her debut album, Ultraviolet, Melisa Young, better known as Kid Sister, had already achieved Internet fame. Rising from the suburbs of Chicago, Young went from performing at house parties to rapping with Kanye West on her 2008 single “Pro Nails” to blowing up the blogosphere. With Ultraviolet, Young finds a niche in the world of Chicago house music. Her tunes feature floor-to-floor bass lines and synths harking back to the sounds of the ’80s, all the while harkening to her contemporary female audiences through creative lyricism far from the old bump-and-grind so many hip-hop artists tend to dwell on. “I rap about things that girls normally go through because, really, what else is there to talk about?” Young declares as she steps over yoga mats (and her dog) in her Chicago pad. Known for sporting matching acrylic finger and toenails while hitting up clearance sales and donut shops, Kid Sister is part of the new breed of hip-hop fashion icons. “I take risks with fashion and not everybody does that; some people play it real safe,” she says. Here, Young speaks about what it’s like to be a normal girl—clothes, diets, and of course, dissing men’s shoes. 12 ragged // raggedmag.com
kid sister photographed
in chicago, illinois. raggedmag.com // ragged 13 all clothes by american rag.