Following the success of her 2004 single 1980, Estelle seemed to disappear into the abyss that consumes so much UK talent, little did we know she was shrewdly planning her return. With the support of some industry veteran’s and a solid gold stylist, this presumed one-hit-wonder has fast established herself as the first lady of UK Hip-Hop.

It could have gone either way. Four years out of the limelight, would anyone remember Estelle? Had she stayed away too long? Or just long enough for the reverberations of her infuriatingly catchy nine’een eigh’y to dissipate? Whatever astute suit was behind it, they gauged it well or perhaps just struck lucky?

Half a decade ago you couldn’t swing a cat without it tangling its paws in the needlessly excessive bling of a UK Hip-Hop artist. Decades after Hip-Hop had seen its better days in the US, the British mainstream caught on and, tragically, it might be said, attempted its own, curdled version. Remember, uh-hum, So Solid Crew or, errrr, what were the called? Blazin’ Squad!! I’m sorry , I know we’ve all tried hard to forget, it took me some brain pickin’ and a google search to come up with those well buried memories.

Well our girl Estelle came along at the tail end of these ‘blips’, and while she did well of the back off her first album, The 18th Day, even nominated for the odd award, the UK was ready for a change, the revival of Britpop…the influx of indie…some good old fashioned Rock n Roll.

On the verge of their record deal were the Arctic Monkeys and across the pond Aha Shake Heartbreak was standing the Fallowill family in good stead for world domination. In 2005 Oasis struck back with Don’t Believe the Truth. The kids drank their sickly last gulp of Kelis’ Milkshake while the old-timers dug out their converse. We all wore trilbies and got very merry indeed off our glasses of white wine, meanwhile Estelle fell off the radar.

Half a decade on and we seem to have got over the worst of it, the formulaic indie bands that the record labels are starting to churn out has left many cold, timing’s ripe for a healthy mix of the two genres and Estelle appears to have brought a bit of class to the genre class forgot.

Estelle followed the roots of her music and headed state side, where Hip Hop still, of course has a huge market. Moving to New York was for Estelle, the best possible move. After ditching Richard Branson’s record label V2 because, according to her, they couldn’t deal with the success she was having in the UK, and caused her to sink, Estelle made a deal with John Legend’s label and the pair have been firm friends since.

Her comeback single in March 2008, American Boy saw Estelle cosy up with Mr Hip-Hop himself, Kanye West, with names such as John Legend and Will.i.am on the songwriting credits. It was catchy, but more than that, it was a hit! Almost a year on that song still gets airtime, even though Estelle has gone on to release other material, including Wait a Minute (just a touch). Her album, Shine, has received outstanding reviews and Estelle, now 29 has a list of awards and nominations as long as those luscious legs she’s now so keen on flaunting.

Estelle is a far cry from the MC-ing tomboy we first saw in 2004, sleek and styled with a sweetness to her singing voice. Her new material has been likened to Ms Lauryn Hill herself, the similarities are indeed, undeniable, Estelle has of course had help from John Legend as did Ms Hill and much of her material pays homage to the Fugee, come solo superstar. But, in fairness to Estelle, it appears to run deeper than that. Both artists have enough Hip Hop running through their veins to compete with the boys but with the glorious addition of superb singing voices and a songwriting ability to rival most. Estelle is perhaps not quite the social commentator Ms Hill is, Shine addresses love and relationships which Estelle admits she’s had little success in but with far less depth than Lauryn’s MTV Unplugged album. However, if you’ve heard that album, you’ll understand why Estelle may have steered clear of delving too deeply, it would hardly fill the floor like American Boy!

At the moment Estelle still has something to prove, and she’s well and truly on her way, her cover of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition for War Child’s Heroes album goes someway towards proving that, in which case we expect an outstanding follow up to Shine, which is for all intents and purposes, Estelle’s second chance at a debut. Hopefully, she’ll be sticking around for a while, America might have made a success of her, but then they have had long enough to learn how to produce a stand out Hip-Hop artist. We’re still learning, but Estelle has set the precedent and we look forward to a world where Hip-Hop and Rock n Roll live in harmony under one big British umbrella.