Can I keep this pen? — the MCs in Northern State broaden their musical horizons and make their most accessible album to date

After seven years together, Northern State are finally where they need to be. Originally, the three ladies who comprise the band were amused at the idea of an all-white, all-female hip hop group, but with three full-lengths under their belt, Hesta Pyrnn, Spero and Sprout have proven they are much more than a novelty act.

“We felt there was a huge hole in hip hop,” says Sprout. “A place that we could potentially lay some groundwork and be these white, female rappers — MCs — who have something to say and are somewhat political and somewhat feminist.

“We always saw it as a way to speak out on our existence of being feminists and being women. Saying we’re here and our role in hip hop is to be on the mic and be MCs and not necessarily be the dancer in the back of the video is feminist in and of itself.”

With an element of social relevance and an old-school sound reminiscent of classic Beastie Boys, Northern State hit the trenches of the five boroughs, built a loyal fan base and recorded their 2003 debut full-length, Dying in Stereo. That calling-card album, loaded with sneering flows, humorous rhymes and a trio of unique voices, led to a major label record deal with Sony Records subsidiary Columbia for their sophomore effort All City. As it turns out, the move to the big time was both a blessing and a curse.

“For the first time in our careers, we were doing things professionally as a career. Working in real studios with producers and getting to make decisions,” she says. “But at the same time, Columbia was very hands-off with our project.” That translated to an album released with little fanfare and with a marketing plan that left the band unimpressed.

“It’s not a shock,” says Sprout. “You hear about major labels and how you don’t have any control, but you always hope, of course, that it’s not going to happen to you. You’re going to be able to use the system to your advantage and get something out of it.

“It was incredibly frustrating to have spent the year working on that record, and we had all this momentum before, and we hand them this record, they’re like ‘great. It’s great.’ And then they don’t do anything about it.”

Despite lackadaisical label support, All City found its fans and topped the year-end Top 50 countdown in Rolling Stone. Not surprisingly, though, Northern State decided to make a break from the label. That proved to be the biggest influence on their latest release, Can I Keep this Pen?

When the girls sing, “I don’t give a fuck we ain’t on Sony anymore” on the album’s leadoff track, “Mic Tester,” it’s clear that there is no love lost. Even with that cheeky attitude clearly on display, Pen isn’t an album of angst. With the help of producer Chuck Brody of Shitake Monkey fame, Northern State has evolved from childish Beastie Boys flows to hook-filled Luscious Jackson-style anthems. There’s a certain irony in the fact that after retreating from the major labels, Can I Keep this Pen? is the group’s most accessible album to date.

“It’s hilarious, because when we started recording it, we were like, you know what, this situation is so effed up. We’re so over it,” says Sprout. “We’re done working for the corporate machine, and we’re just going to go into the studio and make the weirdest record we can make, and we’re going to have fun. We’re going to record music that we want to record and that our fans are going to love. We’re not going to think about what the label wants, or writing a single or anything like that. Then we went into the studio and wrote the poppiest, most commercially appealing sounding record we’ve ever written.”

At its most basic, the album is beats, rhymes and shout-outs, but there are also groove-heavy party tracks like “Mother May I,” twangy slow jams like “Little Dingle” and the guitar-driven pop of “Better Already.”

“We feel good about that aspect, that it came about organically,” says Sprout. “As other musicians would say, it starts out as one thing and then every time you get into a creative space and get the opportunity to write and record music, you always want to push yourself further and explore different avenues.

“We gave ourselves permission on this record to experiment more than we ever did before, because we weren’t trying to do anything in particular. We were just trying to make a record.”

So just like that, after seven years, Northern State are exactly where they need to be.