For nearly a year and a half, British rapper Lady Sovereign has been absent from the hip-hop scene. After an onstage meltdown at a New York show in 2007, the female rapper -- who was signed to Def Jam by Jay-Z -- seemed to be at the end of her rope, following a rigorous touring schedule.

Today, the female rapper is ready to make a comeback, as she gears up for her sophomore album Jigsaw, slated for April.

While in Los Angeles for the last of three stateside performances earlier this month, we were able to catch up with Lady Sov to discuss, in detail, exactly what she was going through following an almost overnight success story.

"I was mad depressed. There was times where I didn't wanna be here anymore," the female rapper told BallerStatus.com. "It got that deep. I felt really lonely as well. I just needed to see if taking the time off, if I wanted to do this anymore -- make music and stuff. I realized I did, and I always knew that. I just needed to clear my head a bit."

The S-O-V said her constant busy schedule, booked up touring calendar, and the overall pressures of grinding as a new artist got the best of her. In the end, it was hard for the now 23-year-old rapper to maintain relationships with both friends and family, which was one of the reasons for her long break.

"When I was on the road before, I really didn't have that much of a social life going on," she explained. "It was hard to maintain friendships with people since I was constantly away. To get back into a social circle again, it did me good. It made me feel less lonely. I know that people are there for me now."

So what did she do during her time off? What any young girl would do, spend time with those closest to her, being that when she signed to Def Jam in 2005 when she was just 19.

"Literally, I just took time off and just hung out," said Lady Sov. "You know, half working on my album, then just dusting around doing whatever, and then coming back to the album. [Hanging out with] friends and family, going back to normality I guess.

"I was tempted to just start playing soccer again, and seeing how that goes 'cause I pretty f***ing good," she continued. "I don't have the energy for that. Plus, I find it hard to get into anything but music. Because this works for me, and this is what I really like doing."

In 2007, her pent up frustration came full circle, when she acted out on-stage during a performance at New York's Studio B nightclub. During the performance, Lady Sov vented her personal problems to the audience, discussing topics such as her finances (she said she was nearly broke) and her displeasure for how "America changed her."

During our interview, she explained the incident. She says that during her stint as an opening act on the Gwen Stefani tour, she was committed to performing at several afterparties along the way. After performing the same material for so long, Lady Sov felt that the redundant shows would disappoint her fans. Thanks to depression, frustration, and exhaustion, she lashed out on stage.

"I was doing these afterparties for myself, for the bigger cities [during the Gwen Stefani tour]. I literally canceled nearly every afterparty just because I felt like I was gonna disappoint my fans," the rapper explained. "They were probably expecting some new stuff and I didn't have anything new. I was just doing the same thing. Call it a self-conscious thing, but I didn't feel comfortable doing shows anymore at that point.

"Everything I said on stage at that time, wasn't necessarily true. I wasn't gonna be homeless in a week or whatever. I was frustrated," Lady Sov continued. "... I say things out of spite sometimes. I wasn't gonna finish that show, so I figured ... I was pissed off anyway. I was sort of forced to do that show and I really didn't wanna do it. So, I just rebelled."

Since the widely reported breakdown, Sov took time to reflect on her career thus far, and eventually picked herself back up and started recording again. The end result is a brand new Lady Sov. She has a new look (no more side ponytail) and a forthcoming album titled Jigsaw.

So far, she's leaked two singles -- "I Got You Dancing," which she has also leaked a video for, and "So Human." Both tracks show a different rapper, who is experimenting with new sounds.

"With taking the whole time off and to just listen to music, I guess my style sort of just naturally evolved. The album is what it is," Lady Sov said. "I never purposely went in to have a theme or anything like that. I just make tracks. I'm so inconsistent, there is no theme to my album. Nothing sounds the same. It's never one genre. It's everything because I'm a bit compulsive like that. I don't like repeating myself, and I don't like duplicating tracks.

"I love making music, and I never know what I'm going to do. It's so unpredictable. It always changes. Every song is different. I even tried singing," the rapper revealed.

She says that on the album's title track, fans will get a taste of Lady Sovereign singing all the way through. And get this, no auto-tune, no nothing. It "just me," she exclaimed.

Lady Sov was able to experiment a little more this time around, because Jigsaw is not coming out on Def Jam. It will be released through her own Midget Records. "My label, my way ... I run my own sh** now," the excited Lady Sov shouting. "That should be interesting."

The young rapper will shoot another video in London, before the April 6th release of Jigsaw.