As the female member of hip-hop's
Flipmode Squad (which also counts
Busta Rhymes,
Rampage, and
Lord Have Mercy among its ranks),
Rah Digga is one of rap's most prominent women MCs. Though her rapping is hard-hitting,
Digga's background is surprisingly stable. Born in New Jersey, she attended a private school in Maryland and studied electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She started rapping with Twice the Flavor and was the only woman in Jersey's
Da Outsidaz clique. When
A Tribe Called Quest's
Q-Tip discovered her at a performance at New York's Lyricist Lounge, he introduced her to
Busta Rhymes, who invited her to join the
Flipmode Squad. As a part of that hip-hop clique, she appeared on
Rhymes' 1997 album
When Disaster Strikes and the
Flipmode Squad's
The Imperial Album from 1998. She also appeared on
the Fugees' "Cowboys" and dueted with
Bahamadia on "Be Ok" from
Lyricist Lounge, Vol. 1. Her full-length solo debut,
Dirty Harriet, arrived in 2000 and featured cameos from
Rhymes and the
Ruff Ryders'
Eve. ~ Heather Phares