New Jersey female emcee Rah Digga is back after a decade long absence from the hip-hop world with a killer new album, appropriately titled Classic (Raw Koncept Media Group/Traffic). Early on in her rap career (mid 1990s) the artist born Rashia Fisher was part of the NJ based crew called The Outsiders. Even earlier (during the Das EFX era), she was known as Rah Diggity before settling on the rap name Rah Digga. Up until now, she had not been heard from since her acclaimed debut album, Dirty Harriet, dropped in 2000. 

Formerly the First Lady of the Flipmode Squad, and known by many for her collaborations with that collective's main man, Busta Rhymes (she first appeared on his second solo record, 1997's When Disaster Strikes), Rah Digga's career actually dates back some years before that connection.

For her long delayed sophomore album, which was released in mid September, she enlisted the production skills of Nottz, who had produced five tracks on Dirty Harriet. On Classic he handles all the production duties and in so doing brings out the very best in the Brick City (Newark , NJ) emcee on tracks such as the lead single "This Ain't No Lil Kid Rap." The video for this song is below and you can also listen to a remix version of the song featuring Redman right here.

I recently caught up with Rah Digga to ask her about her career, including why the long gap between her two albums and why she is making a comeback at this time. "Well, for me, I never really stopped recording but I was recording more at my leisure. And as the dawn of the ten year anniversary of Dirty Harriet started approaching I just started reaching out to different producers that I had worked with on the first album," she said. She ended up working with Nottz, with whom she says she has "a great chemistry" and notes, "Our chemistry is so crazy that once we got in the studio I basically just stayed there. And so the whole album was recorded in just two weeks."

Major props are in order for the Bay Area founded, all female hip-hop collective the Sisterz of the Underground (SOTU), who are celebrating their seven year anniversary with a big show this weekend in San Francisco. As with many other fine organizations before them, SOTU, which features b-girls, emcees, spoken-word artists, DJ's, graffiti/street artists, and others, began almost by accident. 

But since its inception in 2001 it has grown by leaps and bounds. Besides the numerous showcases, spotlighting women artists, SOTU also branched out and created a wonderful sister organization called DEF ED which holds workshops and classes for youth throughout the greater Bay Area. 

As outlined on their website SOTU is "an open collective for women to: feel comfortable and not intimidated, to share or learn hip hop skills, be open to be who we are while being respected in how we choose to express that, choose to represent hip hop, & feel hip hop no matter what level of skill." 

Perhaps what is most commendable about this organization is that through their passion and positivity for hip-hop, coupled with their genuine concern for their fellow sisters, Sisterz of the Underground and its offshoot group DEF ED, have transcended hip-hop itself to create a family structure and provide a much needed support group for young women (especially in this current sexist era of popular hip-hop where women are constantly objectified and degraded) in which they can learn invaluable life lessons.  What they do is bigger than hip-hop.

To celebrate their seven successful years of putting on shows, workshops, and other events the Sisterz of the Underground are putting on a highly recommended show Friday night (March 21st) at Club Six in San Francisco with a talent packed bill, hosted by Melina Jones, that will include DJs Celski & Deandroid, DJ Zita, DJ That Girl, Medusa, Shredone, Butterscoth, Lady Fingaz, and the Extra Credit Cru. Showtime 9:30PM. More show info.