BY JAY DENSON

There aren’t too many female MC’s who touch the mic and have a commanding presence such as Rah Digga. Her introduction to the world “Digga Digga, first name Rashia” was one of the first verses I remembered during her stint with Flipmode Squad. Besides her commanding voice that captures your attention when you listen to her, its what she embodies that makes her so special. Jersey born Rashia Fisher grew up in an era of hip-hop where skills were at the forefront. With early influences such as KRS-One, Rakim, and Kool G Rap, she was able to channel that and develop her own style. Her skills was respected and acknowledged as she was featured in the 2009 publication How to Rap being cited as “one of hip-hop’s most skilled MC’s” in the book.

She’s also shown skills in front of the camera appearing in 2001’s Thirteen Ghosts, and the MTV flick Carmen: A Hip-Hopera alongside Beyonce and Joy Bryant. But her film career has taken a backseat as her heart belongs to hip-hop. After a ten-year absence, she’s returned with a follow up of to her 2000 Dirty Harriet album titled Classic. Digga teamed up with producer Nottz for her second album that was released in September of 2010. Her first single, “This Ain’t No Lil’ Kid Rap” is a separation from those that follow a formula while invoking her own individuality. Her second single “Classic” is a hard knocking hip-hop throwback that illustrates the foundation of true emceeing. With a battle rap application for smart phones, and rhymes harder than the rock of Gibraltar, Rah Digga has proven herself to be one tough cookie in the game of hip-hop.

It’s been 10 years since your last Dirty Harriet release, so where have you been?

Since Flipmode I’ve relocated to California and stood behind the scenes a little bit in the acting world. I took some acting courses, but acting wasn’t really my passion. It was an opportunity granted to me with the Thirteen Ghosts and Carmen. I was in California studying acting and I kind of felt a little out of my element. I wanted to come back East to be closer to the music world. What I did when I came to the East is attended the New York Film Academy. I got my certification for film editing and directing. At some point what I’ve been working on ended up becoming a full-length album. It was coming up on the Dirty Harriet anniversary and I wanted to do like a commemorative EP. A label was being formed at the time, called “Lost Concept” and the A&R got in my ear and kind of convinced me that I’ve been stored away and I’ve been missed. That’s what I’ve been doing and lo and behold produced Classic.

What’s the evolution between Dirty Harriet and Classic?

Lyrically I’ve gotten better. The only negative that I saw as far as the reviews are, people felt I didn’t get introspective enough with Classic. I didn’t give too many people concepts or insight as to who I am as a person. But I felt like “lyrically” I did what I was suppose to do. Being a “not new” artist, coming back ten years later, I don’t really see too many artists taking a ten year hiatus, coming back and still having that same lyrical tenacity. I think I showed and prove, beyond the call of duty in that aspect. One of the things I really wanted to do with this album “calling it Classic” was, I wanted to embody the whole classic element of hip-hop. The days of Gang Starr, one producer album, cutting, samples, beats and bars. That was the premise of the album and that’s what I set out to do. The biggest difference between this album and the last album is I had complete control of the album. I had complete control of Dirty Harriet but at some point Busta did step in and say ‘we need this’ or ‘we need this person on the hook’ or ‘this sound’ per say. But with this album it was ‘we need you to make the hardest records you could make’ which I don’t think any label is telling their artists so that was fun.

Tell us about the Battle Rap application?

It’s called Straight Spittin, and it allows subscribers to literally battle each other over the phone. Once you download the application you get to go in and download different break beats. It’s really one of those “Hip-Hop 101” applications. It allows the artist to go in, select default beats or you can purchase and download beats from more notable artists. There’s an online community within the application and you guys can schedule battles amongst each other. It’s worldwide and it was available for Android first. It’s ultimately going to be available for all smart phones but as of now, it’s available for Android. The only problem is it’s not available for Verizon and Sprint carriers. It will be available for the iPhone in April. It’s a really cool app, its pretty much Grind Time over the phone.

Why are female MC’s in the game so competitive?

I think the females are probably feeling like that because it’s just the way the media and society deals with us in general. Once upon a time females of all shapes, sizes, and colors could have genuine skills and rock the mic. Now it’s about looks, affiliation, and women are a caddy species by nature. Its one of those things where the media and the public are feeding those devices. It makes for a volatile community. It’s just so much pressure on females to have an image in entertainment anyway, the fact that there are only a handful of us rhyming seriously it just makes for a nasty environment. It’s not everybody; it’s only a certain select few. I think the same thing is going on with men; there are just a million more men in ratio to females.

What are your thoughts on the Nicki Minaj/Lil Kim beef?

I think things probably transpired between those two that the public isn’t aware of. I’ve listened to both sides speak about it and I kind of sympathize with both sides. I’ve heard Kim mention that she seen some eyebrow raising interviews and I’ve probably saw those same interviews. But at the same time I’ve seen her big Kim up. It seems like a personal history going on with them because Kim touched on things about them working together at one point. Whatever happened, it fell by the waist side. There’s probably some pre-existing history going on that the public really doesn’t know about and it comes off as Kim attacking Nicki, I don’t really know. If I was Kim I’d probably feel urked every time I turn around someone’s saying “oh this one took your style” or “oh she’s the new this”. So I think the media is more to blame than anything for how far it’s escalated. It probably would’ve remained some subliminal shots for music, but I think once the media started chiming in, it turned it into a bigger production outside of anybody even making music.

Will there be a Flipmode reunion?

We all speak on occasion but a Flipmode reunion is probably unlikely. It’s not a beef situation, it’s one of those things where you worked together so long and things really didn’t turn out the way all of us had planned and it was just time for us to move on. I wouldn’t say we wouldn’t do another song or two in the future, but I don’t see us coming together again under the Busta Rhymes umbrella.

For more on Rah Digga, check her out on Raw Koncept. Her album Classic  is available now on iTunes and Amazon.