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10/17/2005 How have you been? I've just been recording. I'm about to drop some shit in February on Koch. How's that coming? It's coming along fine. The album is actually done. What can we expect on the album? You can expect the same lyrical aggression as the first album, but I've broadened my horizons a little bit. I've got more concepts and stuff. More personal, in-touch stuff as opposed to me just rocking on other MC's. How have things changed for you since you dropped "Dirty Harriet?" I think I've just gotten older, and I've gotten to see more of life. I have more things to talk about. The first album was just Rah Digga as a rapper on the come-up trying to prove to other MC's that I'm fresh. Since then, I've traveled and met different people, seen different things, so there's a lot more to talk about. What makes you want to come out on Koch? I'm digging the Koch movement for a couple of reasons. For one, you're getting a lot more per album. And it's a little more hands-on work as opposed to being on a major and just sitting back. It's more work with an independent, but it's worth it because you get it back. You're not slaving yourself to make Time-Warner rich. With Busta on Aftermath, was that ever an option for you? Not really. We just came to the conclusion that me waiting for Busta has been a little stagnating all this time. All of us, Flipmode in general, being on the same label has been a hindrance for the members so we just agreed that this time we were going to do our own deals in different places. So what's up with Flipmode right now? Right now, everyone's working dolo and trying to find the right deal. Koch gave me a nice little deal that I couldn't refuse. It's a one-off deal that can set me up for a major, if I even decide that I want to go back to a major. Are you and Young Zee still doing your album together? Yeah, that's actually what this album was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a duet. But just in terms of Rah Digga fans, they've been waiting for the Rah Digga solo album. They thought the Young Zee duet was dope, but it would have been better if I had been consistently putting out albums. They're saying "we've waited five years for your next album and we're getting a duet with you and your man!" I think I have more Hip Hop purist fans rooting for that project than the overall consensus. What's Zee been up to lately? Just recording. Recording every day. The Outsidaz was a classic group, is there ever any chance of a reunion? I don't think so. I doubt it. Everyone's pretty much gone their separate ways. There's a lot of bad blood between the Outsidaz. I don't see the posse realistically reuniting. Everybody's still cool as far as kicking it at the barbecue. We're cool, but I think that working together again probably won't happen. Do you have any regrets from that situation? The only thing I regret about the Outsidaz is that we didn't really get to blow blow to the level I would have liked to seen them get to, like a Wu-Tang Clan or a Dip Set. But it's hard when you have a whole bunch of different people and everyone wants to be the freshest and everyone wants to be the head man. It's hard for one person to take charge and have everyone else listen. That's the main reason why I don't think we could get back together and work again. But I wish that the underground realm could just know how fresh we were. We were eating up punchlines before it was even the thing to do. I would have liked for the album to have gone a little further. I wish the label would have taken better care of itself. People could have recognized that Jersey has some real dope-ass MC's! What can you tell people about Slang Ton? Slang, I think, was the freshest rapper ever. He's the only one of the Outsidaz actually won a Blaze Battle. I've never been in one myself. Zee's gone to the final round. A couple of other members entered one, but he's the only one that actually won it. He was real smart and real ahead of his time. Him getting killed was a tragedy. The Outsidaz might have done a lot better if he was around because he definitely brought notoriety to the crew. Do you think other parts don't take Jersey seriously? I wouldn't say they don't take us seriously. But there's only a handful of us, and there's always something going wrong with my project, with Redman's project, with Joe Budden's project. It's like nobody can just come out and be Jay-Z already. I think its like "ok, Jersey got some fresh Heads," but overall, the world think that New York is Hip Hop. Well, the South runs Hip Hop so none of that even really matters. But when you think about East Coast Hip Hop, people think of New York. And if I'm not screaming out Brick City in every song, people are going to think I'm from New York. Do you think Heads look at you as a "female" MC? I don't really get that. I get looked at as "I'm the nicest, I'm smashing a lot of niggas." I think maybe in the beginning I used to get it, but now, I honestly don't think people even put me in a category of Kim and Eve. The rugged ones, Remy and Babs, they get compared to me. I stood apart from the females a long time ago. Why do you think we don't see a lot of chicks drop albums? The problem is the labels. The labels are scared to sign girls because it just costs so much more money to market a girl. You have to spend extra money on styling and all that. And will the people in general respect females enough to go buy their album? I think when they think Hip Hop, they think guns, drugs, and streets. People don't really want to hear that from a chick. If a girl makes a cute song on the radio, then it's ok to buy the album. If you're not really into Hip Hop, then I don't think you'll be into Rah Digga. A lot of people liked "Party and Bullshit," but you ask them to quote a line from "Curtains" and they can't do it. But all the Hip Hop Heads know it. And that's not even unfortunate, that's just what it is. I'm an MC first, so unless you're a Hip Hop fan in general, you're not going to gravitate to a Rah Digga, you're going to gravitate to someone more simple and singy-songy. Do you try to be a role model today? No I don't. I'm just a good person in general. I have morals, and there's just certain things that I won't allow myself to say or do. But when I'm making my music, I don' say "oh, I can't write that." I represent a mother, and a strong Black woman that's not really completely forming to being a skeezer to succeed. What motivates you today? Shit, five years later I have people coming up to me asking about the album. That's my driving force, folks are still checking. And the crew isn't going to let me do nothing too simple just to make a radio record. I still have to represent lyricism instead of just making radio hits. Any plans for a future collab with Lauryn Hill? I would love to, but I don't know what's up with Lauryn. I reached out to her in the past on a few occasions but that was during her "I'm just never making music" period. Maybe things are different now. I haven't tried recently. You've done a couple movies, how was that? It was different. The MTV one came on first, but they filmed "13 Ghosts" first. It was dope for my first movie to be a real movie on Warner Brothers with a $40 million dollar budget. I was like "ok, I can work with this." Any films coming up? Yeah, but I want to get the music underway first. The thing that gives musicians the edge over the typical actor is our music, and I know that pisses a lot of actors off. But without the music not really popping, you're just one out of a million people trying to get on. So I'm just really waiting for the music to bubble more before I get into the acting scene. Is there anything else you're working on? I'm working on developing a reality show for female rappers, trying to find the next bitch! What have you learned throughout all your trials and tribulations in Hip Hop? If you're looking for a serious, long-term career in the music business, I would definitely say make sure you stick to it and stick to your guns. A lot of artists fall because their careers are in other people's hands. I tell everyone to make sure they're surrounded by a good team, management and a and R. You don't need to surround yourself with yes-men, you need people that are going to keep it real with you and let you know when you're making corny music. You need people looking out for your best interests, because if you don't have that, this game will swallow your ass whole! How have you seen the game change from when you first busted in? The game is more corporation now than creativity. It's hard for you to do what you want to do and please the masses and corporate America at the same time. It's definitely not an easy thing to do, but you have to be smart and you have to pick and choose your battles and stay true to your shit, and don't let anybody else tell you differently. Have you ever consciously changed your style to stay with the times? I wouldn't say I had to change my style, but I definitely had to broaden it. I didn't so-much have to be less of an MC to succeed, I just feel like I had to talk about things a little more in synch with what was going on with the rest of the world, and still gave that 110% lyrics at the same time. You can talk about all the things you do and the things you have, but you still have to include the people that are buying the music, and that's something that doesn't happen overnight. That's something that takes time and takes accepting criticism and takes understanding about what is going on in this business. And at the end of the day, you have to please the masses, and that's my food for thought for anyone thinking of getting into the business. You can love Hip Hop to the death and do this and do that, but at the end of the day, if it doesn't work for the masses, you're not going to feed your family. Do you still live in Jersey? Yeah. I also got a place in California and the Pocono's. I'm a little gypsy. What's your normal day like? It depends where I'm at. If I'm in California, it's Coffee Bean and vintage thrift-shopping. If I'm in the Pocono's, it's Home Depot and cooking out. If I'm in Jersey, it's studio and heading to New York. What do you want to say to everyone out there reading this? I want to say thank you to everyone who has continued to support me this long. And I apologize to everyone that had to wait for the next album, but I promise, it's going to be well worth the wait. It's called "Sucker Free," and it's going to be in stores late February, 2006.

Interview by Brian Kayser

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