One the eve of her second solo release, Everything Is A Story, Rah Digga is set on accomplishing two things: scoring points with an ever important female fan base and making sure that she doesn`t isolate the fans that have already latched on to her metaphorically rich rhyme skills. It doesn`t take a genius to realize that it`s an arduous task, one that hasn`t been accomplished by female emcee since the days of MC Lyte and and Latifah, but armed with her pen and fierce desire, Digga`s determined not to fail.

"I felt like my male fans really outweighed m female fans for some reason," she admits, a bit disarmed by the realization. Perhaps it`s her "battle-anyone" persona or raw, raspy delivery that had people questioning her sexuality. "I would hate for people to think that I`m a dyke," she clarifies. "Everybody knows that I have a man and a kid."

So what`s a girl to do when she`s perceived as being too hard? Soften it up a bit with a good-old-fashioned party song, i.e. her lead single, "Party and Bullsh*t," a remake of the Biggie classic. 

"Now a lot of my homeboys be telling me that their female friends really, really like (the song), he reveals. "I feel like the females are starting to follow and it`s important for my record sales for females to by my music. It`s a known fact that women are the ones that buy CDs."

Brushing off any declarations of the dreaded "sophomore jinx," this go-around she`s prepared to di sclose new sides of her persona. Undoubtedly known for her raspy voice and battle-like disposition, Everything Is A Story exposes her softer side. Still, don`t expect her to lose her edge.

"I switched labels (from Elektra to J Records) and it hindered the process of the second album, but know that Rah Digga is still Dirty Harriet, even though I got more in-depth and personal on this album," she assures. "You`re getting more outside of the hard Rah Digga, but don`t think that the hard has gone anywhere."

Featuring everyone from Fabolous, Ghostface, Missy and Eve to production from Scott Storch, Megahertz and Just Blaze, Digga isn`t hearing anything of a sophomore jinx.

"I guess it is kinda pressure because sometimes when I just want to do simple stuff, it`s like `no, you`re better than that--I still want to hear those ugly Rah Digga punch lines." she says, with a small laugh. "The next emcees cool verse that I might try to spit, people expect me to be better than the average emcee but at the end of the day it`s what I love doing; it`s a gift from God."

She continues, "With this album I felt it was important for people to see different sides of me. With (Dirty Harriet)people got the `I`m an emcee, I will battle you; I`m the queen of the streets.` I think people missed that Rah Digga is a woman still, I think with this album I wanted to display lyrically my feminine side."

With topics that range from paying tribute to one of her dead homies to a dedication to her daughter, Digga maintains she was intent upon stretching herself conceptually. Drawing upon her own experiences, the album is far more personal than anything she’s ever released. 

Although she`s made appearances on film and television, right now she`s focused solely on her music, and of course, family.  So how does she juggle it all?

"With no sleep," she answers, laughing. "I just did my album packaging photo shoot and I still had to come home and do homework and cornroll. It`s hard, I`ve had to compromise a lot of sleep."

In the end, she just hopes people understand who she is, both as a woman and an emcee, and more importantly begin to grasp the importance of that merger.

"For me, I feel like I`m successful because I can earn an income doing what I love," she states reflectively. "If you`re not happy inside then how can you really call that success"? How indeed.

- Jacinta Howard