Rah Digga Compares Herself To Harriet Tubman

07/10/2000 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(7/10/00, 7 a.m. ET) - Rah Digga is known for being a hard-core underground rhymer, but one of her major sources of inspiration wasn't even alive when rap was coming of age in the mid 1970s. The New Jersey rapper says Harriet Tubman, who helped slaves escape to freedom in the 1800s, is someone she admires and even emulates. Rah Digga, who titled her debut album Dirty Harriet as a tribute to Tubman, told LAUNCH why she compares herself to Tubman.

"Dirty Harriet is not affiliated with Dirty Harry. It's affiliated with Harriet Tubman and I, myself, just struggling as long as I have on an underground level," the rapper explained. "I feel like I'm just this rebel female, like the late, great Harriet Tubman, just on a crusade to come out and just spit raw rhymes and just be a leader about it."

Dirty Harriet was released on April 4 and features guest vocals from Busta Rhymes, Eve, and others. It has sold more than 255,000 copies, according to industry sources.

In addition to her own album, Rah Digga has been busy recording with other artists. She appears on "Here We Go Again," a cut from Rhymes's most recent album, Anarchy. The Number 11 album in the country, Anarchy has sold more than 266,000 copies in its first two weeks of release, according to industry sources. Digga is also featured on the anti-police brutality Hip-Hop For Respect project with Sporty Thievz, Common, Mos Def, and others.

-- Soren Baker and Billy Johnson Jr., Los Angeles

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