Dirty Harriet

One of the most memorable shows I ever saw was the 2003 HOT 97 Summer Jam at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. In particular, among strong competition from a lineup of contemporary hip hop titans (Clipse, Nas, 50 Cent, Lil Kim etc etc), Busta Rhymes gave a masterclass in performance, his stage presence making him feel like a giant surrounded by close to 100,000 people. But equally notable in this performance was the fact that one member of his Flipmode Squad was consistently matching him for vocal power and projection of personality: Rah Digga. It’s a sad mark of hip hop’s — and the wider music industry and media’s — chauvinism that she is not a megastar, because she’s as great on record as on stage. This 1999 album is simply one of the pinnacles of its era, Busta’s own production throughout perfectly bridging the gap in New York rap from mid 90s boom-bap to the triumphalist turn of the millennium Just Blaze style, and Rah’s rhymes and presence unstoppable from start to end. It’s unrepentantly rowdy — this isn’t earnestly conscious music by any means, even as Rah states she’s here to “represent the feminist guard” — but it’s hyperintelligent, hyper-funky, hyper-talented brilliance throughout.