Rah Digga’s “Imperial” is from her 2000 solo debut album, Dirty Harriet, and one of her collaborations with Busta Rhymes. Powered by Shok of Ruff Ryder’s production, Digga and Rhymes showed their skills over video game signals and tumbling drums. Digga’s raspy flow eliminated any sexist questions about her holding the microphone when she said, “Black chick, with intellect, who want to match wits? Write my own rhymes so can’t no n**** tell me jack s***.” She declared her space as a bona fide rhymer of the New Jersey canon that includes Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah. Dirty Harriet gave Digga immediate respect in the rap world, and “Imperial” revealed undeniable musical chemistry with Rhymes, who recruited her for his Flipmode Squad after she was introduced to him by Q-Tip.  Rah Digga released her sophomore album, Classic, in 2010. She currently co-hosts the podcast Yanadameen with Lord Jamar. 

Rah Digga and Bahamadia will share their wisdom as guest lecturers at the Pendulum Academy’s Second Annual Women’s Month. The school is celebrating women in hip-hop during the month of August with special events, courses and workshops. The former Flipmode Squad member will be the guest speaker for the academy’s Rhymecology course which explores mental health through the usage of rhyme. Bahamadia is teaching the Evolution Of Rhyme course that examines the history of word flow. Wendy Day, SJ Henderson, Baegod, Jaz The Rapper, Casey J, Official and celebrity publicist Chanel Rae are also on board to teach classes in August. They will instruct students on media training, battling rapping, creative writing and networking. Shawnna, who was the First Lady of Ludacris’s Disturbing Tha Peace label, is the guest teacher for the Advanced Rhythm & Style class. The Criminology In Hip-Hop class will be co-lead by attorney Devon Douglass and it will look at Remy Ma’s 2007 case. Students will receive feedback on their work from an all-woman panel of judges. Rah Digga expressed her enthusiasm in a statement:

“Being in this business for 25+ years professionally and actually growing up in the culture, I am looking forward to passing on some of the knowledge that I have learned in hopes that aspiring artists from the next generation can learn something useful that will hopefully be as life-changing for them as this journey has been for me.” 

All women can enroll in the Academy for half of the normal price in August. New students are currently being accepted and those interested can apply pendulumink.com or email the school at info@pendulumink.com. Songwriter Mickey Factz and battle rapper Chilla Jones founded the Pendulum Ink Academy. The school aims to prepare rappers for the music industry by providing guidance from industry experts and professional rappers. The academy had its first graduating class on February 26, 2023, and Bun B was the commencement speaker. Anyone can purchase the school’s textbook, A Lexicon Of Elite Rap Techniques online. Big Daddy Kane wrote the foreword of the book that has songwriting strategies used by some of rap’s greatest storytellers. HipHopEd founder Dr. Christopher Emdin wrote the afterword. 

Sa-Roc has announced her Talk To Me Nice Tour that starts in August. She’s touring with Rah Digga before the shows in August and their first gig takes place at Black Cat in Washington, DC. Sa-Roc’s dates will start in Texas and finish at the Dry Diggins Festival in California. The combined tours celebrate hip-hop’s 50th birthday with a rare opportunity to see both of the seriously underrated lyricists in a live setting. Tickets are on sale now.

Sa-Roc and Rah Digga are going on tour together as co-headliners. The tour takes place later in the summer and tickets will go on sale this Friday. Sa-Roc released the deluxe version of her critically acclaimed Sharecropper’s Daughter album in 2021. The album was recognized for her lyricism and she also had a duet with late hip-hop enigma MF Doom. Her presence continues to grow and she did a Tiny Desk concert not long after the release of the album. Digga’s been busy these days as one of the hosts of rapper Lord Jamar’s Yanadameen Godcast.