Nichelle "Nikki D" Strong is an American female rapper.^[1] Nikki D was the first female rapper signed by Def Jam Recordings.

Career[link]

She signed with Def Jam in 1989, and released her debut single "Lettin' Off Steam" the same year. It was produced by Sam Sever. The single's video featured Flavor Flav. Later Nikki D released the more commercially acceptable song, "Daddy's Little Girl" some two years later, which reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart.^[2]

Prior to releasing "Daddy's Little Girl", Nikki D was on tour in Europe for a year with fellow R&B artist Alyson Williams. Nikki D has recorded songs with Moby, Queen Latifah on the Set It Off soundtrack, with Redman for his Muddy Waters album, EPMD, Naughty By Nature, Flavor Unit and Suzanne Vega.

In 1998, Nikki D became the vice president of A&R at Flavor Unit Records, a position she held for two years. Today she is the marketing manager at "Phat Fashions", the apparel company that houses Phat Farm, Baby Phat, and Atman.

Discography[link]

Album[link]

• 1991: Daddy's Little Girl (Def Jam) - US R&B #54

Singles[link]

• 1989: "My Love Is So Raw" (Alyson Williams featuring Nikki D) - UK #34^[1]
• 1990: "Lettin' Off Steam" (Sony)
• 1991: "Daddy's Little Girl" - US Rap #1;^[2] UK #75^[1]
• 1991: "Hang on Kid"
• 1991: "Wasted"
• 1993: "Freak Out" - US Rap #20^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nikki D discography at Allmusic
• Nikki D on the Internet Movie Database

Simone Gooden (born 2 July 1970), better known by her stage name Monie Love, is an English emcee and former radio personality in the United States. She was a well-respected figure in British hip hop, and made an impact with American hip hop audiences as a protégé of female American emcee Queen Latifah, as well as through her membership in the late 1980s/early 1990s Native Tongues. Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label.

Early years[link]

Love was born in the Battersea area of London. She is the younger sister of techno musician Dave Angel, and was a daughter of a London-based, jazz musician father.

Musical career[link]

Love began her hip hop/BritHop career as an emcee in the British Jus Bad crew, which featured DJ Pogo, Sparki, and MC Mell'O'. The group released the single "Free Style/Proud" on the independent Tuff Groove record label in 1988.

Love first gained critical and commercial notice in the United States in 1989 for her cameos on Queen Latifah's Grammy Award-winning and pro-woman single "Ladies First," on Adeva's "Ring My Bell," on the Jungle Brothers' well-received single "Doin' Our Own Dang," and on De La Soul's hit single "Buddy." The acclaim led her to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, making Love one of the few British hip-hop efforts released by a major label.

Love also has a place in hip-hop history as a member of the Native Tongues, a positive-minded hip-hop collective that included Queen Latifah, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, and a number of other acts. Her versatility was demonstrated with her involvement in the emerging popularity of House music, with her own single Grandpa's Party as well as providing rap for the The Dancin' Danny D Remix of Adeva's house hit Respect.

Love's debut album, Down To Earth, spawned two, Grammy-nominated hits, "Monie in the Middle" (a high school-set track dealing with a woman's right to determine what she wants out of a relationship) and "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (which sampled The Spinners' "It's a Shame" written for the band by Stevie Wonder) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté. The album reached #26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[1]

Love also appears on the song titled "United" from Inner City's third album, Praise.

Love was featured on her brother Dave Angel's remix of Whitney Houston's R&B hit "My Name Is Not Susan" in 1991, and appeared in the music video alongside Houston. Love's 1992 single, "Full-Term Love," from the Class Act movie soundtrack, reached #7 on the Hot Hip-Hop Singles chart.^[2]

Love collaborated with Marley Marl on her second album, In a Word or 2 (1993), which featured the Prince-produced single "Born To B.R.E.E.D." (which reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music chart and #7 on the Hot Rap Singles chart), as well as a re-release of "Full-Term Love."^[2] The same year, Prince asked her to write lyrics for a few songs on a side-project, Carmen Electra's eponymous album, Carmen Electra.

Love's last musical release was the EP "Slice of Da Pie" in 2000.

Radio career[link]

From 2004 until the week of 11 December 2006, Love was the morning drive host on Philadelphia's WPHI-FM 100.3. The 22 December 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News confirmed that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled.^[3] Love's departure from WPHI followed soon after her December 2006 interview with Young Jeezy, where the two argued over whether hip hop is dead.^[4]

Love is also an Official MySpace.com DJ, according to her MySpace page.

Love currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is the single mother to four children.

Currently, she has a radio show on XM Satellite Radio called Ladies First Radio with Monie Love. It airs Thursdays 6PM ET and Sundays 8PM ET.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Solo EPs/Singles[link]

Featured singles[link]

• "Ladies First" (Queen Latifah featuring Monie Love)

References[link]

External links[link]

• AllMusic.com Biography - Monie Love
• Monie Love's myspace.com page
• Monie Love Discography on Discogs
• A site focusing on the early days of Hip Hop development in the UK

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008)

Rah Digga (born Rashia Fisher) is an American rapper. Well known as a long time member of the Flipmode Squad,^[1] a hip hop group led by Busta Rhymes, she parted ways amicably with the group in 2007.^[2] She has been called "one of rap's most prominent women MCs"^[3] by Allmusic and "one of hip-hop's most skilled female MCs" in the book How to Rap.^[1] Rah Digga is a resident of Newark, New Jersey.

Musical career[link]

Rah Digga was born in New Jersey and went to study electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.^[3] She learned how to rap by studying the raps of KRS-One, Rakim, and Kool G Rap of the Juice Crew.^[1]

She starred in the movie Thirteen Ghost, and she worked with hip-hop group Twice the Flavor before joining the Outsidaz,^[3] leading to a feature on the track "Cowboys" from the Fugees album The Score.^[3] Being seen by Q-Tip at the Lyricist Lounge lead to her meeting with Busta Rhymes, and joining his Flipmode Squad,^[1][3] later appearing on "numerous Busta Rhymes albums".^[1][3] Her debut solo, Dirty Harriet, was released in 2000 featuring Busta Rhymes and Eve.^[3] She also worked with Bahamadia on the track "Be Ok" from Lyricist Lounge, Vol. 1.^[3]

Her second album Everything Is A Story was due to be released on J Records in 2004, but for unknown reasons was not released. Many songs from the album had leaked to the internet in an unofficial 23-track album of unreleased material, and in 2010 Rah Digga released her own version of the album, featuring unheard tracks from the album not present on the leaked version. Rah Digga released a new album, Classic, on September 14, 2010. Production was handled by Nottz, and a promo single was released entitled "This Ain't No Lil Kid Rap".

On December 6, 2011, Rah Digga released a new single, "Made MC", available for download at iTunes.^[4]

Film[link]

Rah Digga was cast in the film Thirteen Ghosts in 2001.

The same year, Rah Digga also appeared alongside Beyoncé and Joy Bryant in MTV's Carmen: A Hip Hopera.

Awards and nominations[link]

• BET Awards
  • 2006: Video of the Year ("Touch It (remix)"), Nominated
  • 2006: Best Collaboration ("Touch It (remix)"), Nominated
  • 2004: Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, Nominated
  • 2002: Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, Nominated

• BET Hip Hop Awards
  • 2006: Hip-Hop Video of the Year ("Touch It (remix)"), Nominated
  • 2006: Best Collabo ("Touch It (remix)"), Winner
  • 2006: People's Champ Award ("Touch It (remix)"), Nominated

• MTV Video Music Award
  • 2006: Best Hip-Hop Video ("Touch It (remix)"), Nominated

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Dirty Harriet (2000)
• Classic (2010)

Singles[link]

• "Tight" (1999)
• "Imperial" (1999) #16 Hot Rap Singles
• "Break Fool" (2000) #15 Hot Rap Singles
• "Party and Bullshit 2003" (2003)
• "Make It Hot"/"See It In Your Eyes" (2005)
• "New Shit" (2008)
• "Warning Shots" (2010) (street leak)
• "This Ain't no Lil' Kid Rap" (2010)
• "Classic" (2010)

Guest starring[link]

"U Never No" by DJ King Sams featuring Rah Digga, Mario Winans, Bobby Valentino, Junior Reid, Young Buck, Red Cafe, Smitty, Roco and others.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Hiponline.com
• Hiphopgame.com
• Hiponline.com
• Montrealmirror.com
• Rah Digga interview by Rashmi Shastri
• Undergroundgirlsofhiphop.com
• Rahdiggamusic.com