Ursula Rucker
SUPA SISTA
(K7)

Philly poetess Ursula Rucker first wowed the general public in the mid ’90s with her spoken-word cameos with the Roots. Her shocking and often brutally frank tales of abuse and rape confirmed her status as a true hip-hop poet with a conscience. But her work as a solo artist has led her to places that lie beyond the boundaries of hip-hop, bringing her into contact with forward-thinking electronic artists like 4Hero, King Britt, and Jazzanova.

The two worlds meet on her debut full-length, an impressive fusion of hip-hop wordplay and club-culture grooves. Rucker, who favors an understated and occasionally dispassionate delivery here, wears her politics on her sleeve, particularly on " Womansong, " the didactic " Digichant, " and the bleak gang-rape narrative " Song for Billy. " On " What??? " she calls out her lazy peers in the rap world and pens a new page for black music by calmly corralling a jazzy jungle rhythm and taunting, " You think you can rhyme over this, nigga?/You think you can sing over this, playa? " In the suddenly crowded field of female lyricists, Supa Sista stamps Rucker as a woman whose politics are as progressive as her taste in music.

Issue Date: September 20 - 27, 2001