Sarai

Sarai Howard, who spent her early years in upstate New York, never pictured rap as her future vocation. While her single mother kept Fleetwood Mac albums spinning, her older brother pulled his younger sibling into the gritty, hard-edged landscape of hip-hop. Records from trailblazing acts like N.W.A., Public Enemy, and Run-D.M.C. left such a deep impression that she crafted her first rhyme at fifteen. Two years later she traveled to Atlanta with a friend, where producer L.J. Sutton, also known as Chocolate Starr, took immediate notice of the sharp-tongued northerner whose verses matched the caliber of street-level lyricists. In 2000 she abandoned her college path to link back up with Sutton in the South. Steady progress led to a contract with Epic two years afterward. Her opening single, “Pack Ya Bags,” gained heavy rotation, prompting observers to brand her the female Eminem.