Lady of Rage
Biography
Robin Yvette Allen (born June 11, 1968), better known by her stage name The Lady of Rage, is an African-American rapper and actress best known for collaborations with several Death Row Records artists, including Dr.Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg on the seminal albums "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle". She has been described as "one of the most skillful female MCs" with a "mastery of flow" and "hard-core lyrics". Dr.Dre discovered her after the L.A.Posse were letting him listen to some of the tracks on their album and the vocals she recorded for the L.A. Posse's They Come in All Colors in 1991. She appeared on several tracks from Dr.Dre's 1992 classic "The Chronic" album, and on Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Doggystyle" in 1993. In 1994, she had a hit single with "Afro Puffs" (from the soundtrack to Above the Rim) which reached #5 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart. She also made an appearance on Tha Dogg Pound's album Dogg Food on the track "Do What I Feel". Though she had made more than a dozen appearances on soundtracks as well as albums from her Death Row Records cohorts, the Lady of Rage didn't release an album until 1997. Her debut solo album, Necessary Roughness, was released in June 1997 and peaked at #7 on the Billboard R&B Album chart and 32 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Her solo album was originally called "Eargasm" and was continually pushed back - it was meant to have been the next album on Death Row Records after "The Chronic", and then after "Doggystyle", before finally being released in 1997. After the release of her album and a guest-appearance with Gang Starr alongside Kurupt ("You Know My Steez (Three Men and a Lady Remix)") in 1998, Rage left Death Row Records and the music industry generally to focus on acting, appearing in an episode of Kenan & Kel. The Lady of Rage also went on to be featured in several television sitcoms, most notably as Coretta Cox in the very well received The Steve Harvey Show from 1996 to 2002 - she also had a small part in Next Friday as Baby D, big little sister of Day Day's ex-girlfriend. Lady of Rage describes much of her rapping technique in the book How to Rap - she notes the importance of having a strong vocabulary, writing poetry, having different styles of flow, using 'rests', researching lyrics, taking your time to write lyrics, working with producers and doing guide vocals.
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