(3 of 3)
You regret your answer almost instantly. Prediction can be a sucker's game; appreciation is where it's really at. You like Rah's music, that you know. She seems true to her roots--you saw that up close. The glossy photos in perfumy magazines, the Hype Williams-directed videos, the sound-bite TV appearances--all of that seems thin and sugary, like the glaze on a doughnut. Answering the door in a fuzzy bathrobe, that's real, that's true, that's hip-hop. In that one moment in her graffiti-scarred hallway, Rah was as big a star as you've seen in a long time.