Ms. Krazie

America Ochoa, aka Ms. Krazie, will tell you she's the "hardest" female rapper in the underground game. The 21-year-old Chicana from the barrios of Northern Cali commands a lot of respect with her feisty flow and raw lyrics. Imagine a chola version of Gwen Stefani – come on, it's not that hard – spitting about her "vida loca" with the aggression of MC Ren and you've got Ms. Krazie as well as, possibly, the makings of a Chicano rap all-star.

According to published biographies, the bleached-blonde Michoacana grew up with music – her father was a musician – but didn't start rapping until she discovered Mexico's Control Machete as a teen. In 2004, disillusioned by the slim opportunities for female artists up north, Krazie packed up and moved to SoCal. Not over a year later, she released her debut, Brown is Beautiful. The album's bilingual, hardcore rolas scored points with fans and catapulted her above other "rapperitas." But the porcelain-skinned MC's popularity – and archetypal looks – soon inspired copycats to create bogus Ms. Krazie MySpace profiles. (The pages have since been removed, but Krazie found time to call the MySpace clones out on the intro of "Sittin in the Parque," the second track on her... MySpace page.)

Ms. Krazie is set on taking over the game with her second album, Firme Homegirl Oldies. Songs like "Straight Teasing" show off Ms. Krazie’s sweet and sour flow against seventies soul and fifties girl-group samples while the lyrics in "Mommys Little Girl" keep it more than real.

see: myspace.com/mskrazie