Lady you should know about: Psalm One

Psalm One is the only woman signed to influential local label Rhymesayers (home to Atmosphere and Brother Ali). Born in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago and educated at the University of Illinois, Psalm One worked her way from performing at her college's student union to opening for artists like 50 Cent and being part of Warped Tour. Oh, and did we mention: she also happens to be a chemist? By night in the 2000s, she was hard at work on her prolific hip-hop career. But by day, she was hard at work testing nutritional values for food manufacturers.

We of course love her for her music (although we bet her chemistry's not bad either). Her signing to Rhymesayers and her subsequent release, The Death of Frequent Flyer (her fourth album) brought her even further into the national spotlight, and Psalm One will be releasing her long-awaited follow-up to Frequent Flyer in 2011. To tide us over, she's released three (yes, three!) albums on her own in 2010 - a series called Woman@Work. The best part? You can download them for free on her Bandcamp page.

Check out her video for the song "Woman at Work" and an interview with her on the status of women in hip hop.