Necessary Roughness is the debut and so far only official studio album from the American hip-hop artist, The Lady of Rage. The album was released on June 24, 1997. Necessary Roughness was largely produced by Daz Dillinger, with contributions from Easy Mo Bee and DJ Premier. The album it peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200 on July 12, 1997. Necessary Roughness was the last Death Row Records album to be distributed by Interscope.