Necessary Roughness is the debut album of rapper The Lady of Rage. After appearing on high-profile, critically acclaimed Death Row releases—including Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggystyle—and releasing her own, Dr. Dre-produced single "Afro Puffs" (which does not appear here), Rage released her debut on June 24, 1997. Produced largely by Daz Dillinger with contributions from Easy Mo Bee and DJ Premier, it peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200 on July 12, 1997. After the release of this album, Rage left Death Row to join Snoop Dogg's record label, Doggystyle Records.