Memphis rapper La Chat is currently pushing her latest single, “Do Ya Dance,” a duet with St. Lunatics MC Murphy Lee.

But the most telling song on her new album, Da Hood Home Girl: Da Album, which was released Tuesday, is a powerful tune called “On Da Block.”

“This is a chance I gotta take/Gotta get my hands dirty to put food upon my plate,” La Chat (real name: Chastity Daniels) raps on the track, before delving into a self-examination that’s rife with painful memories.

In mid-July, La Chat, dressed in tough street wear with her glossy, shoulder-length hair perfectly coiffed, sat inside the lobby of Killing Time recording studio, located in a southeast Memphis office park.

As her crew of young men — she calls them the Goon Squad — listened in, the 30-year old who hails from the South Memphis community of Westwood talked about the memories she mines in “On Da Block.”

The only daughter in a family of boys, La Chat was a confirmed tomboy. “I was raised with nothing but brothers who showed no pity on me, and it strengthened me,” she said.

“I’ve always liked the limelight. I’d get up and do my thing at family gatherings, like reunions and wedding receptions.

“I started off writing poetry, and when I was about 9, I turned it into raps,” she said, recalling early triumphs — winning an elementary school essay contest for a poem about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and writing her first rap song, “Peace in the Middle East.”

When she was 11, La Chat’s oldest brother, Curtis Parker Sr., was murdered. She lost her father to cancer soon after.

In the next decade, she channeled her emotions into a music career, emerging with a ghetto-tough reputation on the Memphis rap scene as the female foil to Three 6 Mafia.

In 2001, she recorded the platinum-selling “Chickenhead,” a duet with Project Pat.

“It was the first Three 6 song to get played outside the South,” La Chat notes. “When we cut it, I didn’t have a clue that it would be so big. I wrote out my lyrics, and me and Pat just laid it down.”

The same year, she contributed vocals to another Three 6 Mafia track, “Baby Mama,” and recorded a debut album, Murder She Spoke, which was released on the Three 6 imprint, Hypnotize Minds.

But La Chat’s relationship with the group went south, and she jettisoned Hypnotize Minds, preferring to try her luck with independent labels, such as Rap Hustlaz and Inevitable, for three more full-length releases.

With the release of Da Hood Home Girl, she decided to take full control of her career. The album is on La Chat’s own label, Dime A Dozen Entertainment.

She’s assembled a team that includes producers DJ Squeeky, Gambino, K-Dubb, and an up-and-comer named Lil Lody, who, says La Chat, has “the street sounds, those hardcore crunk beats.”

Friends like Lord Infamous, Criminal Manne, Yung Kee and Don Trip showed up at the studio to lay down guest vocals on tracks including “Da Dope,” “Keep It Truck,” and “Can’t Stand Me.”

La Chat has even forged a solid relationship with Gangsta Boo, the one-time rival she usurped during her days with Three 6 Mafia.

In May, the two combined forces for a re-mix of Three 6’s raunchy “I’d Rather.” They plan to collaborate on an album later this year, and Boo has a guest spot on “Keep It Moving,” a catchy, stripped-down tune that appears mid-way through Da Hood Home Girl.

“This is a different situation for me,” La Chat confirmed. “I was just an artist; now I’m the CEO. When it comes to business, I do it all.”

Asked how she balances her time in front of the microphone with the myriad behind-the-scenes chores that go hand-in-hand when promoting a new album, La Chat laughed.

“I’ve been a performer all my life,” she said. “As an artist for other labels, I only knew what they allowed me to know. Now it’s easier, because I’m in control.”

Click here to go to La Chat’s MySpace page and to download a free copy of her new mixtape, “So Hood: Gutta Vol. 3.”

La Chat will be at Cat’s Music, 3249 Austin Peay Highway, at 2 p.m. July 26. Call 385-2287.