SISTER SOULJAHS ON WITH A BEST SELLER

Former ‘raptivist’ seeks ‘meaning’ in her books

Sister Souljah’s latest page-turner is a No. 1 stunner.

The former self-proclaimed “raptivist” and groundbreaking author’s long-awaited sequel to her breakthrough novel has debuted atop the Hardcover Fiction list of the New York Times Bestsellers for the week of March 21.

“Life After Death” has become an instant success following its March 2 release.

Its prequel, “The Coldest Winter Ever,” published in 1999, also made the coveted New York Times (Paperback Trade Fiction) list for the first time — 22 years after it was published.

The original story of Winter Santiaga, a drug kingpin’s daughter, laid the blueprint for the cottage industry that would later be called “street lit.” For the sequel, Sister Souljah (nee Lisa Williamson) said she wrote at “the top of [her] excellence” in revisiting the protagonist’s life after she returns from a lengthy prison stint. The tome also chronicles Santiaga’s mother’s death and her young sister’s growth.

Even though the author wrote several best-selling spinoffs since “Coldest Winter Ever” blazed a trail, she felt no pressure to repeat the success. “I’m a cool vibration meaning that I don’t really get pressed by the readers or the public or anything,” she said during a recent interview with “The Breakfast Club” radio show. “Everything I do I’m doing for a purpose or I’m doing it for a reason.”

“I want it to be meaningful,” the Rutgers University alum continued. “If I was the kind of author that did what the readers expected or what the public expected, then that would lessen my value because if you could anticipate or expect what I’m going to write, then you could’ve wrote it yourself.”

“What’s supposed to make me special as an author is I’m writing something so dynamic you couldn’t have thought of it yourself or at least you didn’t up until the moment of the release,” she added.

For the audiobook version of “Life After Death,” Sister Souljah went the Hollywood route.

Acclaimed actress Nia Long, who has developed a cultlike fan base through roles in modern Black cinema classics such as “Boyz n the Hood,” “Soul Food,” “Love Jones” and the “Best Man” movies, was tapped to narrate the book.

Sister Souljah, an avid fan of audiobooks — and former recording