How MC Lytes Voice Helped Bridge Generations In Hip-Hop

The iconic rapper reflects on being the first female emcee to release a solo album and teases a new podcast.

By Taryn Finley

Aug. 8, 2023

MC Lytes voice reverberated across Forest Hills Stadium like a pastors at church at LL Cool Js Rock The Bells Festival. She had the audience in the palm of her hand, as they rapped along word for word like it was 1993 and not 2023. She hit the stage with fervor, rocking a varsity jacket that read Long Live Hip Hop to commemorate 50 years of the genre . MC ShaRock and Roxanne Shant had taken the stage right before her and Salt-N-Pepa right after. These women had been instrumental in Lyte turning to rap as an art expression and career growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Thirty-five years after dropping her debut album, she stood right where she belonged.

You cant properly celebrate 50 years of hip-hop without MC Lyte. The pioneering artist has successfully had the foundation, longevity and respect many OGs dream of. She became the first female rapper to drop a solo album with Lyte as a Rock in 1988, opening doors for many to come. She went on to drop several other albums and became the first female rapper to achieve gold certification for her hit song Ruffneck. Shes received the I Am Hip Hop Lifetime Achievement Award from BET and has been honored at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors. Aside from rapping, shes had a successful career on the radio and doing voice-over work for animated shows and award shows.

I wasnt really thinking about anything except being heard for what it was that I was saying, MC Lyte, 52, told HuffPost over the phone just a few days before the festival. People say, Oh, you wore baggy pants, and yes, I wore whatever was going to make you listen more than look. I was much more into delivering a message that was important to me, which was an anti-drug message. I didnt have sense enough to think that I should be scared or fearful that here I am a woman on the mic, and I should look to say this because of that.

MC Lyte is one of the most recognizable pioneering voices in rap across generations. If youre not a Gen Xer or early Millennial who knows her for her music, youre a late millennial or early Gen Zer who knows her for being the voice behind each BET Awards or the 2023 Grammy Awards. Shes helped build a bridge that made it possible for hip-hop to see 50 years. And thats no exaggeration.

The fact of the matter is that MC Lyte always knew the power of her own voice. Well before her pursuit of hip-hop, she picked up a microphone early, playing Rockers music and pretending to be Sister Nancy. Her cousins in Harlem introduced her to hip-hop via Funky Four Plus One More, Cold Crush Brothers and The Treacherous Three. She was mesmerized by tapes of rappers who battled to rock the party the most. It wasnt until she heard Salt-N-Pepa, however, that she thought that she could do it, too.

Thats when I kind of figured out [I was] gonna start writing, but I didnt know what that meant, she said. I just was trying to get in where I fit in.

She said looking to the likes of Salt-N-Pepa and Roxanne Shant inspired her, especially hearing them diss male rappers on The Showstopper and Roxannes Revenge, respectively.