The Mission of MC Lyte Issue #36

The legend makes a comeback with Almost September and works to reinstate the Grammys’ female rap category

By Makkada Selah
Published: June 1st, 2008 | 4:45pm

Photography by Chris FortunaStyling by Constanze Lyndsay Han
Makeup by Merc Arceneaux
Hair by Paula Ashby
Stylist Assistant: Johnny Lozano
Shot at Siren Studios Hollywood

MC Lyte is hip-hop’s den mother. The pioneer who, in 1987 was met by Queen Latifah in a New York Marriott hotel lobby with the words “oh shit, you’re MC Lyte,” debuted with her landmark recording Lyte As a Rock in 1988 and rhymed in classic hip-hop cuts like “Top Billin’” (alongside her older brother MC Milk Dee).

Considered a critical figure in hip-hop, one of her number-one rap tracks, “Ruffneck,” earned Lyte a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Single in 1993 and was the first gold single for a female rap artist. In 2006, Lyte donated her diary, turntable, and records from the early days of hip-hop to the Smithsonian Institution as part of a collection called “Hip-Hop Won’t Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life.”

Still touring with her solo stage show and working on a new EP with her group Almost September (featuring herself, producer-vocalist Whitey and producer-writer Jared Lee), the Brooklyn-bred rapper often finds herself a point of contact for many females in the game.

“I can be the nucleus to it all,” she says by phone from her L.A. home. “In a given week, I can talk to Yo-Yo, Rah Digga, Remy, Brat, Rage, Foxy, Kim, but [female rappers’ connections] should be stronger. Perhaps if it were, we could get a whole lot more done as opposed to trying to do so much divided.”

She says the ratio of female MCs to male MCs is “ridiculous,” and she hopes more solidarity among women rappers can bring about much-needed changes in the music industry, such as the reinstatement of the female rap category in the Grammys. The Grammy nominating committee canceled the category due to lack of releases.

“Lyte is on a mission,” she says. “I’m on the Grammy committee and I’ve already spoken to them. We have not had a female rap category at the Grammys since ’03, and I am trying to get this thing reinstated for 2009. I’m getting all of these sisters ready, whether they’re signed or unsigned because having a record deal is not a prerequisite for making a submission [for a Grammy award].”

The rapper’s activism extends to her blog, okaysister.blogspot.com, where she shares her experiences of “still succeeding in a male-dominated field.” A March 2008 post features photos of Remy Ma, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, and Da Brat, all of whom either have open legal cases or have done time. Lyte thinks the ladies are getting a raw deal. She writes:

After allegedly purchasing firearms and such, TI gets to stay home in the comfort of his luxurious Atlanta home while nearly every woman in the game that has been taken in for something has either done time or waiting on pins and needles to know the outcome of their cases. ... I’m simply saying how does the system justify sending these women away for the scuffs, bumps, bruises and white lies, which this beloved country of ours was built on.

Lyte doesn’t address the fact that R. Kelly hasn’t gone to trial yet. But when asked why the women of rap are hitting models in the face with rum bottles (as Da Brat is charged with) or neighbors with Blackberries (like Foxy Brown), Lyte says, “[Foxy] can’t hear. I’d be pissed off too. I think it goes way deeper than anything that we can see. In terms of them just not being happy and just acting out and having whatever issues going on with them personally affecting their business. There are mistakes that are made. It just so happens that women pay dearly for them.”

Though she’s a hip-hop legend, Lyte‘s new musical project Almost September, which recently signed a promotion deal with MySpace Records, draws more from neo-soul than traditional hip-hop. “A lot of hip-hop now isn’t satiable for me,” she says. “You find a lot of women who used to like hip-hop going to Jill Scott or Erykah Badu because they’re allowed to show strength. Selling sex is not working anymore in 2008. People want something real — real action, real words.”