Respect: Happy Birthday MC Lyte [@mclyte]

October 11, 2011 by Hannibal Tabu Leave a Comment

In 1971, a young woman called Lana Michelle Moorer was born in Brooklyn. Her household became a welcoming den for the spirit of hip hop very early, as she began rapping at the age of 12. Two of her brothers went on to form a little group called Audio Two, and that collaboration helped propel young Lana's career when they helped her record her first single, "I Cram To Understand U (Sam)" in 1986. The song got her noticed by First Priority, and then soon after signed by legendary Atlantic Records vice president Sylvia Rhone.

If you don't know by now, we're talking about MC Lyte, who dropped her classic debut album Lyte as a Rock in September 1988, followed by the even bigger Eyes On This. She first achieved a gold record in 1993 with her song "Roughneck" off of her album Ain't No Other.

Given today's standards, it might be hard to believe that Lyte's lyrics were considered rough edged and risque, but it's true. Still, she notched a number of firsts, including being one of the first people to work with an up-and-comer named Missy Elliot, receiving a Grammy nomination and acting in shows like In The House, Get Real, Half & Half and The District, as well as working as a successful voice over actor, opening a Los Angeles boutique called Shaitel, and putting a song on NBA Live 2005.

Today we honor her legacy and life as a hip hop icon.

[Source: Wikipedia]

About Hannibal Tabu

Born in Rockford, Illinois; raised in Memphis, Tennessee; matriculated in
Tacoma, Washington and broadcasting live from Los Angeles, Hannibal Tabu is
a writer, a brother, a husband, a misanthrope, a son, an emcee, an uncle, a
poet, a father, a designer, a nephew, a romantic, a storyteller, and by
god, a fan. He spent more than ten years doing the journalist thing for
Vibe, Slave Trade, MTV Online, Rap Pages, America Online, the Los Angeles
Sentinel, Spinnerrack.com, Speak and The Source. Hannibal has worked as a
web designer/producer and graphic artist for American Honda, eHobbies.com,
Quicken.com, Express.com, the California Association of REALTORS, Disney
Channel, NextPlanetOver.com, Toyota Motor Sales, Kaiser Permanente,
California Bank & Trust and many more. As a poet, Hannibal has been
published in The Drumming Between Us, (sic) Vice Verse, Drumvoices Review,
Voices From Leimert Park and other anthologies, as well as being author of
the collection BORN BENEATH AN ANGRY STAR and co-author of FLIGHT MANUAL.
As a novelist, he's written THE CROWN: ASCENSION and FARAWAY (both
available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble & Smashwords) and the upcoming sci fi
political thriller ROGUE NATION. He's the winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt, writer of Waso: Will To Power for Stranger Comics, Project: Wildfire for Legends Press, and co-writer of an issue of Watson & Holmes (alongside 2 Guns writer Steven Grant) for New Paradigm Studios. For six years he was the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch group of newspapers, is currently the co-owner and editor-in-chief of Black geek website Komplicated at the Good
Men Project, and uses his Operative Network website (www.operative.net) to
publish his poetry, market what he's doing, rant at the world and emit
strangled cries for help. In addition to all that, Hannibal collects comic
books, has scores of action figures, DJs private parties, is a Mac OS
zealot, sings and sometimes even hosts karaoke, practices a form of
spirituality based on ancient Egyptian belief, and goes to bed every day,
secretly hoping that half the world will commit suicide in his honor.