After more than three decades, MC Lyte has revealed that she now owns the trademark to her famous rap moniker.
The legendary emcee uploaded a video of herself opening up a package.
“For years I was signed to a major label and they owned the rights to my name. I created the name Lyte in 1985 that helped solidify my career in Hip Hop. I signed to the infamous @firstprioritymusic and they added the MC, appropriately due,” she captioned the video. “We were blessed to sign a huge deal with a major label. Not too long ago I received a call from the OG Nat Robinson who shared the copyright the label owned of my name was about to expire and if I wanted to grab it I should do it now. I put COO @lynnrichardson on top of it and she put it in the hands of Trademark Attorney @michellejmilleresq and the rest is history! Thank you to all involved!💗🙏🏽💗🙏🏽”
The package contained the official documents. MC Lyte proudly read the letter aloud:
“Congratulations on the federal registration of your trademark,” she reads. “Enjoy the everlasting piece of having a protected brand. You now have the exclusive right to use across the United States and the globe.”
“Wow,” she gushed. “There it is. There it is. Trademark. Thank you, Michelle Miller.”
In 1988 Lye made history by becoming the first female emcee to release an album, “Lyte as a Rock.” Her career would bring forth many firsts, including the first woman hip-hop artist to have a gold single and a solo Grammy nomination.
Speaking to Page Six last month, Lyte revealed she would have had trouble making it in the music industry today, citing her modest rap attire.
“I recently told somebody it would be really old-school for me to perform on stage with pants,” she told the outlet, “Nobody wears pants. It’s that type of thing where everybody’s giving Rockettes and Vegas showgirl flavor.”
“I’m happy that anyone feels great in their body. Perhaps if I had a different type of body I would be like, ‘Hey see this?,'” she added, “However my walk has been extremely different from that in the very beginning. I didn’t want people to look at me. I wanted them to hear me because I had something to say and I wanted them to pay attention to my words.”
