Hip-Hop legend MC Lyte is one of the culture’s trailblazers and helped to break down many of the doors now wide open to modern era female rappers.
Lyte says newer artists now have much more freedom than she and her counterparts did back in the Golden-era.
“Some things you hear now, you would’ve never heard back then,” Lyte said during an interview with Page Six. “There are women who have been here before and paved that trail for the next female MC to come out and be comfortable being wild.”
She continued: “I’m sure if you talk to any female MC from my day, we all wanted to say something crazy. For us, we had to do a lot of holding back. Holding back because it just wasn’t proper to say, or holding back because it would be beyond anyone else’s belief that that would be in our vocabulary.”
Lyte added that she is pleased to see female rappers “say exactly what it is they want to say and dress exactly how they want to dress,” while adding that freedom “comes with responsibility.”
“The growth has happened, but in some areas, it can become unruly.”
Lyte made the history books when she became the first woman in hip hop to drop a full album back in the ’80s.
Speaking to The Grio, she offered up some sage advice to those coming up in the industry.
“Surround yourself with good people, the right people, knowledgeable and integral people that will speak the truth at all costs so you don’t end up in a place that you shouldn’t be,” she said. “You have to go with your gut and your heart. People will always show you who they are by their behavior and actions. So I would say watch and pray for discernment, God delivers, you just have to open your mouth and ask.”
