Kiki.D

African American Experience in the Performing Arts

Professor Sybil 

27 September 2018 

30 Years of Lyte

MC Lyte is a council member of The Kennedy Center’s Hip-Hop Culture Council (HHCC) which consists of a powerful pool of high-profile visionaries like herself, LL Cool J, and Common (just to name a few). Council members contribute to the greater good of society, using a combination of their talents, wisdom, and resources to further people’s knowledge and appreciation for hip-hop culture. Being that MC Lyte is one of three women amongst a council of 15 other men, she is no stranger to being a rarity and representation of minorities/historically oppressed groups of people. 

On September 21st, I attended MC Lyte’s 30th anniversary celebration of her debut album, Lyte as a Rock. I believe that the Kennedy Center chose to honor MC Lyte because she is an icon and she is the first for many deserved reasons. MC Lyte is the first female MC to release a full album in 1988. She is also the first female MC to perform hip-hop in the white house, and the first female MC to celebrate an anniversary at the Kennedy Center.

MC Lyte wanted acknowledgement and respect from the audience. This was not specifically verbalized, but I felt this way because prior to her making her first appearance on stage, she was represented by two ladies from her foundation called, Hip-Hop Sister’s Network. They listed MC Lyte’s background information and various accomplishments, highlighting the many ways that MC Lyte uses hip-hop as an artist. 

Instead of selfishly using her platform for fame and fortune, she uses it to help those who lack financial stability and opportunity. She has provided over $900,000 to students in scholarships and she raised over $200,000 of her own money. MC Lyte also wanted the audience to understand the true appreciation she has for their attendance and loyalty. She mentioned how it is common for ‘youngins’ to walk up to her and recognize her as the lady from BET (Black Entertainment Television). She does voice overs for BET, and older people who are familiar with her career paths know her to be so much more than belonging to BET. “I do hundreds of shows with thousands of people and I never really know what they are here for but today I know why. We celebrate 30 years,” said MC Lyte. 

MC Lyte uses African aesthetic conventions such as interdisciplinary performance. Her words were not the only contributions to her performance because her actions and fashion spoke for her, too. She spent a good amount of time performing on the left, middle, and right of the stage, so the audience got fair and equal opportunity to see her from different angles. She did one outfit change, wearing heels and a flashy jacket in the first one and a more free flowing top and sneakers in the second outfit. This showed her ability to be versatile and go against gender conforming ideas for example: girls having to wear skirts and heels, while boys get to wear the comfortable shirts and sneakers.

The predominate percussive aesthetic was showcased in her performance because she did call and response several times. She would ask us to echo her words and I believe that this also ties into the improvisational aspects of african aesthetic conventions because although involving the audience is typically a planned act it is an unrehearsed one. The audience did a great job singing along to the songs they knew, dancing, and cheering when the DJ would play a throwback or fan favorite jam.

MC Lyte’s content is unique in a genre of hip-hop where profit often overshadows integrity. In the first song she performed titled, “We Here Now” she says: “Hater’s paper been thin since I did it/ best believe that I g-get it/ I represent for my whole damn city/ If I go down then they go down with me/ but if I go up we gon’ cut” (“cut” meaning celebrate). Similar to African aesthetic conventions, MC Lyte’s art is functional and contributes to the good of many communities. Her art is inspirational, educational, representative of her community (POC, women, and more) and representative of her leadership. During her set, her drummer was a prominent part and had a solo. MC Lyte did a couple minutes of spoken word/acapella as well, but overall, MC Lyte’s gift of lyricism, transparency and authenticity resulted in a memorable night…

Blog Post #30