MC Lyte is back on the scene with her first new album in 10 years and new independent ventures with Grammy winner Warryn Campbell's My Block imprint ... the ideal situation for her, and she's warning other hip hop artists to know the contracts they're signing!!!
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00:00Do you feel like record labels are encouraging like some of the artists to say certain things
00:07or even I would go as far as to say like, do you think record labels encourage like
00:12female artists to change their looks, plastic surgery, you know, like, is that a thing that's
00:19happening?
00:20No, I'm so far removed from whatever it is that they do at this point.
00:25I just know that I was really blessed to come in it at a time when they didn't really know
00:30anything.
00:31They just wanted to be a part of it.
00:34How do we get this music to the people?
00:36We give it to them.
00:37They put it out.
00:39And I don't, I don't recall a time ever when they said you should talk about this or you
00:45should talk about that or you should look this way.
00:48Only one time with Sylvia Roan, when I was about 21, I had a cover that I needed, I needed
00:56to do a photo shoot.
00:58And you know, I chose these really like sexy, like tight pants and, you know, I had a, I
01:04had this like revealing top and after she got the photo shoot back, she called me and
01:10she was like, what is this?
01:12And I said, well, I'm growing up, you know, I want to like fit into my womanhood.
01:18And she was like, no, this isn't the time for that.
01:21You need to stay as young as you can, as long as you can.
01:26So put them jeans on and go out there and take that damn photo shoot.
01:31And literally that is the cover of Act Like You Know.
01:35It's the light ghost face little mama joint.
01:39You know, it's a, it's a particular deep dive on the music industry.
01:45You know, Atlantic Records just laid off a bunch of employees, even dropped some rappers
01:51and you really give a lot of insight on how these labels operate with artists.
01:57Is it in people's best interest and artists best interest to sign record deals?
02:02You know, it all depends on what you're in it for.
02:05You know, I feel like some of us who love the craft will continue on whether we have
02:11a major record label support or not.
02:14And those who are in it quick, you know, looking for a buck, then it behooves them
02:20to go that route so that they can, you know, skyrocket to the top quick, make the money.
02:25And then when they drop you, it doesn't matter because you're so paid.
02:29It doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter at all.
02:32Yeah, I think it brought a little bit of joy to Ghostface to be able to address that topic
02:38as well.
02:39He went in.
02:41It seems like there's, you know, it's like a big push amongst hip-hop legends such as
02:46yourself, you know, LL Cool J, Common, you guys are all, you know, all like releasing
02:51albums this year.
02:52You know, was that like a conversation during some of the Hip-Hop 50 celebrations, you know?
02:57Oh, that's interesting, no.
03:01It wasn't, but I think we all felt in that 50th year that there is a market and our fans
03:07want to see us and they showed up in large numbers.
03:12Thankful to LL Cool J and all of the Rock the Bells efforts.
03:16I went out on the tour, the forced tour, and it was live with, you know, 20 to 30,000 people
03:23every night.
03:24And then of course, we did the festival in New York City.
03:27And then I did a whole bunch of other things to celebrate the 50th.
03:32And I think everybody was feeling in their blood like, ooh.
03:35You got a little interlude on here called Vote for Change.
03:41I assume you're Team Harris.
03:43That's a good assumption.
03:48What MC Lyte song would you say best describes Kamala Harris?
03:53MC Lyte song best describes Kamala Harris.
04:00I think the VP is in alignment with Paper Thin.
04:06Yeah.
04:07I think that she would, yeah, she would fit into that mode easy of telling people what
04:16a T.I. is.
04:19What all you got behind you?
04:20What all plaques?
04:21Oh, man.
04:22There's Brandy.
04:23There's Bob Marley.
04:25There's Will Smith.
04:26There's Moby.
04:27There's Common.
04:28There's Roughneck.
04:29Oh, there's a movie, Mo Money, that I did with Ice Cream Dream with Jimmy Jam and Terry
04:43Lewis.
04:44I think that blue one up in the corner is Self-Destruction.
04:47Escape is over there.
04:50And then I've got more over there.
04:51I got Sunset Park, Mobb Deep, Rick Ross, Asher Roth, Wild Wild West.
05:00Janet is in the corner over there.
05:03Set It Off.
05:04Set It Off is over there.
05:06LSG, Will, another record I did called Who Am I on Willamania.
05:15Willamania.
05:16I know what you're saying.
05:19Supposed to be millennium, millennium.
05:22Right.