Living Legends: MC Lyte On Her New Album '1 of 1,' Building An Empire & Being The Guiding Light
GRAMMY GRAMMY.COM Living Legends: MC Lyte On Her New Album '1 of 1 ' Building An Empire & Being The Guiding Light | GRAMMY.com
Hip-hop pioneer MC Lyte discusses her upcoming album, '1 of 1,' which is set for release on Aug. 9 and features collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Queen Latifah, KRS-ONE, Common, and Muni Long, among others. Lyte reflects on her career, shattering gender barriers, and the spiritual journey that influences her music today.
To bring it all the way up to now to "King King," which wasn't really planned to do as let's do a song for women, and now let's do a song for men. It didn't go like that. And when I tell you that "King King" and "Thank You" I wrote in bed at about 1 o'clock in the morning — it was just God downloading the lyrics so quickly. I couldn't even believe it. As I was writing it, I was like, oh my goodness. It's gonna stop. It won't stop.

Having this kind of conviction for your testimony speaks to the spiritual nature of your music. How else does that influence your work?

It brings people together. I think it just falls to me in a space of responsibility. It's not anything that's separate from me. Often I'll let the music lead me. And if I listen to a track, and it's like, oh, this is great. But it doesn't incite power or purpose, I'll put that track to the side. When I'm ready to just rap about nothing or rap about how dope I am, I'll pick that up. But when I'm looking for something that I want a message attached to it, the music literally will lead me into the place where I need to be open to whatever God puts on my heart.

So much of what is said in "Woman" is who I am. And same thing with "King King," it's what I believe. It's the times when I see guys in huge celebrations when they're winning, you know, trophies for basketball, and it is just like one of the most vulnerable moments to see them as they celebrate with their friends. You can see the pain and the anguish and the triumph and the tears. And it just brings chills all over my body.

To see that from these men that usually have to have these hard faces with this stance that's so mighty and strong. That's how I feel about, specifically men of color. No no one knows him. And so I wanted to celebrate them and then also their walk towards responsibility and not shying away from what it means to be in a long lasting, loving relationship.

What about your relationships with men in hip-hop? I know you and Rakim just performed together on the same stage at Rondos Day in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The interesting thing about Rakim, he's probably one of the emcees I know the least about, on a personal level. But yet, whenever we're in one another's company, we have such a high level of admiration and adoration for one another. It feels like we know one another really well. I really give honor to that. However, there are others like Biz Markie and Heavy D and Chuck D and KRS-ONE. These are my big brothers in the business.

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Those are people that would just call me and say, "What is going on? How are you feeling?" Or they'll see some performance… That's Big Daddy Kane. He's gonna tell me, "I like what you was wearing on there," or "I like the energy." It's all of these moments where I am the little sister. You know, they've seen me grow up in this business. And many times over, they've assisted in some capacity.

It's so funny how many layers, relationships exist within hip-hop, and you may not know it because you don't see it. But we know that, you know, that connection is real.

Has your songwriting or creative process evolved through the years?

Yeah. Absolutely. There's a few things that have happened. One, when you're in the spell of writing, stay there. When I was younger…you leave a song open ended to have to try to find the same sentiment days later. And it may not be there. And so [I've learned] to stay still during the writing process. And then I've also learned much more melody than usual.

Coming from New York, we have a way of wanting to put all the words that we can find to show how dope and how advanced we are as emcees. And I think for me to be able to slow down on this record and find melody and nuances that weren't as important to me before, I think that it really benefited me with this record, and that's where I will give the credit to Warryn to push me.

I remember long ago, I was talking to Nelly, and I was about to embark upon a new album. It might have been 14 years ago. But what Nelly began to explain to me, is that "I lived in New York for a summer, you guys moved so quickly. It's no wonder you all rap like that." He said, "Where we're from, we're driving to our destinations." I think that was brought to the forefront for me here with this album. I'm not in a rush. I don't need a lot of tricks with what it is that I'm saying because what I'm saying is real. And it's important. I don't need a lot of influence. You know, I'm simply speaking. It's just real talk, and I think we haven't had that for some time.

You live in Los Angeles now, but do you get back to New York?

I've lived in Brooklyn. I've lived in Manhattan. I've lived in Queens, and I've lived in Jersey. And then I came to California. I've been in California for some time now. But I go back and forth often enough that I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. I'm going back this first week of August, which is pretty exciting, doing a lot of press for the album, and then also, performing at Wingate Park, which is where I attended high school.

**Speaking of, where are we going to see MC Lyte performing soon?**

I'm on the Queens of R&B tour. So we did Atlanta, Charlotte, New York, and then Madison Square Garden. There's going to be a show [in Los Angeles] at the [Kia] Forum. Cincinnati Music Festival, I'm performing out there, and I'm doing "King King," bringing them, you know, some new music at the same time, which is pretty exciting.

You also have a full plate with your other endeavors: acting, voice overs, mentorship. Do you get fuel from these different activities to inspire the other work you do?

Absolutely. I'm actually on set now. I played detective Monroe in a [BET] show called "Angel." I'm on set all week with this.

We have a full fledged production and management company [Sunni Gyrl]. Right now, our premier talent is Van Van, who is an internet sensation turned actor, recording artist. She's actually 5; she just released her first album. She also plays a character called Vancy with Snoop Dogg on Doggyland.

We've got other talent, gospel singers, Dave Hollister. And then production wise, we had a sitcom that I wrote ["Partners in Crime"], we've got a few deals around town with different projects, TV shows, cooking shows, competitive shows. I just signed on to be music supervisor for a short film called The Memo, by a new company called A Seed Productions and it's pretty powerful. I'm looking forward to all that comes from that.

But, yeah, each day it's a different hat. It makes it completely exciting.

What drives you to continue to commit yourself to mentorship and fostering new talent in the next generation through all that you're doing through Sunni Gyrl?

It just feels it feels like the right thing to do. I don't know any other way. And it's crazy because I meet people all the time that had met me at a younger age. And they say to me, "You said this to me and that really mattered at that time. I wanna tell you what it did for me."

My close friends would call me grandma because I'm always imparting something that can be used later — and I don't even know that I'm really doing it. I'm just talking. It's just the idea of never being afraid to share your weaknesses and your shortcomings. Just being an open book to help someone else get to the next step, the next phase.

There have been some autobiographies that I've read throughout time, and you know the ones that are just ink on the page. And you know the ones that had to see past their tears to actually write it. And that alone is what brings people closer to you. It's the human bond. And if you're willing to just be that open book, so many people can learn from what it is that you're saying. And it may not even be what you're saying. It could be the cornerstone for them to go get the knowledge or, you know, educate themselves about something completely different. I think as an emcee, I have to really be in tune with the power that I have and that words are powerful and have meaning. And so why not use them, responsibly and purposefully?

Can you tell me a bit more about the importance of listening? And have you always felt like a good listener?

No. Even now, it's still a struggle with me. You know, acting is all about listening.

I think a lot of times [what] we do in life is we take the part that incites some sort of reaction, and then we don't even pay attention to what was said before or after. For me, it's important that I slow down in order to listen. Because first off, I'm quick. And so are a lot of other people.

I've tasked myself each and every day with slowing down enough to listen.

Listening during acting has taught me how to listen in life. And that not everything said deserves a response or requires a response. It's the admittance of not knowing that's humbling.

How do you find the energy? What is the source of this well that you're continually pouring from?

The source: God. That's all I can attribute it to, because it's certainly not me. I just allow myself to be used as the vessel to get the thing done. It's a part of the dream. So while I'm doing it, I'm just grateful like, wow. I asked for this. Oh, yeah. And I asked for that. And so I only ask that God give me the wherewithal to handle it as it comes and also to say no to the things that I just don't have time to do and don't fulfill the ultimate goal.

What artists today are you excited about or you're listening to?

I love what Common and Pete Rock are doing right now. Rapsody, Tierra Whack. I listen to a lot of people in terms of Kendrick, in terms of Drake. And, I listen to Tems.

I just hope that the new artists coming in today find their strength at an earlier turn than a lot of us.

A lot of times, I believe artists understand who they are much more when they've gone out into the world and understand how blessed they are to even be in the position to speak their minds. There are plenty of places where not just women, but anyone who wants to speak out against the system, or disagree with a certain politic, or a political stance, or political agenda [cannot].

What other advice would you give a younger you or artists coming up now?

Surround yourself with people that have your best interest. And when you're young, you don't really know who those people are. But I would just say what you see, believe it. And you can see things much better than what you're told. Because people lie. Unfortunately, if everybody told the truth, then I wouldn't have to advise you to watch people show you much better than they tell you anything.

There's always room for improvement and to stay focused on what it is that you started out with. Because many times, there will be distractions. There will be distractions along the way, and you wanna make sure that you reach the intended goal. And know what you're in it for.