The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: MC Lyte On New Album, The Evolution Of Hip Hop, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett, Personal Life + More

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

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Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. An icon, a legend, hip hop royalty. Man. Ladies and gentlemen, we have MC Lyte. Welcome. Thank you. How are you feeling this morning? Thank you very much. I feel good. I feel energized. The weather is really giving me New York.

Yes, it's New York. Horrible. Horrible. Is this the first time you've been on Breakfast Club? No. No? Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

How do you feel when you hear that icon, you know, legend? Because it's all true. Pioneers is another one you should add. How do you feel? Because you look a little taken aback when you heard it. No, actually, that's not what I felt. Coming through the hallway, I didn't expect. Oh, the big guy.

Big Mac. Big Mac. It was kind of big and big style, you know. It feels good, I guess. Yeah. I feel like I'm still doing work you know and I think there's also a whole host of people that really don't understand why other people say that well one of the reasons is you are the first female rapper to release a full

solo album with light as a rock back in 88 did you even understand the gravity of that did you even know what that meant back then? Absolutely not. Yeah, no, I went in. As a matter of fact, I can look at it now and see that it was an audition. But when they asked me to come to Staten Island to meet with the record label, I just was going. I had my little rhyme book. I asked my mom, could I go?

I think it was on a school night. And so I met the guy that really I grew up in hip hop with. As a matter of fact, I write my rhymes the same way that he taught me how to write my rhymes. And so I got on the ferry. I went all the way over there and, you know, I had my rhyme book. I pulled it out. I said my rhyme. Milk was like, say something to this. OK, now say something to that. And, you know, and literally that's how I crammed to understand you and paper thin and light as a rock and all of that was born. But no, I just felt like I was. I was just doing what I loved.

What got you into rapping back then? Right, because everybody thought back then it was going to be a trend. It was going to be here for a little bit and then gone. And and growing up in Queens, what got you into saying, I want to do this? And what made you say, I'm going to take it serious to make this a quote unquote career? Right. Well, I grew up in Brooklyn. Brooklyn.

I don't know why it's a little different. Although I did spend a lot of time in Queens and Far Rockaway. That's where my grandfather lived. I think after listening to Melly Mel with the message and sequence and you know all of the cold crush brothers and spending time in harlem with my grandmother and all of my cousins over there it wasn't until i heard salt and pepper and then when i heard them i was like oh wait a minute i think i might be able to do this and then at that time i felt like i had something to say which was i crammed understand you you know the drug scene and seeing crackheads in brooklyn

seeing heroin addicts in harlem it was like okay i got a message from my generation didn't you you lived in brooklyn for a second right no i was born in brooklyn oh somebody told me that y'all lived like a block away from each other between uh rutland between 91st and 92nd. In Rutland Road? Yes. My grandfather lived there, so I would go there in the summers to see my grandfather. Oh, see, in the summers, I was with my grandfather in Rockaway, Queens.

Yeah, that's why. People always seen you in Queens, and people always seen me in there in Starry City. Oh, yeah. Because I had a grandfather over there, and then I have one in Starry City. So back then, what your parents did in the summertime when you were off of school, there was no camp.

They drop you off at Grandpa's house and then they pick you back up on Friday. So I would spend a lot of time in Brooklyn. Because you would eat flat boots between, eat flat boots on the borderline of Brownsville, right? Yeah, yeah. New Lots, Sutter Ave. And I think once you cross that train track, you was in Brownsville, right? Yeah, yeah. New Lots, Sutter Ave. And I think once you cross that train track, you was in Brownsville,

which I shopped in Picken Avenue. That's where you get the cheap sandals, jellies, and your lees, and things that you needed to look cool in what I call the Caribbean part of Brooklyn. I'm a fake in Jamaica. You're a fake in Jamaica? Me too. Yes, I am. How were you able to stay clear, like, all the violence

that stemmed from, like, that crack era? Oh, I don't, God. All right, all right, all right. You know, I've seen, matter of fact, all of the guys that I grew up with, the ode of roughneck to all of the guys that I grew up with are no longer here. Wow.

Yeah, they all died by the hand of violence. But, you know, looking at how you grew up in Brooklyn, you know, I always say that. And the same thing with Queens. I always used to say that even though selling drugs was bad, there was some type of. I would say. They controlled the streets. Right. So you wouldn't see a lot of the crime that you see now. Back then, you would see a lot of drug dealers shooting each other, but now it just seems like there is no nothing. It just seems like people are running wild. Did you notice that back then where it was like, it was rules, like you don't mess with older women, you don't mess with the kids.

If the kids were doing something wrong, the drug dealers would actually tell them, no, no, no, you got to straighten up or this, that, and the other. I don't see that anymore, and I feel like as effed up as it sounds I feel like that's why the streets are a little messed up there is nobody out there controlling the streets and making the kids do the right thing do you see that as well growing up uh you know I hadn't thought about it but now that you put it out there it does seem a little lawless like as anything goes and it's and very much no rhyme or reason, you know. So, yeah, I think back in the days, it's like, no, leave that one alone.

That's not it. Or, you know, like I've heard stories from Pac and different guys that said they wanted to go that route, but the guy said, nah, this ain't for you. You stay over there. We're going to support you in that area and not try to tempt you over here. So, yeah, no, I don't think, I don't know if that exists. It might. You stay over there. We're going to support you in that area and not try to tempt you over here. So, yeah, no, I don't think, I don't know if that exists. It might.

You said something else too. You said you went to go audition. Like they had auditions back then? Yeah, but I didn't know it was an audition. It wasn't until later. I was like, yeah, I guess I was auditioning, you know, because they wanted to see what I had. The guy that I grew up with, writing rhymes with or whatever, he called me up. He was like, there's a record label. They're looking for a female MC. Do you want to go out

there? And literally it hinged on my mother saying yes or no. So she was like, you know what? Okay. And at that point I had been going to Latin quarters and I had already recorded with Clark Kent because he was a friend of a girl that used to work at Chi Chi's Mexican restaurant because that's where I work and I met him and I said I had this rhyme and he was like come to Brooklyn you know the innocence of it all here I am going to this guy's basement in Brooklyn like it could have ended so many different ways however I laid the first rendition of I Cram to Understand You down on there. So by the time I got to milk and then I had already been with George Lucien, who is Full Force's father.

He would come over. I would rehearse with the brush in the living room and get my chops up saying salt and pepper on. And actually. I'm much more comfortable speaking like this, but because I've always been taught to come from the diaphragm, I'm always on extra. So when I talk like this, people like, what's wrong? I'm just I'm just talking. Do you remember when you got your first deal and how much the first deal was, how much you got paid? I don't even think. Well, I got an an advance which was five thousand dollars Jesus and I took that five thousand dollars and I put it on my Jetta like the whole thing like oh yeah that's all I need is a car um but then when I started touring is when I started making money and then I got a house and then without budgeting or anything by the time I furnished the house I had nothing to cover my windows with and so I had to put sheets

and no blinds I had to put sheets up in the window and have my manager stop by and be okay with that scene and it wasn't until I went out on the road the next time that I could finish the house so you know there's so much more money being made in this business and I can only hope that the youngins are doing the right thing with it because there are ebbs and flows. Absolutely. Were you in high school when your first single was released? Yeah.

Wow, great. I was in the 10th grade. No, I think I was in my last year of school. With a whole single out? Yeah, yeah. That single came out in the winter, and so I was in school, and I wanted to get out of school early so I took extra courses at Boys and Girls High the summer before so I was out

by January and I was headed to Norfolk State University I already put my money in I was gonna be a well like I'm a Sigma Gamma Rho Soror right now but I was headed somewhere else so in any case I went and decided I needed a job until I was gonna save my money up and so I went and became a messenger so I know every street in New York City

and so I did that and yeah I was in school so you never went to Norfolk? I never made it to Norfolk State University because I got the record deal and my mother was like, this is just too much.

You can't go away and do this and do that. I'm surprised your mom didn't make you go there. Because most parents would have been like, no, no, no, forget this rap. Get going to that HBCU. I don't think she wanted to be separated. Because it's just she and I. And so I went to Hunter for two days

and on the second day they said there's a tour in Copenhagen you the youngsters and audio too and that was it and you went out there did you get any money from because you sold millions of records did you get any of that published in royalties any anything back then um slightly slightly but nothing like you know i should have yeah i mean this is a treacherous game and what's interesting is on the internet now is like every nook and cranny you can see truth being told which is is... Really? Truth? Well, yeah. You got some people that are just like, look, this is how the record deal works. Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Which I think is really admirable of those people to kind of speak their truth. You mentioned audio, too. Were y'all related? No. There was always a rumor that... Was it Nat Robinson? Yeah, I mean, it wasn't something

that other people came up with. It was the story that we told. And it was because Nat Robinson, who was my manager, basically took me on as one of his children. And he had a sit-down talk with my mom, and she was like, okay, what's happening here? He was like, we're going to take care of her. And literally when I would get off of the stage stage I would be right back in the hotel room there was no room for me to

mess around or mess up and have you know stories being told about MC Lyte so I thank him for keeping me safe and because of that his children became somewhat like my brothers. Wow. So that's interesting, right? Because we hear all of the challenges that female rappers face now. So I can only imagine how it is when you're the first person over the hill. The first person over the hill takes all the shots. So I was going to ask, how did you just, I guess, stay protected? Was it because of people like that yeah definitely because of nat robinson and then also because of security when i think about back in those days i had three security guards with me at all times simply because we just didn't know what would happen or could happen and you don't want it to happen and then you know it's almost like leaving your bag in a car you

don't why leave it in the car because then you're gonna have to chase down how you know who has it how can i get it back so we didn't want anything to happen and yeah i paid three security guards and who's that was that your mom's idea was that the labels idea no it was management because we didn't want to take any chances. And I think it wasn't until maybe I was 25, I took my first trip alone, which was really enlightening because I felt like all that time I had, I couldn't see because they was in front of me. So once I was like, oh, wow. Where did you go your first trip?

This is life. It might have been Kona. It might have been. Yeah. Where the hell is Kona? Hawaii. Hawaiiaii yeah don't act like you knew where it was you didn't know what corner was i didn't i was just gonna act like i wasn't gonna say nothing i just i'm gonna google it later but did um did your life change in high school like is that when the stardom first kicked in uh uh yeah i guess it was when people started to recognize me oh but you but you know what? Because they knew I told them I was coming out with a record. But while I was doing messenger work is when I went to deliver a package to the is it the great building? building it's somewhere on off the 40s on the east side and i went into the mail room and this guy say yo yo yo and he called some people from the back he said that's mc light i was like oh

how the hell i said what do you know he said i got the magazine And it was a picture of K-Rock and I. So it was like, oh, shit, my cover is blown. Did you quit? Not yet. Okay. You needed that check. Not yet. Right. I was waiting for, well, I still lived at home,

so I didn't really need the check. But I wanted the check because I was going to school. I was getting ready to go to Norfolk, and so I wanted to stack my chips up. But no, I had to wait for that day for my management to tell me that we had the record deal and I could quit. How has it been watching the evolution of hip hop from 88 to now? It's been great. I mean, literally we have

taken this gift from god and blown this thing all the way out to out of the hemisphere like i would have never thought first off that i could support myself support my mom give jobs to you know that's my niece right there. And what other people have been able to do for their families and the breakfast club and, you know, the clothing lines and the podcast. And I mean, it just goes on and on. It's a dream for all of us to really do what it is that we love. When did it start to slow down for MC Lyte? Because growing up, I mean, it was, you name it. It was cha-cha-cha.

The records were flowing. Then it seemed like there was a switch in hip hop a little bit. And I would say maybe that's when Kim and Foxy, that era, started to turn around. So when did it start to slow down and why was it? I think like many, many times there's maybe a song or an artist that comes in and switches the whole situation. I think Naughty by Nature did that. And then I think Biggie did that. And, you know, on and on.

And for me, I think what happened was in 97 or 98 specifically, I had an album that I really worked hard on without the help of A&R because they were doing LSG. And I'm talking about Merlin Bob. You know, he's a really good friend and I respect him. He did a lot of things for me during my career. But during this time, once I finished the album, he came back and and said we need to take some of these songs off and I was like what like at that time I let my ego you know ride and I was like you can't tell me what to take off you wasn't even here for this you know I was too emotionally attached to working with the track masters and working with LL and Beanie Man and Pharrell and Missy and Total and I had this jam-packed album with way too many songs and so I think the focus wasn't there um and then they asked me to go back in and work on a new album and I was like I just

got out of the studio working on a new album and after that point or during that point Will Smith had started a record label he was like Light if you ever want to come over here let's do it so at that time my manager was like you know what maybe we should take him up on his offer and we did and as soon as we did he lost his distribution damn damn which was with Interscope. Overbrook. Overbrook. Overbrook. Yeah.

And I was just like, okay. And I was getting a stipend. You know, it's like. Will Smith had the bag at that time. That's when every movie was popping. He had, what, Kel Spencer at that time. He still don't got the bag now. But that time he was at one of the highest, though.

And he was just, it was a lot going on. And Kel Spencer was one of the people that was riding with me. And so once he lost the distribution, I was sitting there getting a stipend, and I was like, okay, I don't want them to make the call that the stipend is over. Let me make the call and say, you know what, all I need is this, the songs that I've done already, and one more stipend check, and then I'm gonna go make this thing happen because they were just sitting and James Lasseter was like I

don't want him thinking about nothing but Ali right now and so we're waiting for him to talk music with us but they don't want him to talk music because they want him to win this Oscar which is you know I got to respect that and so that's when everything was just like, oh, okay, what am I going to do now? Damn it, I should have went to Norfolk State University. How does that not affect, like, your personal relationship, though, right? Because, you know, I've read Jada's book, and y'all are, like,

the best of friends, so clearly there's a family vibe there. Y'all are family. How does that affect y'all, you know, personally when you feel like, well, damn, I thought we were supposed to be doing this professionally, but I need things to move a certain way. What's up? Yeah, I don't talk to Jada about Will's stuff. Yeah, yeah.

And I don't talk to Will about Jada's stuff, especially business, you know, because. But I'll talk about you and Will. I'm just talking about. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what would happen is I would call Will anyway. And then he would tell me what he wanted to do.

But he can't do what he wants to do. He has to rely, like many of us, on other people. So I consider all of us to be the quarterbacks. And once we throw the ball, somebody got to take it down the field. And if they don't want to go down that way or they don't want to play on that field, you're kind of subject to what it is that you rely on them for. And so James was like clear. He didn't even want us talking to Will about music. So I was already going against the grain by calling him saying, OK, what are we going to do?

So, yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things where all of it went different. Sylvia Roan was like, what are you doing in L.A.? I need you on the streets of New York City. People need to see you. And I'm like, oh, I'm trying to act, you know. So when when it came, the one thing that Nat Robinson said to me, and though he said many things throughout the years, which helped, but the thing that I remember most is we're going to make you popular, independent of a hit record.

And once he said that, that gate, that allowed me to dream bigger to see, okay, I need to prepare myself for all these other moments. I want to do voiceover. Let me go to coaching. I want to act. Let me go to class. And so that kind of opened up the spectrum for me. It's interesting because all of y'all had those opportunities, it seemed like, early. Like you saw Queen Latifah and Ice Cubes and The Wills.

Was that like a thing? Kidding play. Kidding play, yeah. No, it really was. And why my route went differently is I left William Morris very early. We had gotten some word that some shows for me had gone to other people. Promoters were complaining that they were trying to get me and they couldn't. And so my manager said, you know what, we need to go to a performance agency that just does performance. We tried to keep theatrical at William Morris,

but they don't break it up. And so at that time, I wind up going with another agency who was spectacular. I worked all through the 90s. To this day, if you look on Spotify, I've got more listeners in Germany and, you know, France and Spain than I do in some of the states in the United States of America, which is really odd to me, but that's just the way it is. I spent a lot of time over there. And so while they were doing their shows, I was out touring. And so I didn't do my sitcom until, you know, two, three years ago, which was fun, too, because I was really present for it.

Most of the 20s went by in such a flash. I think you're blessed enough to have a second chance around so you can actually see it happening. And you know, another reason you're a pioneer, you're the first solo woman rapper to receive a gold record with Roughneck. Yeah. How did it feel to get a gold with that record?

Because you said that was an ode to like the people around you. Right. Honestly, at the time, it felt good to be acknowledged for any record. But I guess that's sort of like, you know, how it is. They say Denzel gets recognized for training day. It's like Roughneck? Really? Okay, I'll take it.

It was great. I remember we were on tour and they had the phone in the bag. The big box phone. The big box phone. And my manager, you know, we were pulled over on the side at some road in or whatever getting food. And he walked up and he said,'ve been nominated and I was like okay that's great so they read it off at Radio City and of

course I come out the year Deep Cover is out and I was like damn that was quick you know like you're one of the reasons that men are so toxic between the hardcore era hip-hop and you saying that you want a lady want a roughneck right oh yeah that's terrible that's

how we gotta be i'm so sorry wow i'm so sorry when i perform now i'm like where all the rough okay where's all the reformed yeah i'm sorry about that you ever go back and look at that you said you were on a tour do you ever go back and look at some of the horrible places that you stayed? Oh, my God. And the disgusting places that you ate? But back then it was normal. It was.

Yes. When I think about the days in and how all of us was like rammed up. In a room. It was normal. It was five of us in a room. Somebody slept on the bed. Somebody slept on the floor. Somebody was on the couch. Red Roof Inn, Holiday Inn. you know I toured on those Budweiser Fest with all the R&B people like so I was the only hip hop artist with Keith Sweat and BBD

and the way they were treated they had full meals they had warm rooms that were furnished totally and completely different from a hip hop tour with 10 different you know

rap artists. And then let alone touring with Janet. That's a whole nother situation. But what it does is it teaches you what you should expect. And what you should make people responsible for. So, yeah, it's definitely a learning curve. You know, one of my favorite verses from you was on self-destruction, but even back then you always had socially redeeming messages in your,

in your, in your, in your music. Why did you feel the need to address social and political issues back then? Well, I attended an African school as a kid called Weusi Shule. And excuse me, there were certain values that we just learned. And I felt like I needed to use my voice for something elevator. She was on the seventh floor, but I think on the third or fourth floor was the rehabilitation center. So sometimes getting into the elevator, I would see like heroin addicts that had decayed veins and holes. And I just was like, what a rough life. I need to say something to my peers in hopes of them never going this route. And then aside from that, I saw Fort Apache, the Bronx really early in life. And I was like,

oh my God, they put her on drugs. They made her a drug addict. So no, you don't need to be anywhere around that. So I think that's where it stems from. You think artists now have a cultural responsibility to use their voice for advocacy and just to spread messages? I would think so, but that's not the story that most of us tell. I do think that there is

room for everyone, and I always have to use what it is that I know. Heavy D wasn't that, but we still loved him. He promoted love, which I think is one of the most important aspects of life. Will was never that, but we love him still. He made us feel good and feel confident and strong. So I think it's room for it all.

But I do think it shouldn't be ignored. You think that's missing in hip hop now? Like the self-destruction type of records, people coming together for good? Because you don't really see that anymore. Like, I don't think you can get a self-destruction type of record now. I think we could if someone who, I think if Kendrick said we're going to do it,

it would happen. You got to give the power to those who have it at this moment. And if they decided that that's what they wanted to do, I'm sure it would happen. Who put self-destruction together? KRS-One. KRS-One. And he called everybody and said, let's do it.

And everybody obliged. Absolutely. And you haven't put out an album in 10 years. But you got a new album coming out called 101. Yeah. And why are you getting back into this crazy game? LL challenged me. Really?

Yeah. And why are you getting back into this crazy game? LL challenged me. Really? Yeah. We we did a leading women define is one of those annual events. Debra Lee does. And so I did a fireside chat with him. And in the midst of it, you know, he says, I'm putting out new music. I was like, oh, that's great. He said, when you put it out. And I was like, well, that's great. He said, when are you putting out music? And I was like, well, I don't know. He was like, stop being scared. I was like, scared? Once he said that, and I was like, okay, I got to get to it.

And I had been working on music, but I had been working on music so long. At that point, it was just like, okay, I guess I'm just working on music with no real plans to do anything with it. And then finally I said, now's the time. In 2014, I did a really great record called Legend. Yeah. And the guy, the executive producer was not such a good guy. And he took advantage of the producers that were on the record.

And I just was like, I don't want to get into that hell and so I'd rather give it away than get into the game of the promotion and marketing and involving these guys who really weren't being taken care of in the right way and so that kind of fell by the wayside and I think that took a little bit of steam out of me as well but um this this new one um I really enjoyed making it you got a song uh King, with Queen Latifah, where you're uplifting and honoring good men. Is that your way of atoning for Roughneck? I'm trying to right your wrongs.

Sure thing. Yeah, you know what's so crazy is I get so emotional when I see, like, the winning team, that moment of vulnerability when they've won and they're showing one another, but perhaps they're not with other guys who have made that step into what it really takes to enter into manhood. And so it's like, nah, she ain't the one or, you know, you've got to you've got to be able to decide who is good for you. And so I just wanted to, you know, uplift those who have made those decisions in hopes of the younger on the way to being king can say, oh, that's a good thing. Creating and creating the spotlight for the role model so that they can become what it is that others will look at and say, I can be that. How was it being back in the studio with Queen Latifah,

just spending that time with her? It was great. You know, we spend a bit of time together preparing for her shows. So we've done maybe about four shows with her this year. And when I say we, I mean myself and Yo-Yo and Moni Love. Mon about four shows with her this year and when I say we I mean myself and yo-yo and monie love monie love tours with her all the time but when she calls in the pack we all come in and we get to spend a couple of days together uh but this it was so funny I was in the studio I told I'm gonna be in the studio from um two to two she shows up at midnight. She's like, yo, where you at?

Okay, I'm here. And she shows up and I play it for her and I'm like, okay. And she goes, okay. And she goes into the studio. And so my promise to her is, do this and I don't want nothing else from you. Ever again in life? Well, no. With this song.

With this song. Right. And so that makes it easy for her because she's got a lot on her plate. And so if I'm expecting her to do this and that and the video, I need you to show up for this, this, this, it's like, like, she's not going to wind up doing the song. So I'm like, just get in there and do it. This is all I need right now.

And so she just went in and did it. There's something about you, Queenifah salt and pepper it's it's like we we celebrate y'all but it's like i don't feel like you're celebrated the way you you properly should be it's like we have a way of doing it with the guys like you know the hoes and the nads and all them that we don't do with the women and i don and I don't know if I know how or why. You got to go back an era, too. You said, you got to think, when you talk about Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa, you got to go to Slick Rick,

because that's that same era. And they don't do it for those artists as well. LL Cool J. You see how I was talking about the women? No, but the reason I say that is you're talking about artists in the 2000s, which is a different age group. What are you talking about 2000s? 2000s.

Nas, Jay-Z, they transcended to the 2000s. But they started in the 90s which is a different age group 2000 Nas Jay-z they transfer they transcend it to the 2010s you got a thing MC light was more slick Rick LL Cool J and those type of artists with the 90s keep on keeping on with the 90s rock Cole Rockaparty. I want to be down remix. Cole was considered the 2010 era. The 2000, 2010 era. Well, he's just lasted for a really long time. But I think to dabble

in that for a minute because I don't know that I have the right answer but it's spawning a thought which is you only really need one powerful champion. And Will has had that. LL has had that.

Jay-Z has had that. Nas was able to garner that after the beef with Jay-Z. So you have to have a champion that sees the worth, which really comes down to helping you, you know, get to the dream or the goal, but it's also a business. It's about making money. So if they see a way in for everyone to be able to benefit, then they spend a little time and energy there. It would take someone who people respect to say this is the one to pay attention to.

And I guess I was on my way to that with Will saying, come on, you know, join a label. And during that time, I did a record with, you know, with him that was multi-platinum. I showed up on the soundtracks, you know, so when you're able to really diversify is when you can see some level of success. But I do agree with you that it could be more done. I feel like the 80s artists had a tough time, and I feel like we don't celebrate those artists enough, right? We talk about lights and the Queen of Hearts. I don't consider you an 80s artist, though. Well, I started in 88. I got one off in 88. Even the early 90s. Yeah, but most in 88. Even the early 90s.

Yeah, but most of my success is in the 90s. But what I can say is so did Will, so did LL. Nas was shortly after. He came in 92. So that wasn't too far. But even LL, I don't feel like LL gets the love and respect that he should for what he has done. Like if you really think about it, when people talk about top fives,

LL should be in that conversation. A lot of times he's not, which is crazy to me. You think about what LL did and what he transcended to what he is. I feel like he doesn't necessarily get the love that he should get. Big Daddy came the same way. Who else is in that same era?

I guess I'm in the circle that gives the love so and i i see the respect and now with his new brand and the new platform that he has i think you know for me success is tied to how many others can you help who are you lifting up who are you reaching back to pull up and he's definitely been able to do that and put a lot a lot of people to work who um who haven't been to work in some time absolutely when you say champion do you mean like like managers or executive from a label like it could be just association you know i think um You know, I think Fat Joe flows a lot of power to Remy. And, you know, back in the days, we needed that, right? So every female kind of came through the ranks through some men who were who exuded some power at that point.

And now today is like women are popping up all over the place, not really needing a cosign from anyone. But from the era which we hail, it's everyone that you name sort of outlasted the posse that they were a part of. But yet, what's the next? What's the next space? What's the next spot? And a lot of I think a lot of agents um kind of want to be those guys you know so it's like how can I help them now I'm associated with them so I've got this machismo thing going on and they've held on to their agents for really long I'm probably one of the I'm probably one of the artists who has kind of skipped around a lot and it's not that I'm not loyal it's just that okay what are we going to do now what what is the next level up and so throughout my career I've had three managers one for 13 years one for 13 years, one for 13 years. And now I'm with this one for about 14 years now.

I've moved agents because I'm not going to stay with someone who doesn't believe in what it is that I'm doing. And your vigor for me can't wane. I need to feel like we're in this together. And if you're telling me to go do a new record and I just did one, it just doesn't feel good. So I'm going to go where the love is. All right. The reason I brought y'all three up,

Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, and yourself, because y'all are like the prototype for every single woman rapper that we've seen. There's something, every single woman rapper, every type of woman rapper we've seen from the Rhapsodies to the Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, whoever it is, there's something from one of y'all in all of them. And I am, you know, clearly from Salt-N-Pepa, you know,

and Shy Rock. And it's so funny because Dougie talks about this hip-hop tree. Have you ever heard him talk about this it's like this hip hop tree with these four branches and everybody sort of stems off these branches and so I'm clearly from the

Shah Rock Salt and Pepper and yeah I see it I see it in Rhapsody I see it in Tierra Whack I see and. I see it in Rhapsody. I see it in Tierra Whack. I see, and many others. But it feels, I mean, I think everybody in the same instance is being themselves. And so I think that's important. Missy, as a matter of fact, feels like MC Lyte and Salt-N-Pepa.

And she's this wonderful amalgamation of all of it, including Mary. I think once upon a time, the Source had a magazine where they had all the female MCs and they named us all and she was the innovator. And I think that captures her because she's able to like create what's not there. And. Like like a comet, you know, and just throw it into the zeitgeist. Now, when they called you to be the voice, because now I feel like you're the voice of award shows now.

And yes. So when they called you did you first say yeah I'm gonna do it or did you say I don't know if I want to do that oh well you know what I had done it for VH1 hip-hop honors I was backstage interviewing people and doing stuff and then I guess one of the producers that also works on BET said we need to get her over here on this one and so to me it it made sense i was ready as a matter of fact i was going to norfolk state university to major in communications to do radio because i heard carol ford and i was like oh her voice kind of sounds like mine it's kind of raspy maybe i can do that and so here it is full circle i'm able to use my voice is there any voiceover work you've done that

we don't know about like you're playing a cricket or something? I don't know. No. But you know what? It's funny listening to you do voiceover work. It's live, right? When you do voiceover work? Most of it. How do you go in and out?

Because sometimes something will happen on stage and you have to have a straight voice. All right. Let me see. Like, how does that? What was the most awkward? The bumpers are already pre-done. So I don't have to worry about that. Any awkward moments where you're like, oh shit, I got to get this on?

Right. No, I think the most thing that's kind of out is when I'm doing perhaps the Emmys where I'm unfamiliar with the pronunciation. And so it has to take a little bit of time. And I'm from New York. So I'm always putting the accent on the wrong thing. So I have to rehearse to make sure that I properly say people's names. Because that, I mean, when someone's getting an award or a nomination, the least you could do is say the person's name correctly.

Absolutely. Yeah. You mentioned somebody, did you say Sylvia's name correctly yeah you mentioned somebody you say sylvia ron that told you to get back to new york yes sylvia i was her first signing as a as an executive and so um yeah she wanted me back in new york and at that time i was appearing on yvette lee bowser's for your love so i had a recurring character. And I was in acting class. And I was like, this is the next move. But, yeah, she wanted me back in New York.

She felt like it was really important as an emcee and being in hip-hop that I not lose my grounding, which eventually I did because people didn't see me here and probably felt like it wasn't important that I didn't see that it was important enough. And yeah, no, I was on it. Well, I mean, people see what it is that you put into it. So if you're where everything is happening, then it's like, OK, committed to the process. But if I'm in California, which everybody thinks is la la land in the first place, it's like, okay, how serious is she taking this?

Especially the record label and the people that work at the label, because I'm sure it wasn't just her who wanted me back here. It probably was the marketing people and the radio people and everybody else. And so I stuck to my guns and was like, no, I'm in L.A. to learn. I was in acting class for two years, acting school for two years, and I was ready for that next step. Well, back then there was no social media too, right? So you would see everybody.

Like you would see LL, you know, on Jamaica Avenue. You would see, you know, Big Daddy Kane downtown Brooklyn or Harlem. I seen Run DMC the first time at TSS so you would see your local artists around and the fact that they didn't see you there was no social media to be like I'm here still you know right right people still see things and they remember things though because one of my homies told me to ask you about an Italian made white truck that you had in the 90s oh and they said you're the only one in the states with it

well it was like what kind of truck was it it was a La Forza and there were the only one in the States with it. It was like, what kind of truck was it? It was a La Forza. And there were 3,500 in the United States. And I got it at an auction in California. And I had it driven here. And then somebody broke a window. And it took forever for me to get it. It was one year. It was made in 1989.

And it was Fiat and Maserati and Ford got together and made this car for one year. And so I wound up giving it to Milk. It was a pain in the ass. I was about to ask you. You don't still have it, right? I need it for my car show. No, no. Milk ain't got it. He might still have it.

Does Milk have it? Yeah. I tried to ask him a question about it years later. He was like, don't still have it, right? I need it for my car show. No, no. He might still have it. Does Milk have it? Yeah. I tried to ask him a question about it years later. He was like, don't ask. I was like, because I think he thought I might want it back. And I gave it to him out of convenience because I was moving and I didn't know what to do with it. I was just like, here, take it. But it definitely was one of those that people looked at when you rode down the block.

It's like, what is that? It was fun for a while, but it wasn't properly made. And you got another song on your album called Change Your Ways. How important is self-reflection and accountability? Oh, my goodness. It's everything. It's your whole experience. And, you know, I've learned so many things throughout the years about me still learning about me, what it is.

People will tell you what you like before you even know what you like. And so for me, I think the move to L.A. actually allowed me to claim my independence and my independent thought. And so, yeah, self-reflection and you have to quiet, you have to have things quiet enough to even be able to really understand what it is that you can do to be better or how it is that what you just said wasn't okay this life of an entertainer everyone is always telling you how good you are how right you are taking whatever case in point I remember being told at an early age you shouldn't work with women because they're too emotional well what I found out was for me, I don't have to be emotional at all working with guys. This is the, what I taught myself. As a matter of fact, I could say

whatever to you do that, please get that done. Yeah. But you know, no emotion at all, not really understanding that it affects men when you talk to them like that as well. But more importantly, I wasn't ready to be responsible in my tone and how it is that I communicated what it was that I wanted. And with women, you ain't getting away with that. You ain't just saying something any old kind of way. It's like, excuse me, can you say that in a way that I can have it? And so it just made me more responsible for how it is that I communicate. Because to me, it's not being mean. It's just straight to the point.

This is what I'm looking to have done. But when you're on the receiving end of that, you go, oh, okay, wait a second. I could put a little bit more heart into that, a little bit more love into that. And so, yeah, self-reflection is really important. I always wanted to know when you were out and Foxy and Kim and Trina and Kaya came out, what was your thoughts at that time? Because that's when hip-hop changed a lot and people were going at them so heavy. What were your thoughts?

I remember we were on tour, and I got on the bus, and someone had music playing, and it was something bitch. The bop, bop, the deep bitch. Ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-da-bop-bop, the B bitch. And I was like, what is this? I said, you got to turn this off. I was at a club in Los Angeles, and I heard the guy say something, something, bitch. I went over to the DJ, and I said, can you turn this song?

And he said, okay. How different of a world that I would even ask a DJ to turn that, and he would turn it off. Now that would never happen. I'm from the east side going anywhere. None of the male rappers called women bitches. None of them. Not KRS-One, not Will, not LL, not anyone that I had ever heard on the east coast refer to a woman as that. So it was completely out of the stratosphere for me. Even seeing Biggie and Puffy in a jacuzzi with women,

I was like, oh my goodness, what's happening here? So things were changing very quickly. I didn't really know how to feel about it except this is crazy what do we do now you think it was systemically done but I asked that about rap and television because as you said the rappers weren't talking like that then all of a sudden it was just an abrupt change right same thing with TV we had all of these positive images of black people. This is abrupt change. Reality TV. Do you think that it was systemically done? Just now, when you said that, I thought of it really starting on the West Coast.

I think it was maybe N.W.A. I got I would really like to note who used it first in a record. I think it was different culturally. And what was happening in New York wasn't necessarily happening in the South and wasn't happening on the West Coast. And I think once we begin to merge all of these cultures together is when it became okay to call someone a dog. I remember being in the airport and somebody from somewhere else said something to my dancer and was like, what up, dog? And my dancer was like, dog? Who the hell are you calling dog? But it wasn't a bad thing. It meant you my dude, you my nigga, you know, with the way that we reference, you know, perhaps someone that we have affection for or in that case. So I just think it's it's different culturally systemic. I'm I'm not sure I have entertained this conversation before.

Like, what is the brink? is it the door that has now opened to you can say anything that actually happened with the sitcom you know I had them tell me you know we can curse in this you can say whatever you want because they kept looking at the scripts and they didn't see anything and I said no this this is how I want it. I remember sitcoms where you didn't need that. And I wanted it to be wholesome. I wanted, but they kept saying, this is streaming. You can say whatever you want. Thanks for letting me know.

We're going to keep it right here. So yeah, I think the flood, the doors opened and it was just whatever, however, do it. Did the label ever ask you to change at all? And say, sound more like this or do this more or way less clothes exactly get sexy never because we were too early they didn't know what to tell us to do and and it worked you know and it wasn't until a whole new thing came in which it had to you know growth is is what happens but I do remember doing a photo shoot, and I must have been about 21,

and I was ready to think I was a little sexy with something tight on. And Sylvia saw the photo shoot, and she called me, and she said, what is this? I was like, oh, well, I'm growing up. She said, no, you're not. You're going to stay as young as possible for as long as possible. this I was like oh well I'm growing up she said no you're not you're gonna stay as young as possible for as long as possible put your jeans on and get out in the street and take a photo and show your youth and that was the cover of act

like you know so we did a whole new shoot and you know I thank her for that you still speak to Sylvia now? I do does it bother you watching all of your personal stuff play out so much on social media or just online like oh I'm seeing like God of the Forest right

I don't know that it bothered me so much I just love having the opportunity to get them told so at that point you've said whatever you want to say I just love having the opportunity to get them told. So at that point, you've said whatever you want to say. I get to say whatever I want to say, which was, you know, really difficult back in the day to be able to give your opinion very straightforward. We had no platform that we could technically use. And so, yes, say what you want and then i'll say what i want really so like they

wouldn't like to say something like this happened back in the day they wouldn't set up an interview with you on radio or magazine or i remember those headlines like such and such in my own in their own words right you know um possibly but then it would be some back and forth and you'd have to now you can just write what you want to write, put it up and people can have it. So when when the whole divorce thing happened, I just saw all of this stuff that says he was trying to get this or she got to keep her. It's not she got to keep. He was never trying to do that. We had a prenup. He's got his own stuff that I'm sure he was happy that I didn't want any part of it and so we made an agreement very early on that we'd have a prenup and that would be it

so I didn't I just didn't like the turn that they were taking but it's not like I didn't expect it anything to get a click you know people will say so I just was happy that I was able to set the record straight. How challenging have they been for you, you know, if at all, to constantly have people assume you were gay? Because I remember when they announced you were divorced, everybody was like, oh, I thought you were gay. Right. Yeah, I remember Jess Hilarious. I think she posted something that was like, what?

And in the news, you know. And, you know, to me, it's just when I said people will say that you like something before you even know what you like, you know. And my biggest thing with the young with the younger generation is don't be so prepared to put yourself in a box you're learning your you know life is what it is coming out of teens into your 20s you're seeing things I had to learn much later on in life everything you think doesn't need to happen. Right. It can be a thought and stay there. Everything that you see other people do doesn't have to be the life for you. And, you know, growing up as an only child, things are impressionable. It's like, oh, OK, that must be the OK. Wait a minute. Hold on. OK, we're not doing that. OK. And so for me to be able to choose my life for myself is extremely important. So did it bother me? Perhaps in the beginning. But then it just became, oh, OK, well, that's that's how you want to feel. That's great. And that's not saying that those types of things didn't happen in my life.

But that's not all. That's not all of who I am. And so. Oh, so the rumors did stem from somewhere. Yeah. Okay, got you. Right. Experimented, basically.

Got you, got you. When you're young, especially in this business, it's like, okay, you think it? Okay, let's make that happen. Oh, now you're about to open up the Illuminati conspiracy theories. Well, the sad part about it is many people get stuck there, right? And so they're stuck with what it is

that other people want them to be or are comfortable with them being. You can't possibly look like that and want to do that. Or you can't possibly look like that and want to do that. Or you can't you can't possibly look like that and want to be with a man or find men attractive or. Me getting married, first off, I'm way more traditional than anybody would ever assume. So me getting married was because I believe in the sanctity of marriage, of partnership. And it not working was devastating for me.

But it also called to action me being responsible for the way that I speak, for the way that I behave, and being accountable for someone else's feelings. And so now they say you call in who it is that you are. I'm a much better person. So who I have called in is a reflection of that. And I love him. And so are we in a hurry to get married no he's been married in divorce I've been married in divorce so being married isn't exactly the thing that we're all jumping in to to be in once you've experienced it but it is something that we're working towards and he's so totally different from a roughneck I would hope so when my family you know met him it's like oh my god and he's really a ray of sunshine

and so different from any type that I've ever been with. And so I had to learn that that's okay. You know, he's from Philly, so he's got the swag. Does it necessarily show? No. But you know what? I love everything that's happening on the inside, and he feels the same way about me. So many men would be like, oh, well, I've heard this,

and, you know, i'm not sure and but he can get past all of that and see who i am and just love me for who who i am which is the most important you know i was gonna ask too like when y'all uh because i feel like all of y'all were so blessed to find your tribe early like i feel like you and queen latifah and jada all y'all found each other very very early when somebody like jada is writing a book does she call you and say okay like i'm going to share these stories yeah i'm going to talk about this i'm going to talk about that so i want you to know that this is out there okay that's what sisterhood is and that's why we're friends because had a book came out and i was in it and she had said nothing, I'd be like, OK, what?

What's up? Oh, I didn't get a chance. No, we don't we don't have those. Those discrepancies where for for some reason something happens in the other one, if if her name comes up in an interview, yo, check this out. I was at the such and such and this came up and this is what I said. I don't want to, you know, I don't want it to come to you any other kind of way we take care and in these types of friendships you gotta take care because there are so many areas where people are careless that if we're going to depend on one another in a true friendship you gotta take care of it because in the book she

addresses rumors of y'all being together and i'm like well what if people don't know that and now and now when light and somebody does an interview they're gonna ask that question well i think the point is it never was it never was right so she can bring that up it did not be an issue at all and for her I guess it was important maybe people addressed her with that more than they did with me because I've never been approached with is that you know um so yeah I'm happy for her that she was able to get all of what it was that she was feeling um out in the book and also celebrate our friendship, you know? And because it is true that we have a sisterhood,

it only feels right that it would be reflected and spoken about in the book. And if that were removed, it would sort of be like, really, don't we have a friendship? Not that I needed to be in the book but when you're evaluating truth and what is i would expect that it would be oh yeah you were in the book she speaks so highly of you like you were one of her pillars in her life yeah how important is it to have those people in this business they it's not many so it's it's extremely important someone that's going to understand and the and the truth is too with jay when we talk and there's a few friends

that i have that are like this we can go from topic to topic without an announcement that the topic is about to change. Some people are razzle dazzle. Be like, oh, what are we talking about now? What's the next thing? Keep up. Keep up. You know, so we're able to to converse about so many topics from here to there. Nothing is too trivial.

Nothing is too highbrow. And that's what you want. I have a lot of Virgo friends you know by the way and nothing wrong with a good Virgo yeah nothing wrong with a good Virgo my man is a Virgo as well Virgo men is rough watch your mouth he's had a couple that done him dirty but that's just the ones he picks oh is that right don't say it like that now you got a new children's book coming out with Van Van? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. We'll save that because we're coming at the end of the year. So you're coming back. With that. Well, sure. But Van Van is such a... Is she signing you? She's so special.

Yeah, she's with our management firm. She's so special. You know, sometimes talking with her, I'll forget. Matter of fact, we had lunch with them not too long ago. And there was something that was written and she said, what is that? And I said it. And she said, what is that word? And I said, I said, do you know what that means? She says, no. And then I tell her what it means. And it just dawned on me that she doesn't read because she's just entering into kindergarten oh wow well she's five years old right yes well she has full-on conversations with you who's handling her

contracts oh i need let me tell you she is so on top of her game. I'm so excited about her career and her life and what's ahead of her. And it's really a blessing to be involved with her career at this stage. And her family are so loving and they're both educators. And, you know, when I look back at emcees who have had parents as educators, there's so many of us, from Heavy to La to Common and Kanye. It's quite a bit of us. So I think she's got so much going for her. I'm excited. And what is Sunny Girl, Inc.? That is the management and production firm that we have

gotcha um dr lynn richardson and i matter of fact sunny girl was just a loan out company in the beginning and it wasn't until she came on as coo and asked me what did i want to do and i said i want to make this a full-fledged management company and she said okay and so we've worked at it and it's one of my proudest uh moments to be involved with the career of others has the mc light story been properly told yet no do you want to tell it sure do. I've had some documentarians. You know, we've taken meetings and stuff like that. So I think when the right person is there, I think it'll all kind of flow. Westbrook is looking at doing the scripted version.

So I don't know what might come first. Are you performing this weekend? I'm performing this weekend on Saturday. We've moved the show This weather This weather is nasty When you came back to New York it was disgusting You got your Timbs on? I do

I did have a really great day yesterday The sun was out But in any case we're going to be at Coney Island Amphitheater So I'm excited We got some folks in the house The God Rak Rakim, is coming through and Tretch and Lola Brooke

is going to show up. We had a chance to meet maybe a year ago, I think. So tiny, isn't she? Yeah. She's so small. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we've got, oh, EPMD is coming and we've got a couple of surprises as well. So I'm excited to be in New York, specifically BK.

Who wows you? Like when you walked in the room, I literally bowed to you. Like who makes you feel like that? Who bows to me? No, no. I said I bowed to you when you walked in the room. But who makes you feel that way? Like I want to bow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always Rakim. Mm-hmm. God. room oh but who makes you feel that like i want to bow yeah yeah yeah um always rock him um he's so he's so who he says he is which i can appreciate um um krs1 will um KRS-One. Will. Yeah. Will and Jada have been so supportive of my career. And I remember there was a time, like after the divorce, I would talk to Will, and he was like, Light, just keep being that well of goodness.

Just keep being that well of goodness. And then I'd say, oh, shit, what am I going to do? What am I going to do next? He was like, just sit in silence it's gonna come to you just just keep evolving into the best you that you can be and you know not too long after that I got this the sitcom in the middle of the pandemic. Wow. And I just was like, God, you know, God is showing up. But they have definitely been there to remind me of who I am

and the power that I hold. Let's play something off the album. Let's play something off the album. What you want to hear? King King? King King. King King. Queen Latifah. We appreciate you. MC Lyte Let's play something off the album Let's play something off the album What you wanna hear? I don't King King? King King King King

King King All right Queen Latifah New album We appreciate you We love you Thank you We value you

And we appreciate you MC Lyte You are an icon You are one of the reasons That we even sitting in this studio Because of the foundation That people like you lay Thank you fellas Thank you

I appreciate you The new album 101 Comes out in September Yes And make sure you go pick it up And thank you again Thank you. It's The Breakfast Club.

It's MC Lyte. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.