MC Lyte Talks Rap, Spoken Word, and ‘The Real Queens of Hip-Hop’

Rap pioneer MC Lyte spoke to ABC News about her journey to becoming a rap trailblazer and how women changed the rap game.

In a recent interview, MC Lyte talked about her involvement in the new special “The Real Queens of Hip-Hop: The Women Who Changed the Game” and what led to her involvement in the rap scene.

She was best known for jumping into the rap scene in the 80s with her hit album “Lyte As A Rock” and becoming a rap sensation and inspiration to many.

Lyte began building her rap skills through spoken word performances, which were inspired by her mother who was a teacher.

She went on to say that she still believes spoken word has made a great impact on rap.

“Spoken word is the least tampered with when it comes to a message that needs to come through,” said Lyte. “There’s no one that sort of has a tally on it that you can’t say this and you can’t say that, so you can really just come from the heart and put it all out there.”

Lyte began reciting and writing spoken word at the age of 12 and said that much of her first album was inspired by many of the spoken word pieces she wrote at that time.

When asked how she was able to break into the rap scene and dominate it Lyte said, “it was absolutely not difficult at all.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it. I just was along for the ride. I was doing what I knew how to do, and that was coming from the heart about subjects and topics that were facing and plaguing my generation,” she said.

Despite being called a trailblazer of her generation, Lyte said she looked up to the Funky Four, Pebblee Pooh, and Salt-N-Peppa among many others.

Rap has changed since Lyte’s era, from the topics of rap to the sexualization of female rappers, and she was not afraid to speak on the topic.

“I remember I had never heard anyone use the B-word until I went out west and I heard someone say the word “B” you know I was just like ‘Oh my goodness!'” said Lyte, recalling the first time she heard women being called that in rap.

“The truth is this is where we are, everywhere in life, it’s not just hip-hop music,” she said “We’ve got to remember that the youngins that come out of hip-hop now are just a reflection of what’s happening in their communities, what it is that they’re seeing on tv, what it is that they’re being inspired by is what is pushing and propelling them to come out say the things they say,” she said.

MC Lyte was featured on “The Real Queens of Hip-Hop: The Women Who Changed the Game,” and said it was important because it helps remember many of the women who made an impact on the industry.

“It’s important because there were so many women that brought so much knowledge and wisdom and power to hip-hop, and many of the men in hip-hop know that they were inspired and influenced by some of the women, and I think it’s important that they also tell the story too of how much women in hip-hop mean to the genre,” she said.