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1) MC Lyte's "10% Dis" Made an Ideal Sample Source For Scratched Choruses
How the veteran MC's words continue to reverberate over three decades after the release of her debut album. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mc-lytes-10-dis-made-and-ideal-sample
How the veteran MC's words continue to reverberate over three decades after the release of her debut album. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mc-lytes-10-dis-made-and-ideal-sample
2) When MC Lyte first heard Salt-N-Pepa rapping on record in the mid-80s, it made her believe that she would rock the mic too. “They were the only reason I thought I could be an MC,” she told Sun Singleton in a 2008 @VibeMagazine interview.
https://books.google.com/books?id=lyYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&dq=mc+lyte+%22I+CRAM+TO+UNDERSTAND+U%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi288P3udrQAhUKcCYKHQLeDi4Q6AEINDAF#v=onepage&q=mc%20lyte%20%22I%20CRAM%20TO%20UNDERSTAND%20U%22&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=lyYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&dq=mc+lyte+%22I+CRAM+TO+UNDERSTAND+U%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi288P3udrQAhUKcCYKHQLeDi4Q6AEINDAF#v=onepage&q=mc%20lyte%20%22I%20CRAM%20TO%20UNDERSTAND%20U%22&f=false
3) Though the pioneering rap group provided Lyte with an added dose of inspiration in her early years, she had already penned her classic tale of love and drug addiction “I Cram To Understand U” at a mere 12 years old
4)—a full three years before her idols released “The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)” in 1985 under the name Super Nature.
5) Throughout junior high and high school Lyte advanced enough with her rhyming to put her verses down on wax. However, despite her maturity as a rapper during her teenage years, the actual recording of “I Cram To Understand U” was no easy feat.
6) “I just remember [“Cram…”] being on a four-track Tascam,” she told @murphdogg29 in a 2011 @VibeMagazine interview. “The boiler was making noise while we were recording and we had to wait for it to stop [laughs].”
https://web.archive.org/web/20140715064736/http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/full-clip-mc-lyte-breaks-down-her-entire-catalogue-brandy-janet-jackson-ll-cool-j-more
![6) “I just remember [“Cram…”] being on a four-track Tascam,” she told @murphdogg29 in a 2011 @VibeMagazine interview. “The boiler was making noise while we were recording and we had to wait for it to stop [laughs].” https://web.archive.org/web/20140715064736/http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/full-clip-mc-lyte-breaks-down-her-entire-catalogue-brandy-janet-jackson-ll-cool-j-more](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehf_Hk1XkAMR8Fs.jpg "6) “I just remember [“Cram…”] being on a four-track Tascam,” she told @murphdogg29 in a 2011 @VibeMagazine interview. “The boiler was making noise while we were recording and we had to wait for it to stop [laughs].” https://web.archive.org/web/20140715064736/http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/full-clip-mc-lyte-breaks-down-her-entire-catalogue-brandy-janet-jackson-ll-cool-j-more")
https://web.archive.org/web/20140715064736/http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/full-clip-mc-lyte-breaks-down-her-entire-catalogue-brandy-janet-jackson-ll-cool-j-more
7) When “I Cram To Understand U” finally shipped off to the pressing plant in advance of her 1988 First Priority debut 'Lyte as a Rock,' Lyte was only 16. She was just 17 and still unable to vote when the album dropped. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mc-lytes-10-dis-made-and-ideal-sample
8) Featuring impressive microphone mastery and instrumentals from Audio Two and Prince Paul, her debut remains a brief, powerful listen 32 years later. Loaded with classics like “Lyte as a Rock,” “Paper Thin,” and “10% Dis,” it’s not to be missed.
9) Like many records from this era, Lyte as a Rock also had an under the radar influence on rap production in the years following its release—especially the blistering battle rap selection “10% Dis.”
(Link: Micro-Chop article on sampling Roxanne Shante) https://microchop.substack.com/p/madlib-janet-jackson-and-will-smith
(Link: Micro-Chop article on sampling Roxanne Shante) https://microchop.substack.com/p/madlib-janet-jackson-and-will-smith
10) In the past three decades nearly 50 recording artists have revisited Lyte’s classic diss record as a sample source.
11) Interestingly, it all started when Audio Two sampled the line, “Hot damn hoe, here we go again,” for “Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe)” from Lyte’s 1989 sophomore effort 'Eyes on This.'
12) The same year that Lyte reused her own voice, Antoinette successfully interpolated the, “Beat biter, dope style taker/Tell you to your face you ain't nothing but a faker,” melody from “10% Dis” on “Lights Out, Party’s Over.”
13) These two early examples of vocal repurposing from Antoinette and Lyte seemed to open the flood gates, as “10% Dis” remained an often-tapped resource for DJs and producers in the coming years. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mc-lytes-10-dis-made-and-ideal-sample
14) In 1991 the UMC’s member Haas G and RZA affiliate RNS teamed up to give Kid Magic the perfect canvas for cutting up Lyte’s phrase “Hot damn” on "It's Gonna Last."
15) Lyte's tiny slice of vocals play an important role in this shining moment from the group’s 'Fruits Of Nature' debut.
16) In 1993 Poor Righteous Teachers members Culture Freedom, Wise Intelligent, and Father Shaheed similarly created the perfect beat to place Lyte’s cut up vocals over.
17) Shaheed did the scratching honors on “Here We Go Again,” which appears on the group’s 1993 LP 'Black Business.'
18) Lyte’s smoldering diss record continued to create the perfect compliment to a variety of scratched choruses and beats throughout the ‘90s and into the 2000s, showing up again on Abstract Rude + Tribe Unique's Fat Jack-produced “Yep” in 2001.
19) DJ Drez’s cuts and Lyte’s hard-hitting voice works nicely to contrast to the smooth, melodic chorus.
20) And when The @juggaknots returned with 'UsE yOuR cOnFuSion' following a decade absence between full-length releases, DJ Eli made Lyte’s verse, “After this jam, I really don’t give a damn,” the chorus closeout for the gorgeously produced “Namesake.”
21) Last but not least, @djbabuforeal masterfully sliced up a sample of Lyte rapping, “I am the director, as far as you are concerned,” on Dilated Peoples’ “Directors,” creating the ultimate chorus to match the ominous Evidence-produced beat.
22) Though Lyte as a Rock is a quality album when analyzed through any lens, it’s especially impressive when you consider that Lyte completed it before she was a legal adult. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mc-lytes-10-dis-made-and-ideal-sample
23) In a genre where far too many releases are discarded and lost to the sands of time, the fact that her debut continues to reverberate 32 years later is a testament to her immense gifts as an MC.
