A Classic M.C.

A Classic M.C.

Yes Yes Yall! The powerful refrain that has become synonmous with Hip Hop. Now this entry is purely to share with you a few different styles about Hip Hop or MC-ing and not to go into the discussion about Rap or its history. But I will say as Sidi Jalal Nuriddin one of the pioneers for the collective called "The Last Poets" said, "Rap is an indictment." For further info on Sidi Jalal: http://www.grandfatherofrap.com/index.html . I've been rhyming since I was in the 5th grade. My first rhyme was about a picture my schoolmate, Bryan Young, had drawn of the legendary basketball player, Dr. J. From there I'd been influenced by such distinct personalities as The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Nipsey Russell and a cassette tape my brother, Chuck returned with from Howard University. So, when "Rapper's Delight" came out I was already in the mix, but what proprelled me to explore rhyming further was a track made by Count Coolout called "Rhythm, Rap, Rock." A few years later I ran into a fledgling M.C. known as The Awesome Greg G, who was staying with his uncle in the condiminium complex of Georgetown of the Highlands. We hooked up and we used to go on freestyle rampages. He was the ultimate B-Boy, tall, gifted with words, confident and defiant. He became my first partner and we formed our crew. We went down to a small gig one night and did an impromptu performance with D.J. Johnny-O on the Wheels of Steel and we performed for about 7 minutes with pure freestyle fury. D.J. Johnny-O and the Sorcerer Crew, with the Mighty Mike McAdoo, Waney D, D.J. Shock, and Dr. T were the rave of Northeast Ohio along with D.J. Cochise and the Bomb Squad. Dean Rufus a radio personality really gave Hip Hop an outlet in Cleveland, but it was probably D.J. Cochise who really cemented Hip Hop in Cleveland. Returning to the scene of the crime, unbeknownst to me Tommy Spates a classmate of mine happened to taped our performance and brought it to school and the rest is history. After The Awesome Greg G had to leave due to academic and other issues I decided to find another partner. Stepping up and B-Boying with me was D.J. Ham. He took the initial MC Lesson and was able to unleash a barrage of rhymes and we were some of the most prominent MC's in Cleveland. We used to rock Beckman Hall almost every week after a baskteball game but we did our real performances during Rec Period at school. I remember in Georgetown I did a freestyle assault for well over 15 minutes called "So Let it Rock" which B-Boy Classicist Donte Beasley can attest to to this day as probably the most hard-hitting non-stopping body-rocking 15 minutes of verbal dexterity. After proving myself on the local circuit I decided that Hip Hop was dead so I hung up my mic. It took me about 5 years to reclaim the mic and start afresh with a more earthy and substanced filled message. I later performed with The Makkan Experience, Jupiter 415 and A.M. P.M. For me Rap or Hip Hop was about one or three things: Conscious Rap, Ego Rap and Party Rap. I'll share with you two genre's that I loved:

Ego Rap

i'm a rap icon, known from here to zion, style’s deadly like a python, better get it right son, the original black titan, starting to get excite-ton, call me the Moorish don, listen to me son, been doing this before you were born, so ain't no need for me to toot my own horn, but you need to be warned, my knowledge has a form, striking like lightning hitting harder than a thunderstorm, you might wonder when this style was born, no need for alarm or to drag this on, call me lyrical champion, and as KRS-1 said, I’m still #1, 1, 1 (fade it out).

Conscious Rap

this is simply one perspective, you can choose to reject this (Islam).
choice is another word for selective, but only those receptive,
can comprehend the depth of this message (Koran).
others just won’t get this, because they like ideas that are deceptive
not wanting a plain and simple message, that's just not where their head is
from B-Boy’s finest with rhymes that are timeless
like diamonds you need to mind this, search all you want for styles like this, you can’t find this.

I heard an MC a few years ago, named Mikail who recorded a CD called "Ways of My Song" with Remarkable Current and I found him to be the most refreshing thing to Hip Hop since the Beatbox. This is the classic Hip Hop CD, bar none; I rank it in the Top 5 of all-time Hip Hop albums/CD's. For further interest checkout the following sites:

http://www.remarkablecurrent.com
http://www.amirsulaiman.com
http://www.22040.com/tbfam/mikial/2point1.htm

Until then, Yes Yes Yall and it don't stop!