Ruffneck

Background:

Entering the music industry in the early 1980s, two-time Grammy nominated female rap artist MC Lyte, born Lana Michele Moorer, quickly gained notice thanks to her first two critically-acclaimed albums, “Lyte As a Rock” (1988) and “Eyes on This” (1989), which produced the chart-topper rap singles “Paper Thin” and “Cha Cha Cha,” respectively. After enjoying another No. 1 hit with “Poor Georgie,” from the 1991 album “Act Like You Know,” Lyte experienced a big breakthrough with the Grammy-nominated track “Ruffneck” (1993), which also made her the first female Hip Hop artist to receive a Gold record. She had her next gold single three years later with the Soul Train Award-winning “Keep On, Keepin' On” (1996), a duet sung with Xscape, and another No. 1 rap hit with “Cold Rock a Party” (1996), featuring Missy Elliott. “Da Undaground Heat, Vol. 1” (2003), a comeback album after “Seven & Seven” (1998) and “The Very Best of MC Lyte” (2001), spawned the UK hit single “Ride Wit Me,” which brought Lyte her second Grammy nomination. In addition to releasing albums, Lyte has also recorded soundtracks for several films, including “Mo'Money” (1992), “Sunset Park” (1996), “The Fighting Temptations” (2003).

Also a television and movie actress, Lyte is known for acting in such movies as “Fly by Night” (1993), “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn” (1998, as Sista Tu Lumumba), “Train Ride” (2000), “Civil Brand” (2002) and “Playas Ball” (2003). She has also had a regular role in the sitcom “Half & Half” (2004-2006) and guested in such shows as “In the House,“ “Get Real,” “The District,” “For Your Love” and “Strong Medicine.”

Lyte is a honorary member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. A philanthropist, she has dedicated much of her time supporting many social projects/organizations, including Rock the Vote, AIDS benefits and anti-violence campaigns.

New Yorker

Childhood and Family:

Lana M. Moorer, professionally known as MC Lyte, was born on October 11, 1971, in Queens, New York. She spent her upbringing in Brooklyn, New York. Her older brothers are Kirk “Milk Dee” Robinson and DJ Nat “Gizmo” Robinson, who recorded under the name of Audio Two and are probably best known for their first hit, the classic “Top Billin'.”

Ride Wit Me

Career:

Younger sister of two hip hop emcees Milk Dee and Gizmo, MC Lyte started rapping when she was 12 years old and with the help of her brothers, she released her first single “I Cram to Understand U (Sam),” which led to a recording deal with First Priority Music. By the time she reached her 17th birthday, Lyte had released a full-length album called “Lyte As a Rock“ (1988). A critically-acclaimed album that has also frequently been regarded as a hip hop classic, “Lyte As a Rock” debuted at No. 50 on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip Hop album and consisted of 10 tracks, including her debut single, “I Cram to Understand U (Sam),” “10% Dis,” which featured additional vocals from her brothers, and “Paper Thin,” which was a No. 1 hit on the US Rap charts.

Lyte further established a good reputation with the release of her second album, “Eyes on This,” in 1989. The album produced the No. 1 rap tracks single “Cha Cha Cha” and the Top 10 hit “Cappuccino,” an anti-hostility track whose video was helmed by Ric Menello. For her next release, “Act Like You Know,” Lyte collaborated with Wolf & Epic, which also produced Bell Biv DeVoe. Launched in 1991, the album spawned the rapper's subsequent No. 1 rap hit, “Poor Georgie,” which also reached No. 11 on the R&B/Hip-Hop track charts, and a Top 3 hit single titled “When in Love.” Other singles released from the album were the minor hit “Eyes are the Soul” and the uncharted track “All That. “

The native of New Yorker resurfaced two years later with the forth album “Ain't No Other.” Thanks to the successful single “Ruffneck,” which rose to the Rap chart and landed at No. 1, she received a 1993 Grammy nomination in the category of Best Rap Performance-Solo and became the first ever female rapper to achieve gold status. Other singles released from the album were “I Go On,” which failed to reach the top 30 on the Rap charts, and “Ice Cream Dream,” which was included in the soundtrack of the motion picture “Mo'Money” (1992), starring Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Stacey Dash.

In 1994, Lyte joined many other artist such as Aaliyah, Mary J. Blige, En Vogue, SWV, TLC, and Monica to record the song “Freedom,” which was used as the official theme for the acclaimed film “Panther” (1995), directed by Mario Van Peebles. The song was originally performed by underground R&B singer Joi and included in his 1994 album, “Pendulum Vibe.” Also in that same year, she was featured on Janet Jackson's singe “You Want This,” whose music video earned a 1995 Soul Train Lady of Soul Music nomination of Music Video of the Year, and Brandy's No. 1 R&B/Hip-Hop hit “I Wanna Be Down,” which was also featured Queen Latifah and YoYo and nominated for a MTV Music Video for Best Rap Video. It was Lyte's collaboration with Atlanta's Xscape on the single “Keep On, Keepin' On” that won the popular female rapper a 1996 Soul Train Lady of Soul Music for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video. “Keep On, Keepin' On” also appeared on the 1996 basketball-themed “Sunset Park” soundtrack and marked Lyte's second gold single.

Lyte did not release a new studio album until after finding a new home with Elektra/Asylum. The fifth album, “Bad As I Wanna B,” was launched in 1996 and featured the track “Cold Rock a Party,” a duet sung with Missy Elliott that became Lyte's another No. 1 Rap track. The song also peaked at No. 5 on the R&B/Hip Hop Chart, No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 15 on the UK singles Chart. Lyte followed the album up with “Seven & Seven,” which spawned two minor UK hits with the songs “I Can't Make A Mistake” and “It's All Yours” (feat. Gina Thompson), in 1998 and “The Very Best of MC Lyte” in 2001, released by Rhino Records. In between the projects, she kept on busy working on other artists' tracks like Will Smith's “Who Am I,” Common's “A Film Called (Pimp)” and Bob Marley's “Jammin'.”

After several years away from her recording studio, Lyte made a comeback with the 2003 album “Da Undaground Heat, Vol. 1,” a venture with the Maad Funk production team. Although the single “Ride Wit Me” only became a Top 40 hit on the UK chart, it did win Lyte her second Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance – Female (2003). Still in 2003, she recorded a song called “Fighting Temptation” with Beyonce Knowles, Missy Elliott and Free and it was used for the soundtrack of the 2003 motion picture of the same name directed by Jonathan Lynn.

In addition to her career as a singer, Lyte has also tried her hand in acting. She made her big screen debut as Akusa in the 1993 film “Fly by Night,” opposite Jeffrey Sams, Ron Brice, and Steve Gomer, and went on to act in such movies as “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn” (1998, as Sista Tu Lumumba), “A Luv Tale” (1999), “Train Ride” (2000, as Katrina Daniels), “Civil Brand” (2002, as Sgt. Cervantes) and “Playas Ball” (2003, as La Quinta). She also made guest appearances in the TV series like “In the House“ (1998), “Get Real” (1999), “The District” (2002), “For Your Love” (4 episodes, 1998-2002), “Platinum” and “Strong Medicine” (2003) and appeared a herself in such shows as “MTV Unplugged” (1991), “In Living Color” (1992), “New York Undercover” (1995-1996), “Moesha” (1996) and “My Wife and Kids” (2004).

A year after the release of her 2003 album, Lyte joined the cast of the comedy series “Half & Half,” starring Rachel True and Essence Atkins, in the regular role of Kai Owens. She played the part until the show's end in 2006. In 2007, Lyte appeared in “Celebrity Rap Superstar,” a new game-show/reality-TV directed by Paul Miller and penned by Josh Greenberg. The same year, she also made self-appearance in the talk show “Parallel Paths.”

Lyte will be feature as herself in the documentary films “What ever happened to Hip Hop?” (2008), helmed by Sonali Aggarwal, and “Life on the Road with Mr. and Mrs. Brown” (2008), a look at the marriage of James and Tomi Rae Brown and their respective musical careers.

Awards:

• Soul Train: Lady of Soul Music, Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video, “Keep On, Keepin' On” (with Xscape), 1996