Recap: MV Summer Madness Music Festival Part I with MC Lyte

Martha’s Vineyard is known for quiet picturesque settings and as a historical vacation spot for famous African-Americans for the past two centuries. Festivals have come and gone with the Diva’s Uncorked and the Jazz Festival both being discontinued in the past two years, the island had an entertainment gap and the creators of Martha’s Vineyard Summer Madness Music Conference and Festival are attempting to fill that gap with their second installment their music festival.

Last year, they brought in Big Daddy Kane for a night (I know you’re mad you missed it). This year they decided to go for broke by having an all female line up and expanding the festival to three days to include a music industry panel, a summer cookout, jazz brunch and for the finale an outdoor concert with none other than Lauryn Hill say what? I know, right? There was so much that went on that this recap has to be done in three parts.

The “madness” kicked off Friday night with a concert featuring MC Lyte as headliner. To be honest #thestrugglewasreal as people had complications getting onto the island as well as trying to divide their time between the music festival and the tail end of the Run and Shoot Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. Maybe they should have it a different weekend or look into doing a collaboration of some sorts for next year. They could at the very least make it easier to attend both events.

Lori Williams

At any rate, in addition to the lack luster attendance, which was in some ways a good thing because it made the evening more intimate, the schedule was off by more than two hours.Fortunately there was plentyof talent in the room to keep us entertained. Jazz artist Lori Williams started off the night crooning classic hits like “Summertime” to her own soulful sound. Then it was DJ Mary Mac’s turn to bring the soulful vibes into the hip hop realm on the turn tables.

DJ Mary Mac

Unfortunately, award-winning poet Bettina “Gold” Wilkerson’s magnificent prose fell onto deaf ears as the crowd was already too hype for a spoken word set. Perhaps had she been in the beginning of the line up rather than after the drinks started flowing, she would have been better received.

Bettina “Gold” Wilkerson

Poetry aside, the crowd was ready for the surprise moment when the Universal Zulu Nation honored emcee Sha Rock along with “Us Girls” Lisa Lee and Debbie D in recognition of their contributions to 40 years of Hip Hop. And of course Sha Rock couldn’t help but get on the mic and spit a few bars to let them know who really was the first female emcee of any block.

Sha Rock

Before the lady of the hour MC Lyte hit the stage, I got to sit down and talk with her about how she came to be such a legend among the lady legends.

BostonFab: You are known for being a woman of firsts, are there still firsts for you to accomplish?

MC Lyte: You know I don’t really think about it as being first because people would tell me after I had done it [that I had been the first]. I just wanted to make change. Because I did it, I wind end up doing it first. So now. I’m working on some things with kids in schoolsI don’t know if that’s a first. I mean people have been doing it for a real long time. Has another female MC done it? I don’t know. They may have participated…I haven’t kept up with it in terms of that. My idea is to get out there and create new opportunities, and sometimes they end up falling into the category of never having been done, so then, by default, I’m the first. That doesn’t make me want to do it. If someone else had done it, I would still want to get it done in the way that I do it.

BostonFab: Different MC’s have gone down different paths like Lil’ Kim getting mad at the newcomers, but you have taken a different route and you’re still so relevant. How did that happen for you to take the path that you’ve taken?

MC Lyte: I think I’ve had a lot of different interests, you know I do voice overs, acting, books…I do a lot of different things. I’ve never been completely reliant on selling a record or even recording a record for that matter. I record because it makes me happy, not because I need a record to make money. I mean I’ve sold millions of records I think at different points in my career, but I am not accustomed to living because of a record sale, and so that’s how I afford to be in tune to and do other things, and study other things, too. I have a genuine interest in other things outside of music. I think in terms of still being relevant doesn’t really have anything to do with music. It just has everything to do with my love for the culture and still representing hip hop in a great way.

BostonFab: And for a lighter question, how do you stay so gorgeous?

MCLyte: Why thank you! Um Red Bull it gives me wings! (laughs) no wrong answer, ummm water, meditation. Make sure your face is clean before you go to sleep. Make sure you get that make up off. Uhhh brush and floss. Have proper hygiene. I think it has to deal with knowing when to get rest; not sweating the small things. I think a lot of people stress themselves out and do the wrong things. I try to eat healthy. And for as long as I am going to be here, I don’t want to be in pain. So anything that I can do to negate that feeling, I will do.

BostonFab: When you think about the future for women in hip hop, what do you see that future looking like?

MC Lyte: Well, I have anything to do with it, it’s about uplifting the female emcees. If you are fresh and young and have something to say; a point of view that reflects exactly what’s happening today, I’m going to push you. I’m going to push them forth, and whenever I’m on the red carpet I’m going to say Chaka Kai from New York City or Iman from Chicago or Mae Day from Detroit. It’s my duty to carry their names further so that we as a community of hip hop lovers, can learn who she is and make a decision as to if we are going to support her in her efforts. And if they are saying something that we want the world to hear, purchase that record so that they can go a little bit further.

After our chat, it was back to business as she put on a performance I won’t soon forget. From hopping on and off the turn tables, getting us to sing along; glasses on, glasses off; rapping to the beat of a drum or freestylin’. She pumped us up then left us on high. See some snippets of her performance below: