REVIEW: MC LYTE - 1 OF 1

4/5 

Lyte Work

Being '1 Of 1' doesn't refer to the awesome album artwork. The throwback pic, fit in a gold frame, bordered by graffiti. All in the same red as the Mexican restaurant Chi-Chi, Crenshaw like, signature tee. Being '1 Of 1' refers to rapping legend MC Lyte being one of the greatest in the game...and we aren't just talking about when it comes to gender. All in the same bell rocking month that fellow New York hip-hop legend LL Cool J showed us he was still 'The FORCE'. A calendar after hip-hop's 50-year anniversary. The next half century is already being taken care of by the pioneers. Now, 'Lyte As A Rock', and still heavy in the game with her ninth wonder of an album, 'Act Like You Know' about one of the mother's of the game and members of the Stop The Violence Supergroup. If 'Eyes Are The Soul' like one of her classics, then you can see into her evergreen one that she sounds and feels as fresh as the moment that futuristic beat dropped. Still the one like Shania. On fire like Mariah. MC Lyte, maaaan, in your best Jermaine Dupri voice. Rock with her.

"So the prayers my mama quoted really didn't go unnoticed/God heard and then He spoke this, "Drop everything and get devoted"/Or what you gain, you will blow it/You'll never reap what you sow, and lest in fact, you'll be demoted/You're the Lyte because I made you, never be afraid to/Stand tall against 'em all and protect what I gave you/Never mimic what you see, all them gimmicks come for free/And the cynics will look to me and bow with all apologies/For treating you as less, but at that point, you were a mess/How could they have treated you better? Not even you knew you were blessed", Lyte raps on the lead signature single, 'Thank You'. Giving thanks to the most high with Mary Mary and Muni Long as she breaks free of the shackles that held her down. Only God actually did in the good way like He always does. As SHE appreciates it all like, "Sometimes running, sometimes falling/Sometimes fighting, sometimes crawling/A thousand miles of life and I'm still going/I thank God that I'm still growing/And all the pressure took me higher/And I thank God it took me higher/Couldn't break me, so it built me/Now I'm blazing like a fire/Like a fire, like a fire/Like a fire, like a fire."

And the fire will never go out on one of the best rap albums in recent memory (forget all the years) that rounds the bases with some real big hitters. Fellow queen, Latifah on 'King King' for your checkmate. Wu-Tang legend Ghostface Killah and Lil Mama on...well...'Lyte Ghost Lil Mama'. Q-Tip, fresh off producing 'The FORCE', for 'Kick Back Relax'. Legend Big Daddy Kane (with no half steppin') and R&B King Raheem DeVaughn on the 'Woman' worth dedication. And even some 'Wisdom From Easy Mo Bee'. But it's when Chicago icon Common, whose throwing it back himself with his latest work with Pete Rock, links up with the greatest in Stevie Wonder for 'Change Your Ways when Lyte really shines. It doesn't get more inspirational than this for and MC, who gives us her first album in almost a decade since the 'Legend' last left us.

Artists of the future also give this album more range on the same day as a 'Mixtape Pluto'. All as another wonder woman returns on the same weekend as pop's finest Katy Perry and Nelly Furtado. But even the 'Dark Horse' fireworks and man eating Nellyville couldn't hit quite like this. Affion Crocket on 'Sunni Block Barber Shop', a cut above the rest. Warryn and Zaya Campbell on the 'Vote 4 Change' that brings us all together like family. The more than 'Alright', Jai'Len Josey. All the way to the classic 'Music Is' featuring JoiStarr, that is as affirming as a 'Music For Life' from Hi-Tek, dedicated to Dilla (with Nas, Common, Busta Rhymes and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry), when the super-producer went for 'The Chip'. Taking us back to school and the streets that raised her, Lana Michele Moorer talks about her first track that KRS-One said was "wack". But still getting out boogie down, after all these years, sometimes even the best of the best are wrong.

No longer paper thin, we still ride with the Grammy getting, acclaimed artist who still has it like those who love Cool James Todd Smith. Like the Queen, the voice of female hip-hop rapping, "I hear if you hear it enough you'll believe it/King be it, King live it, King receive it/Straighten up your crown, King/Let nobody knock you off your square and the joy that you bring/Let your light shine bright, illuminate the night." This force has 'Life & Luxury' in amazing abundance and 'To RockThe Mic' is the same calling from God she answers like '1-5', or Nashville's finest, '9 to 5'. What a way to 'Make A Livin', 'All Day All Night' like this. Moving the crowd after all these years like a true MC, don't take Lyte lightly. There are so many dropping mics that need to pick up the slack. Yet Lana is still more than 10% and that many toes down in 'dis'. After almost 40 years later, no one else comes quite as close. And now, we thank HER. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Thank You (Feat. Mary Mary & Muni Long)', 'Change Your Ways (Feat. Common & Stevie Wonder)', 'Music Is (Feat JoiStarr)'. 

Spin This: MC Lyte 'Act Like You Know'.