MC Lyte Says She Only Earned A ‘Slight’ Amount From Her Publishing Royalties, Commends Today’s Artists For Being Transparent About Their Music Deals
MC Lyte wrote her first single at 12 and later became a pioneer in Hip Hop.
The Brooklyn, NY, rapper, born Lana Michele Moorer, would bet on herself early on and auditioned for First Priority Records, ran by her friends Kirk “Milk Dee” Robinson and Nat “Gizmo” Robinson, as the brothers were looking to sign a female artist. With the permission of her mother at the time, she went to the audition, which was held in a basement.
“Here I am going to this guy’s basement in Brooklyn. It could have ended so many different ways. However, I laid the first rendition of ‘I Cram to Understand U’ down on there,” she said in an interview with “The Breakfast Club” podcast.
Ultimately, MC Lyte’s talents led to her signing to the label in 1986, per Blackpast. She reveals she was given a $5,000 advance, which was spent to purchase a vehicle.
“I got an advance, which was $5,000, and I took that $5,000 and I put it on my Jetta, the whole thing like ‘Yeah that’s all I need is a car,'” she explained on “The Breakfast Club.”
MC Lyte’s work with the label was immediate. She released her first single, “I Cram To Understand U (Sam),” in 1987, and the following year “Lyte As A Rock” was released as her first studio project. It became the first studio album to be released by a female solo rapper, Brooklyn magazine reports.
“[Early Hip-Hop] was so much freedom that we were able to really make a difference,” she told GRAMMY.com. “That’s myself with Heavy D and KRS-One and Rakim and all of the greats having the opportunity to use their voices the way that they wanted to use it.”
Success would continue to find MC Lyte with the release of “Cha Cha Cha,” which rested for 18 weeks at the top spot on Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart, per The Source. The song was released under her second studio album “Eyes On This” (1989) and was affirmation that she would become a fixture in the music industry.
Under First Priority Records, she would later release “Act Like You Know” (1991) and “Ain’t No Other” (1993). In total she has released nine studio album with her latest release on Aug. 9, 2024, titled “1 of 1.”
Lyte’s earnings from her music would ultimately come from touring, which led to her next major purchase.
“When I started touring is when I started making money, and then I got a house, and then without budgeting or anything by the time I furnished the house, I had nothing to cover my windows with, and so I had to put sheets up in the window and have my manager stop by and be OK with that scene,” she explained on The Breakfast Club. “And it wasn’t until I went out on the road the next time that I could finish the house.”
She added, “There’s so much more money being made in this business, and I can only hope that the youngins are doing the right thing with it because there are ebbs and flows.”
The MC is speaking from experience when mentioning the highs and lows of the industry. Despite selling more than 1 million records, she admits to not receiving enough compensation from publishing royalties.
She recalls receiving a “slight” amount “but nothing like you know I should have. I mean this is a treacherous game,” according to the podcast.
MC Lyte continued, “What’s interesting is on the internet now in every nook and cranny you can see truth being told. You got some people that are just like ‘Look this is how the record deal works,’ which I think is really admirable of those people to kind of speak their truth.”
Later in her career Lyte would reclaim more ownership in her artistry. As AFROTECH? previously reported, she has full ownership of her catalog and was able to maintain it in the aftermath of a divorce, court documents from January 2023 reveal.
This was made possible through a prenup, which also permitted the artist to maintain “other creative property, including royalties in connection to her creative works.”
She had not obtained ownership of her stage name until 2021.
“We were blessed to sign a huge deal with a major label. Not too long ago I received a call from the OG Nat Robinson who shared the copyright the label owned of my name was about to expire and if I wanted to grab it I should do it now,” she said at the time. “I put COO @lynnrichardson on top of it and she put it in the hands of Trademark Attorney @michellejmilleresq and the rest is history! Thank you to all involved!”
