MC Lyte

In 2020, Lyte starred in Bad Hair directed by Justin Simien, and Sylvie's Love, a period piece set in the 1960s opposite Tessa Thompson.

In January 2019 received The Trail Blazer Award at the Trumpet Awards in Atlanta with rappers Yo Yo, Lil Mama, Da Brat, Big Tigger, and DJ Krock helping to celebrate with a performance.

In 2017 Lyte played Detective Makena Daniels in the drama series Tales. Immediately following she played DEA Special Agent Katrina 'K.C.' Walsh in the Police drama S.W.A.T.. and Tiffany in TV ONE production Loved to Death. Lyte has been featured on television as herself on such shows as In Living Color, Moesha, Cousin Skeeter, New York Undercover, My Wife and Kids, and Sisters in the Name of Rap. She also acted on TV in such shows as In the House, Get Real, Half & Half, Queen of the South, and The District.

In early 2016, she started dating Marine Corps veteran and entrepreneur John Wyche, after meeting him on Match.com. They announced their engagement in May 2017, and in August at 46 years old, they exchanged their vows during a musical wedding in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Reggae Congo bands played as Lyte walked down the aisle, and the couple's friend Kelly Price serenaded them during the ceremony. Afterward, an intimate gathering with only close friends and family members was held.

"Dear John" (featuring Common & 10Beats) was released on September 9, 2014 and peaked on the Billboard Twitter Trending 140 chart at number three. After twelve years without an album, MC Lyte's eighth album, Legend, came out on April 18, 2015. "Ball" (featuring Lil Mama & AV) and "Check" are also singles from the album.

DJ MC Lyte served as the DJ of choice at Michael Jordan's 50th Birthday Celebration, at his 2013 wedding reception, and at Jay Leno's farewell party. Lyte has gone on to provide music for The Image Awards, Nissan, Google, Black Enterprise, and many others.

In 2013, MC Lyte received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Hip Hop Inaugural Ball. She was the first female solo hip hop artist to receive BET's "I Am Hip Hop" Icon Lifetime Achievement Award.

MC Lyte served as the President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Academy (the Grammy organization) from 2011 to 2013. She was the first African American woman to serve in this role.

In 2007, Lyte joined the cast of MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar and coached Shar Jackson to a hip hop emcee victory in a mere eight weeks. During that same time, Lyte hit the road in between shooting and joined the Roots for a nationwide VH1 House of Blues Tour.

In June 2006, MC Lyte was interviewed for the documentary The Rap Report, Part 2. MC Lyte talked about her career in rap music and what it was like during the beginnings of hip hop. She also performs a concert of her most famous hits. The program is produced by Rex Barnett.

In February 2006, her diary, as well as a turntable, records, and other assorted ephemera from the early days of hip hop, were donated to the Smithsonian Institution. This collection, entitled "Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life" is a program to assemble objects of historical relevance to the hip hop genre from its inception.

During October 2006, MC Lyte was one of the honored artists on VH1's annual award show Hip Hop Honors. She was joined by fellow female MC's Da Brat, Remy Ma, and Lil' Kim as they performed some of her tracks, such as "Cha Cha Cha", "Lyte as a Rock", "Paper-Thin", and "Ruffneck". She became the first female emcee to be inducted into the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors.

MC Lyte's song "My Main Aim" was the title song of the basketball video game NBA Live 2005 by EA Sports. In 2005, she released two songs produced by Richard "Wolfie" Wolf called "Can I Get It Now" and "Don't Walk Away" (with Meechie). In 2007, she released a song called "Mad at Me" and, in 2008, two songs called "Juke Joint" and "Get Lyte". In 2009, a song titled "Brooklyn" was released, as well as "Craven".

Her 1998 follow-up album, Seven & Seven, however, was not as successful. She left East West America by the end of the decade. Lyte released the independently produced record The Undaground Heat, featuring Jamie Foxx, in 2003, which was notable for the song "Ride Wit Me". The single was nominated for both a Grammy and a BET Award.

In 1997, MC Lyte launched Sunni Gyrl Inc., a global entertainment firm that specializes in artist management and development, production, and creative services and consulting.

In August 1996, after signing with Elektra Records affiliate East West and more than three years after her last job, Lyte released the fifth album of her career, Bad as I Wanna B. With a sound more oriented to R&B and dance music, it would be far from the critical recognition of its first albums, although it became one of the most commercially successful. On this album they would stand out mainly for having the two most commercially successful singles of their career: "Keep On Keepin' On", along with the R&B group Xscape (# 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and # 3 on Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Songs and # 27 on the UK Singles Chart) and the Puff Daddy remix of his song "Cold Rock a Party", (# 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, his fourth # 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and # 14 in the UK between other charts in Europe), in which Missy Elliott participates. With both he would achieve gold certifications in the US market, and for "Keep On Keepin 'On" she also won a Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards in the category of best R&B, Soul or Rap video.

In 1996, MC Lyte began doing voiceovers, working on a short-lived BET show called The Boot and doing some branding for the Starz network, Tide, AT&T, the National Urban League, and many others. She did the voice of Tia for the Mattel toy line Diva Starz from 2000 to 2004.

For 1992 he begins work on his next album, titled Ain't No Other, which is released on June 22, 1993. On this album he returns to a more hardcore sound and has better performance, both critical and commercial. Thanks to the single "Ruffneck", (his third song # 1 on the rap list, # 10 on the Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Songs and # 35 on the Billboard Hot 100), which sells half a million copies, it becomes the first female rapper to achieve gold certification as a solo artist, in addition to earning a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Rap Solo Performance category.

On May 1, 1991, Lyte performs on "Yo! Unplugged Rap", the first MTV Unplugged to feature rap artists, alongside A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and LL Cool J. In September 1991 Lyte releases her third album, Act Like You Know, where it goes to a new jack swing sound. Even though singles "Poor Georgie" and "When in Love" peaked at # 1 and # 3 on the Hot Rap Singles respectively, the album fell in the charts, only peaking at #102 on the Billboard 200 and #14 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and reviews were generally mixed. That year she also participated in the socially conscious single "Heal Yourself" by the collective "HEAL Human Education Against Lies", which also included Big Daddy Kane, Boogie Down Productions, Run-DMC, Queen Latifah and LL Cool J.

Her first acting role was in 1991, an off-Broadway theater play titled Club Twelve, a hip-hop twist on Twelfth Night alongside Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Lisa Nicole Carson. After she made her film debut in the 1993 movie titled Fly by Night, starring alongside Jeffrey Sams, Ron Brice, and Steve Gomer, she also starred other films, such as A Luv Tale (1999), Train Ride (2000), Civil Brand (2002) and Playa's Ball (2003). In 2011, she guest starred in the Regular Show episode "Rap It Up", portraying a member of a hip-hop group also including characters voiced by Tyler, the Creator and Childish Gambino. Lyte signed with the production unit, Duc Tha Moon, for three years and eventually made a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio.

In 1990 became the first rap artist to perform at the historic Carnegie Hall.

Less than a year and a half later, Lyte followed her debut album with the 1989's album Eyes on This. This album, like its predecessor, received a great critical reception and is recognized as a Hip Hop classic. In this album, songs like the hit single Cha Cha Cha (which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles, peaking at # 1), the socially conscious "Capuccino" and a new diss track to his rival Antoniette, "Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe)" stand out. At the beginning of that same year, Lyte joined Stop the Violence Movement with Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy and Heavy D, among others. Together they released the single "Self Destruction", in response to violence in the hip hop and African American communities. The song debuted at No. 1 on the first week of Billboard's Hot Rap Songs existence and the proceeds were donated to the National Urban League.

At age 17 in 1988, she released her single debut, I Cram to Understand U (Sam), about drug addiction and its impact on relationships, being one of the first songs written for the crack era. As she has stated, she was 12 years old at the time of writing. Also featured in the remix and music video of "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, which debuted in May 1988 on MTV.

In September 1988, she released her first album, Lyte as a Rock, with which she becomes the first female solo rapper to release a full album. In addition to the aforementioned "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)", the album was highlighted by songs like "Paper Thin", its title track, and the diss track "10% Dis", a response from then-Hurby Azor associate Antoinette. Despite not having a great commercial performance, is considered one of the best and most important rap albums, both in the 80s and in history.

Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper who first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988's critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. In her artistic career she published a total of 8 studio albums (Legend of 2015 the last one to date), obtaining a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award and two Grammys nominations .