| Lyte as a Rock | |
| Cover: | File:Lyte as a Rock Single.jpeg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | MC Lyte |
| Album: | Lyte as a Rock |
| B-Side: | Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe) |
| Released: | 1988 |
| Recorded: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Golden age hip hop, Hip house |
| Length: | 4:30 |
| Label: | First Priority, Atlantic Records |
| Producer: | Audio Two, King of Chill (House Mix)[1] |
| Prev Title: | Paper Thin |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | I'm Not Havin' It |
| Next Year: | 1989 |
"Lyte as a Rock" is a 1988 single from the album of the same name by American rapper MC Lyte. Although in its version on the album it is produced by Audio Two, the single and the music video use a house music mix produced by King of Chill. The song was composed by Lyte With Audio Two's Milk Dee.
In 2000 the song was part of the soundtrack of the Gina Prince-Bythewood movie Love & Basketball.
The song was performed by Lil' Kim at the MC Lyte tribute at the 2006 VH1 Hip Hop Honors.[2]
In the song you hear a dialogue from producer King of Chill and Milk Dee from Audio Two talking about the meaning of "Lyte as a Rock":
The B-side "Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe)" is a diss track to Hurby Azor's associate, Antoinette.[4]
The song contains samples from vocals of Ashford & Simpson's "Solid" and drums from Tommy Roe's "Sweet Pea".
It was later included on the compilation album Cold Rock a Party – Best of MC Lyte (2019).[5]
Later it was sampled in other songs of her like on "I Am the Lyte" from her second album Eyes on This (1989), "Ice Cream Dream (Remix 12")" (1992) and "The Wonder Years" (2006). It was also sampled in songs by others artists, such as De La Soul's "Cool Breeze on the Rocks" interlude on their album 3 Feet High and Rising and Gang Starr's "The Planet".
In 2000 the song was part of the soundtrack of the Gina Prince-Bythewood movie Love & Basketball.
The song was performed by Lil' Kim at the MC Lyte tribute at the 2006 VH1 Hip Hop Honors.[6]
The music video for the song, directed by Lionel C. Martin,[7] shows MC Lyte rapping in different historical periods such as the paleolithic period, as queen of ancient Egypt and as a member of a pro-black social movement and features a brief cameo by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was included on her compilation video album Lyte Years (1991).[8]
In 1999, Ego Trips editors ranked "Lyte as a Rock (House Mix)" at 7 in their list of "10 Hip House Songs That Don't Suck" in Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists.[9]
In September 2004, as a result of a survey of over 200 musicians, songwriters, disc jockeys and radio programme producers, the song ranked 81 on the Top40-Charts Top 100 Greatest Hip-hop/Rap Singles of all time list.[10]
In March 2016, XXL's Dominique Zonyee commented:
In 2018, on the 30th anniversary of its release, Albumisms Jesse Ducker reviewed the album Lyte as a Rock where he commented that with the song, MC Lyte "attempts to prove her lyrical dominance straight out the gate. Over the drums and organ from Tommy Roe's 'Sweet Pea', transmits directly from the Planet of Brooklyn, exhibiting complete mic dominance." He also considered the "more rugged" original version superior to the remix house.[11]
A-Side (Funky Side)
B-Side (Spunky Side)
Credits are taken from the liner notes.[12]