Is The MC Dead

I remember when Hip-Hop came out as a teenager I couldn't wait to get that new "CASSETTE TAPE," that I heard about through a Friend, the Source Magazine or when I went to the 'local' record store to buy that new record I just heard on the radio station. At this time the "Tape" brought in a new pivotal era giving fans to privately transport their favorite artist after purchasing it from the store, club, or friend; and then popping in the tape to your car, home tape recorder, or your own personal Cassette Player. At the time this is when I was a teenager walking to high school listening to my N.W.A. & WuTang tapes. (Remember the purple tape/Raekwon) This is what I would coin as the first use of “Private Transportation,” to hear music which at my time I only could afford a SONY WALKMAN.

Ahh ....yes the tape that breed the 1st. MIXTAPE, the musical transformation from VINYL to a TAPE, definitely not what you may call a mixtape today in a form of a CD. This little piece of plastic with wound ribbon’s that fit in the palm of your hand of course increased productivity for the record label, and gave people the first time to be an MC. I remember when Hip-Hop came out as a teenager I couldn't wait to get that new "CASSETTE TAPE," that I heard about through a Friend, the Source Magazine or when I went to the 'local' record store to buy that new record I just heard on the radio station. At this time the "Tape" brought in a new pivotal era giving fans to “Privately Transport” their favorite artist after purchasing in from the store, club, or friend; and popping in the tape to your car, home tape recorder, or your own personal Cassette Player. At this very time I was a teenager walking to high school listening to my N.W.A. & WuTang tapes. (Remember the purple tape/Raekwon) This is what I would coin as the first use of “Private Transportation” to hear music which at my only time I could afford was the SONY WALKMAN.

The cassette tape of course increased productivity for the record label and gave people the first time to be COST EFFECTIVE by recording their favorite radio mixshow, scratch on vinyl & record it to the tape, or ask a friend to "DUB" (today we now call it BURN) you a copy. As the cassette tape exploded, so did Hip-Hop which gave fans an opportunity to now become a MC (Master of Ceremony) and along w/ a DJ you developed a demo tape, dubbed some copies, and sold it at the party. This new technology at the time opened up the doors for the independent record labels as well; the "Cassette Tape" was now determined as a HOT commodity that was demanded by the people, which now made the MC and DJ a business.

As production costs decreased it breed more MC's (Master of Ceremonies) that could afford to invest in their crafts, and at the time the Major Record Labels was investing Million's of Dollars into Marketing & Video Budgets. Back then you had to LOOK THE BEST to get a fan inspired by you, and back then if you was in the Source Magazine you damn near made it already, but back then a Million in Sales was a lot easier to accomplish because the record companies still had control of the "Manufacturing" to sell it to the masses which was in the form of a Tape, which then led to the CD. Even as we see today the CD is a very cheap commodity but when the Tape transformed to a CD, an artist could still at the time make a pretty good financial success.

That artist that looked up to that Super Star, now turned into a MC by following their favorite artist that inspired them to now develop a Demo Tape with a DJ and shop themselves to get a deal. Cost of production back then was still at an all time high, but manufacturing was at a much lower cost to duplicate & distribute the recording sound in the form of a small cassette tape. Since the cassette tape offered so many advantages ‘personally’ it increased fans to become an artist, singer, rapper, producer, DJ, etc. and this influx of artists grew as the Personal Creation of Music became cheaper! Has this extremely low cost of creating music led to an almost extinction of the meaning, “Master of Ceremony” in 2011 due to the technical advances, personal creation, and cheap manufacturing? Is Hip-Hop losing that true MC that could rock a crowd, freestyle, and spit some words that make you say ….OH SH!T?

- even today the words of Cassette Tape, Dub, CD, and Burn, has almost died due to the File Sharing, Download, iPod, & Mobile Streaming of Today's Own Personal Transportation of Music. Will the Master of Ceremony’s arise again and be etched in the rich sound of the Vinyl LP.

Will the MC come full circle?

Posted via email from I Am Shimmy