NOT REALLY AN MC, BUT DJ DEREK ROCKIN' THE MIC
The MC debate has been going on for as long as i have been raving. Some people love them, some people hate them but you cannot escape the ubiquitous mic wielders at most raves. Way back when, the job of the MC was to hype the crowd; to compliment the dj whilst being the front and centre view for the ravers as the dj's generally were a bit dull to watch. Standing proud at the front of the stage, getting people to blow whistles or cheers as a dj drops the tune or as a break down kicks in. Somewhere along this journey the MC has been evolving and changing style and direction, and this is where the split in opinion really shows. The MC used to be about helping the DJ, but now a lot of MC's are only interested in spitting their lyrics and making a name for themselves rather than complimenting the music. D&B is the worst offender for this, and sometimes when i see a flyer i am gobsmacked at the amount of MC's on the line up. 2 MC's per DJ is retarded. Why do some promotors think that is a good idea? D&B MC's are notorious for constant chatter at speeds hitherto unknown outside of the world of the hummingbird, all unintelligible to the average human (ba-buddah-ba-buddah ba-buddah ba) and relentless; circular breathing techniques must be all the rage for the modern mic abuser. As this is an old skool blog, i will stick to what i know, as i have little interest in the D&B scene.
I loved a few MC's, the ones that knew when to be quiet and when to go and get the crowd hyped up. Man Parris falls into this catagory along with Top Buzz's Mad P, easily my favourite MC's but there are a lot of notable others like Cool N deadly, Conrad, Ribbz, Robbie Dee (coming back to him shortly) and others. Cool N Deadly was on the first tape i ever had, grooverider from Amnesia House, 1990 and i loved that tape, his style was laid back and as his name suggests, very cool. If you listen back to any Top Buzz tapes from 1991, Mad P sounds like his voice was due to break compared to a couple of years later. I learned a few new words when i was a youth thanks to Patrick, from lines such as "..and it happens to detrimental" which was one of my favourites. Having no clue what detrimental meant encouraged me to use a dictionary (something only nerds did, in my opinion at the time) Conradr was LTJ Bukems MC, his style really complimented LTJ's progressive style at the time and this is the only compliment LTJ will ever get from me, as i found his music dull and for the chin strokers only. Robbie Dee was mental. Absolute nuttiness which went perfectly with Rattys frenetic style of chopping up beats and scratching. Some of the stuff he came out with was of questionable integrity "i don't think we're getting paid tonight so i'm sending a bucket round in ten minutes" and "if someone has a pound can they go to reception please and claim it" had me laughing like a drain. There was a lot of terrible MC's as well. A serial offender was Loud and Nasty, A.K.A Neville from Amnesia House. As he lives fairly near to me this is all i am going to say about him. I remember going to a rave at fantasy island, Ingoldmells, just outside Skegness and there was an MC called MC motivator, dressed in a leotard, complete with bum bag and moustache. I was off my noodle and genuinely thought i had either lost my mind or the real Mr Motivator had turned his hand to rhyming over happy hardcore now. There used to be an MC at the Eclipse on members night with glasses with little lights on the side that would wander around the dance floor with radio mic in hand, walking up to people and shouting "dance you bastard!" in their faces. Not the best MC ever, in fact i would go so far as to say a total and utter bell end. And that's the thing, an MC is only as good as people tell them they are. I have an MC i use when appropriate and he knows when to let rip and when to STFU, and this is the mark of a decent MC, along with decent lyrics, obviously.
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