Essay: Never forget the Pioneer Women of Hip Hop from the Bronx and Harlem, NYC

Essay: Never forget the Pioneer Women of Hip Hop from the Bronx and Harlem, NYC

If not me, then who can document my early days in the 1970s of attending Hip Hop center jams, park jams and parties in the Bronx and Harlem, Manhattan, New York City.  Please, you couldn’t tell me nothing, as I rocked my brand new fresh white-on-white leather/suede Puma Clyde sneakers to the center jams at Bronx River Community Center in the summer of 1976.  Of course I was sporting my flare Lee jeans and short sleeve sweatshirt.  Jewelry in those days included a round silver or gold Virgin Mary medallion and I usually had some variation of extension cornbreads, hell I was only 10 years old.  

My early days of learning Fly Girl and B-Girl moves was so much fun in the South Bronx. Yes I, Eva Marie King, MS was known as MC Juiccy E in those days.  I usually carried my “box” aka FM/AM radio tape cassette to school to listen to the tapes that my crew and I on 169th Street created and various tapes that I received from my friends in the South Bronx.  You young’uns must respect those of us who are at the beginning of the Hip Hop Movement. 

Oh what I would have given to access my smartphone and watch a Hip Hop video or song. We had to “roll” 10 to 15 deep to citywide jams at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem or to our local Hip Hop club, Fantasia on Merrick Boulevard in my town of SouthSide Jamaica, Queens to attend authentic jams and see DJs and MCs cut up the breakbeats. Jamming or listening to Hip Hop was not at the tip of fingertips on an iPhone or radio station. We the youth controlled it and had to create it with our DJing equipment in order to hear and enjoy it daily and circulate cassette tapes.

MC Sha-Rock and Queen MC Lisa Lee were household names in Bronx River River Houses, where my homegirl Spicy lived long before I saw them rhyme at the local community center and park jams.  In those days, it was mandatory for devastating artists to perform on the Bronx River Community Center stage, where I saw Sha-Rock, MC Lisa Lee and the Mercedes Ladies.  They were all vicious and devastating on the microphone and always dressed fly.  Other early girl/young women Hip Hop Pioneers from the Bronx that can’t be forgotten are MC Debbie D and DJ Wanda D.  I went to so many parties in the Bronx and Harlem in those days that I don’t remember every performance, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the US Girls (MC Sha-Rock, Queen MC Lisa Lee and MC Debbie D) who appeared in the groundbreaking Hip Hop movie “Beat Street.”

MC Pebblee Poo carved her name in Hip Hop history with her distinctive voice and rhyme flow. I recall being introduced to her by Polaryss Northstarr aka Atlas at the Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem in 2010.  I’ll never forget arriving at the center to perform media and public relations for  The Funky Four Plus One and hearing her devastating rhymes bellowing out of the windows as I ascended up on the elevators.  MC Pebblee Poo was gracious and shook my hand with a smile, and I told her that “I was honored to meet her.”  That night I also met Roxanne Shante who shook and embraced my hand like a “true G” and told me that I was “a beast” on social media. Queen Shante also graciously posed for a photograph with MC Sha-Rock’s book of memoirs that I gave her (she informed me that she already had a copy) and she gave a short  video statement (https://youtu.be/UuiHy6VeQ7M).  In 1980, I would go to Queensbridge Houses (Queensbridge Projects) on Vernon Boulevard with my group “The Sweet Trio” whose members were me, MC Juiccy E, MC Lady Love and MC Devoted D where we practiced our rhymes.  We all attended Park West High school, loved to rhyme and were all very good at it.  My homegirls knew young Shante in Queensbridge Houses and that night, I heard Roxanne Shante “go off the head” for the first time. I have never heard or seen any MC as skilled as Queen Shante since, as a freestyle MC.

“Sweet Trio” with new members MC Sure Delight, Betty Boo and MC Sweet Lee formed in Harlem after my group “The Original Sweet Trio” disbanded.  MC Sure Delight of the “Sweet Trio” was down with our crew The Everlastings at Park West High School (1979-1983). “Sweet Trio” recorded and released 2 songs on Tommy Boy Records in 1985 with DJ Jazzy Joyce and Producer DJ Whiz Kid (RIP) aka Harold McGuire. DJ Whiz Kid is credited as being a pioneer Hip Hop DJ and was affiliated with The Brothers Disco and The Funky Four Plus One.

In 2010, while writing my first book of memoirs, I wrote on social media to MC Sha-Rock, Queen MC Lisa Lee and Sheri Sher of the Mercedes Ladies and met and communicated with all of these legendary pioneers.  I was honored to offer my volunteer and pro bono media and public relations services for MC Sha-Rock’s first book of memoirs in 2010 titled, “The Beginning and End of Hip Hop’s First Female MC: Luminary Icon” by Sha-Rock and Iesha Brown www.MCShaRockOnline.com  

MC Sha-Rock taught me the true history of Hip Hop Industry during her project, I was happy to contribute my formal education and business writing experience to book MC Sha-Rock for book signings at the Hollis Hip Hop Museum in May 2011.  I also booked, wrote, produced and executive produced MC Sha-Rock’s Sirius XM Satellite Radio special titled, “Settin’ Standards with Sha-Rock” in March 2011, a Mother’s Day Special for May 2011 on the Backspin channel.  This special included an original rhyme by MC Sha-Rock and interviews http://www.mcsharockonline.com/Media/Interviews/interviews.html with DJ Lady B, MC Lyte, DJ Baby D, Cheryl The Pearl, DJ Lady Love, Missy D, Sweet LD of Oaktown's 357, Nikki D, Sparky D, Conscious Daughters and Frick and Frack. I also had the opportunity to interview MC Sha-Rock for this historic nearly 3-hour satellite radio special which featured 3 hours of mixed verses by DJ Lady Love and interviews by MC Sha-Rock, the first Female MC of Hip Hop. 

Sheri Sher a founding sister of the Mercedes Ladies and the first pioneer to publish a novel titled, Mercedes Ladies.  Mercedes Ladies is the first female DJ and MC Hip Hop crew in history formed in 1976 in the Bronx and began performing in 1979.  At their height they boosted a crew of six MCS, three DJS and twenty-one girls in the crew.  Sheri Sheri shared untold stories of her history with DJ Eclipse https://youtu.be/MsL8P1YvurE on his show Rap Is Outta Control show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio which I booked her on 2017.

We must remember the early days in Hip Hop Movement, Culture and Music when it was controlled by Black youth in New York City prior to it being sexualized and criminalized.  When you found a girl/young women who was serious about DJing or MCing it was a memorable experience and the reason why my homegirls, homeboys and I in SouthSide Jamaica, Queens rocked our fly gear uptown to party with our Bronx and Harlem counterparts, way “back in the day.”

Written entirely by:

Eva Marie King, MS

aka MC Juiccy E

on Saturday, May 23, 2020