Episode 33 - Queen Lisa Lee (Know The Origins)

My guest this week is pioneering MC, Queen Lisa Lee. She was a member of the Cosmic Force, the Soulsonic Force, and a mainstay on countless Zulu Nation live tapes. She was also a key part of the movies Wildstyle and Beat Street. Today, she contributes to William & Mary's hip-hop library and Cornell University's hip-hop museum, as well as doing speaking engagements across the country. She tells me about learning to scratch and quick-mix at age 11, and about rocking the mic at a Zulu Nation party for the first time at age 13. We talk about what the early landscape of hip-hop was like, and how she fit into it. She talks about putting music to the side and becoming entrenched in street life, and how telling the truth about her story helped her to heal and start over. Mike Riley’s art this week is an homage to Gladys Knight and The Pips’s Neither One of Us. This episode is hosted by Splicetoday.com.