Who is

Monday, February 23, 2009

Who is Shawntae Harris?

Who is Shawntae Harris? The world knows her by her stage name Da Brat, she is an American female rapper

Da Brat was born April 14, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois. [1] She is the half sister of Lisa Raye,

an actress and designer.
She attended Kenwood Academy High School from 88-89 and graduated from Marshall Public School in 1992 per personal interview at LaGuardia Airport in 2008. She did not graduate from Kenwood Academy in 1992.

arris was involved in the altercation that ended in assault at a Halloween party at Studio 72 nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia, on 31 October 2007. Harris and a hostess exchanged verbal spars, and later, when the hostess proceeded to talk to Harris' manager, Harris attacked the hostess from behind, striking her in the face with a rum bottle. Harris entered a guilty plea to aggravated assault charges. She was sentenced to three years in prison, seven years of probation, and 200 hours of community service. According to reports, the rapper pleaded to her weeping family as she was led out of the courtroom, saying: "I love y'all." Harris, who had been convicted in 2000 for misdemeanor reckless conduct, reportedly attempted an unsuccessful escape on September 17, 2008 .

The Jermaine Dupri protégé

had chart success in 1994 with her single and video entitled "Funkdafied", taken from her debut album of the same name (Funkdafied), that reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. This album went platinum, in which made her the first female rapper to go platinum and sell one million units.[2] She had a follow-up hit from the same album, "Give It 2 You", which reached #26 on the Hot 100. During the rest of the decade, she remained somewhat low-key and came to be known more for her "featured" appearances on other rappers' and R&B singers' albums than for her own solo work.

In the summer of 1996 she contributed a rhyme to the hip hop remix of Mariah Carey's hit, "Always Be My Baby". She also made her feature film debut that year in Kazaam

with Shaquille O'Neal.

During the summer of 1997, Da Brat appeared along with Dupri on a remix of Carey's "Honey (So So Def mix)" and recorded the hit song Ladies Night with Lil' Kim

, Left-Eye

, Angie Martinez

and Missy Elliott

. She also did a track called "Ghetto Love" featuring T-Boz

of TLC,

this song & video was well received and was in heavy rotation for a short period of time. This artist also featured with Kris Kross on their track "Da Bomb" on the album "Da Bomb", as well as on their third album Young, Rich and Dangerous.

1997 she was featured on "Sock It 2 Me", a track on Missy Elliott's debut album, which became a popular single in early 1998. In 1999, Da Brat appeared, alongside Krayzie Bone

, on the remix to Mariah Carey's cover of Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe". She also appeared as a guest artist with Missy Elliott

on Carey's remix of "Heartbreaker", and on the remix of Brandy's

"U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)" with Shaunta. In 1999 she was also featured on the Destiny's Child

album The Writing's on the Wall's single Jumpin', Jumpin', (see below)which was an international hit.

I

n early 2000, Da Brat released her third full-length album Unrestricted

, which produced the moderately successful singles "That's What I'm Looking For" (U.S. #56) and "What Chu Like" (U.S. #26), featuring soul singer, Tyrese

. The album was not well received compared to Brat's earlier work. However, the new album and new millennium did inspire an image makeover for Da Brat. Abandoning her "gangsta" persona, she decided to follow the trend in popular music and attempted to sex her image up; the video for "What Chu Like" featured Da Brat and Tyrese rolling around naked on a beach. In keeping with her new image, Da Brat exposed her third nipple live on MTV's Total Request Live

while she was hosting the show.
In 2001, Brat continued her trend of being featured on other artist's remixes, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart along with rapper Ludacris

on the main remix of Mariah Carey's " Loverboy" (see below) and being featured artist on Destiny's Child's "Survivor" remix. Da Brat also appeared as Louise in Carey's 2001 movie Glitter

In 2003, Brat released her fourth album, titled Limelite, Luv & Niteclubz

, and appeared on the 4th season of VH1's The Surreal Lif

In 2005, she made a comeback of sorts when she was featured on the remix to the song "I Think They Like Me," by Dem Franchize Boyz,

( see video below) which also featured Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Now

In 2006, she was an onstage guest on Mariah Carey's The Adventures of Mimi Tour in Atlanta, New York City, Long Island, Washington DC, Chicago,and Los Angeles performing her rap verses on the "Heartbreaker" and "Honey" remixes.

She featured in 2007 on Kelly Rowland's

"Gotsta Go"- a bonus track from her 2007 album "Ms. Kelly" and is now to be featured on a bonus track from Mariah Carey's "E=MC²" on a track entitled "4real4real" which is an iTunes pre-order exclusive (USA) and is also going to feature on the Japanese edition of the album. She also co-wrote a song with Mariah Carey called "O.O.C" which appears on "E=MC²" but does not have vocals on the track. more

KELLY ROWLAND FEAT EVE... LIKE THIS

I Think They Like Me @ Yahoo! Video

Mariah Carey - Loverboy (Remix)

Da Brat - That's What I'm Looking For

That's What I'm Looking For @ Yahoo! Video

Da Brat feat. Tyrese - What'chu Like

Jumpin' Jumpin' (Remix)

Jumpin' Jumpin' (Remix) @ Yahoo! Video

Heartbreaker (Remix)

Heartbreaker (Remix) @ Yahoo! Video

Sock It 2 Me",

lisa left eye lopez ft lil kim da brat missy elliot ladies night performance in HQ

Funkdafied

Funkdafied @ Yahoo! Video

Lana Michele Moorer?

Who is Lana Michele Moorer? The Rap Music world knows her as MC Lyte. She is a rap

artist who has scored several Rap and R&B hits. She has released several albums since 1988. She was born October 11, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York)[1]

MC Lyte" Moorer began rapping at the age of 12[1] and began her career in 1986. The release of her first single, "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)", was produced by her older brothers. This song, about a lying boyfriend’s crack cocaine addiction, became a modest R&B hit and led to her recording contract with First Priority Music. Her debut album, Lyte As a Rock, was released in 1988, and featured the previously mentioned single and another rap single entitled "10% Dis"; which targeted her rival at the time, rapper Antoinette.

Her second album Eyes on This was released in 1989. It spawned Lyte's first #1 Rap Tracks single "Cha Cha Cha" and another hit titled "Cappuccino", which is a metaphysical story weaved around a bad cappuccino experience. The song's video was directed by Ric Menello, who also helmed the The Beastie Boys's,

"Fight for Your Right" music video. MC Lyte turned to producers Wolf & Epic (of Bell Biv Devoe

fame) for her third release, 1991's Act Like You Know, which spawned another #1 Rap Track titled "Poor Georgie" and two smaller hits "When in Love" and "Eyes are the Soul". In 1993, MC Lyte released the album Ain't No Other. The album spawned yet another #1 Rap Track, "Ruffneck", which earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Single and was the first ever gold single by a solo female rap artist (Salt-N-Pepa

had had several gold and platinum singles earlier).[1] Another minor single titled "I Go On" also came from this album.

Lyte then signed Elektra/Asylum and issuing released 1996's Bad As I Wanna B, which featured a duet with Missy Elliott

on the track "Cold Rock a Party," which became another #1 Rap Track for her. This would be her only album certfied at least gold in the US (selling at least 500,000 copies). She contributed to the Sunset Park soundtrack with "Keep On, Keepin' On". In 2001, Rhino Entertainment released The Very Best of MC Lyte. The artist mounted a comeback in 2003 with Da Undaground Heat, Vol. 1 with production team Maad Funk.

In 2003 MC Lyte released her first ialbum on her own label, SGI/CMM, along with manager/partner Fred Crawford

. The album, entitled "Da Underground Heat Vol. 1 hosted by Jamie Foxx",

went on to garner her yet another Grammy nomination and Bet Award nomination as well, although if failed to go gold. The leading single, "Ride With Me", became the title track for a show called HOLLA hosted by Cheryl Underwood

and also became one of the title songs for EA Sports NBA video game of 2003. The song also appeared in a popular LL COOL J

feature entitled "Deliver us from Eva

In the 2008 presidential race, Lyte spoke in favor of Barack Obama. She was quoted in The Source magazine as saying "I'm not voting for him (Obama) because he's a black man, I am voting for Obama because of his message and I identify with his words and his passion." [2]

Lyte has been featured on television as herself on such shows as MTV Unplugged

, In Living Color

, Moesha,

New York Undercover

, My Wife and Kids

,and Sisters in the Name of Rap. She has also acted on TV as a character (not as "MC Lyte") in such shows as In the House

, Get Real, Half & Half

, and The Distric

Her first acting role in a film was in the 1993 movie titled Fly by Nigh

t, starring alongside Jeffrey Sams,

Ron Bric

e, and Steve Gomer.

Since then she has also starred other films, such as A Luv Tale

(1999), Train Ride (2000), Civil Brand (2002) and Playa's Ball

(2003).
In 2007 Lyte joined the cast of MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar and coached Shar Jackson to a hip hop mc victory in a mere 8 weeks. During that same time Lyte hit the road in between shooting and joined The Roots for a nationwide VH1 House of Blues Tour.
in 1996 Lyte began what is now a very successful voice over career. She has completed campaigns with several corporate brands. Lyte is currently voicing a BET show called The BOOT and has just signed on to become a voice for the branding of the STARZ network.
She has also recently opened Shaitel

, a Los Angeles boutique that specializes in accessories from belts to sunglasses. "We sell a mixture of new and vintage [items]," explains Lyte. "We also have a few signature pieces that are done just for the store. We boast to bring a little New York flavor out here to California.

In February 2006, her diary, as well as a turntable, records, and other assorted ephemera from the early days of hip hop, were donated to the Smithsonian Institution.[3]

This collection, entitled "Hip-Hop Won’t Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life" is a program to assemble objects of historical relevance to the hip hop genre from its inception.[4]
In October 2006, MC Lyte was one of the honored hip hop artists on VH1's annual award show, Hip Hop Honors. She was joined by fellow female MC's Da Brat

, Remy Ma,

and Lil' Kim

as they performed some of her tracks, "Cha Cha Cha," "Lyte As A Rock", "Paper Thin" and "Ruffneck". She previously took part in the MTV reality series Celebrity Rap Superstar

as the mentor of the Moesha actress Shar Jackson.

She is also an honorary member of Sigma Gamma Rho

Sorority, Inc.

In 2005 she released 2 songs called "Can I Get It Now" & "Don't Walk Away" (with Meechie) available on the iTunes store. In 2007 she released a song called "Mad At Me" available on the iTunes store. In 2008 she released 2 songs called "Juke Joint" (on both UK & US) & "Get Lyte" (exclusive to US) available on the iTunes store. In 2009 she released a song onto to the iTunes store called "Brooklyn".

Albums
1988 Lyte as a Rock