In DnB and Jungle, there was always a voice in the music, and this voice was the MC. My backstory with my musical tastes from an early age was pop music when I was a younger kid, then moved to metal, then bands like Grateful Dead, the Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, and many others during that era. I then got into hip hop during the early 90s and then when the Prodigy came out with Fat of the Land I was pretty hooked to the UK hardcore sound. I searched for other things that sounded like it and I found some things but nothing really turned up. When I was 17 and attended my first party (rave) I heard drum & bass. At the same event KRS One and Biz Markie performed so I had the straight joy to experience these two genres at the same place. Once the event ended I was happy to see all the flyer promoters as that was my guide on what to hit up next. I was able to use that experience and the information from those flyers to dig deeper into the culture that was in front of me. Shortly after this moment, I was able to find a tape set that had Kenny Ken with MC Foxy, Randall, and many others and it was a nonstop MC fest. I was peaked in excitement. My love of hip-hop is what drove me to this genre and the MC kept me in it. During a certain point, I even performed as an MC of sorts, I was indeed more of a hype man than anything. If you have some old NYC or NJ flyers look at events featuring MC SKO, that was me. Anywho, fast forwarding when CGAgency became more mature I had the great pleasure to handle many MCs and had been aquatinted with some of the best MCs in the game.
The MC in my opinion is what provides the environment for an ideal performance and crowd experience. If you witness say a roller DnB set it might sound like a few different tracks within the 60/90 min set. With an MC there is an opportunity to create a certain depth to the performance and get the crowd involved. The larger the event the more an MC becomes even more important. If you want to see 10,000 people zone out quickly, play a progressive set without an MC. The MC even in these conditions can take all of those people on a journey through the soundscapes that the DJ is trying to communicate to the audience. Without them, it will be lost. Even with the most dynamic DJ set of uplifting drum and bass the MC just makes it better, trust me you’ll dance more and harder – the MC I guess could be your motivator or personal trainer of sorts haha.
So if you are a lover of this music we need your support, and support your MC. So this music can become stronger than ever. The MC will play a huge role in pushing this music out to larger audiences of people as it provides a cross-over into other genres as people are attracted to the voice of others. You can do this people by reaching out to your local promoters who book DnB DJs. MCs also work with Dubstep so if you’re a fan of that genre start requesting MCs to get on more lineups.
A little personal story, I MC’d for an event for a DnB DJ, and after that there was a dubstep act. The dubstep act was playing for around 15 min and the crowd was just standing there. I asked the guys if they wanted some help and they gladly accepted it. All I did was just hype up the crowd and point at some people in the front and the middle and the set turned around in no time and people were into it more. It is simply an energy thing.
Promoters, you can help your events by involving MCs in your events. If you paid attention to any of this you’ll notice the difference they make to your events. Even if your show doesn’t do well, if you have met enough MCs they are fun people to have around with their usual type of personality and outgoing way of interacting with others.
MCs out there, I got your back, but you have to use your voice and get out there and get friendly with your local promoters. More so, getting on tracks with producers and booking yourself on events. Then performing with those producers would be key to getting out there to strengthen yourself and drive this scene forward.
So keep it going people and let’s do the damn thing and get MCs out there, on every contract we put out there I have the following statement attached “A contract from CGAgency LLC for “Artist Name” and “Date of Show” is ready to be signed!
Are you sure you have everything you need? Another artist…maybe an MC?
