Sha Rock rapper
| MC Sha-Rock | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Sharon Green |
| Born | Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.A. |
| Origin | Bronx, New York, U.S.A. |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | MC/Emcee Rapper |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Associated acts | Funky 4 + 1 |
| Website | MCShaRockOnline.com |
Sharon Green (born 1962), known by her stage name Sha Rock, is a rapper from Wilmington, North Carolina.
MC Sha-Rock became one of the earliest female emcee "on wax" or recorded on vinyl who began as a local b-girl or breakdancer in the earliest days of South Bronx hip-hop scene and culture in the late 1970s. She recorded with the Funky 4 + 1, which consisted of four male emcees + 1, the plus one denoted Green as the sole female emcee. The Funky 4 + 1 had their first significant hit with the 12-inch single "Rapping and Rocking the House" on Sugarhill Records (1979) as well as "That's the Joint" (1980). As an early pioneer affiliated with the Zulu Nation, MC Sha-Rock inspired a style of rapping emulated and made notable by Run DMC called the "echo chamber".
In 2010, Green published a book about her experiences titled The Story of the Beginning and End of the First Hip Hop Female MC: Luminary Icon Sha-Rock.
The early roots of girls and women in hip-hop are often downplayed but Sharon Green aka MC Sha-Rock is considered the first to record and the first to appear on national television. On Valentine's Day in 1981, she and her crew The Funky 4 + 1 were introduced as "street rappers" from the Bronx as the musical guests along with Debbie Harry of the American group Blondie on Saturday Night Live when Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscapo were still members of the SNL cast. The Funky 4+ 1's appearance reflected a local New York City connection that introduced the uptown musical youth of the Bronx and Harlem to the downtown Lower East Side scenes of graffiti art and music fictionally represented with the artists playing themselves in the 1983 film Wild Style by Charlie Ahearn. This creative link between various youthful artists was forged by the influencers like Fab Five Freddy and Ruza Kool Lady Blue who ran the Roxy NYC nightclub the featured early hip-hop artists. She appeared in classic hip-hop films like Stan Latham's Beat Street (1984) and has been honored in recent decades by various organizations for her pioneering contributions to hip-hop emceeing.
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