MC SHA ROCK
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Funky Four Plus One (also known as Funky 4 + 1) was the first Hip-Hop/Rap group from The Bronx, New York, United States to receive a recording deal. They were notable for having a female MC, and were the first rap group to perform live on a national television broadcast. Jazzy Jeff from Funky Four Plus One is not the same artist as DJ Jazzy Jeff from DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. When Jazzy Jeff was setting up a solo career after the (3rd) Funky 4 split up around 1983 he sued Jive Records (who had subsequently signed DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince) and he won a lawsuit over the rights to the name "Jazzy Jeff". Formed in 1976, the group was the first hip hop group to have a female MC, Sha Rock. They made their debut on Enjoy Records with the 16-minute "Rappin and Rocking the House".[1] Their most significant hit was the nine-minute "That's the Joint" (1981). "That's the Joint" was sampled from A Taste of Honey's "Rescue Me". Music critic Robert Christgau named it the best song of the 1980s in a list for The Village Voice.[2] In his 1981 review of the single.
Christgau gave it an A rating and wrote of its musical significance, "The instrumental track, carried by Sugarhill bassist Doug Wimbish, is so compelling that for a while I listened to it alone on its B-side version. And the rapping is the peak of the form, not verbally—the debut has funnier words—but rhythmically. Quick tradeoffs and clamorous breaks vary the steady-flow rhyming of the individual MCs, and when it comes to Sha-Rock, Miss Plus One herself, who needs variation?" The original members were The Voice of K.K. aka K.K. Rockwell (Kevin Smith), Keith Keith (Keith Caesar), Sha Rock (Sharon Green), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams). Rahiem later left the group to join Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Sha Rock temporarily left as well, and they were replaced by Lil' Rodney C! and Jazzy Jeff, who became the 'New' Funky Four and with the return of Sha Rock who became the Plus One More. Mc Sha-Rock consistently works with women throughout the world on self-empowerment. She opened the first Performing Arts School in the Central Texas area, which services a military community of 80,000. The performing Arts School teaches all areas of arts to include the culture of Hip Hop and its origins. Throughout her speaking engagements and endorsements, Mc Sha-Rock has worked in the criminal justice field for the last 16 years. McSha-Rock also finds time to mentor children throughout the world and with in her community