MC Lyte is an undeniable legend in the hip-hop world. Her career has grown consistently and she has been able to inspire so many through her music and other endeavors. We spoke with Lyte recently to discuss the W.E.A.L.T.H. retreat, one of her most recent projects and her thoughts on reality TV.
When we spoke last we touched on the W.E.A.L.T.H. Experience retreat. It’s right around the corner. Could you take some time and tell us what it is?
Lynn Richardson comes from the finance world and is also the C.O.O. for the for profit side of the MC Lyte brand. She, Kelly Price and I were having lunch and she told us about a forum that’s sort of a retreat she had been doing for years in Puerto Rico. As soon as Kelly and I heard it we were like Oh my goodness we need that right now. How could we do it now? How could we expand it and have it be something that inspires women from all walks of life? Out of that The W.E.A.L.T.H. Experience was born we are looking forward to landing upon South Beach January 2 to the 5th. It is all about Empowerment. The Acronym for W.E.A.L.T.H. is Womanhood, Expansion, Access Leadership Transformation and health. We are going to have sessions, panels, and workshops having to do with all of those aspects of life.
When you talk about women expanding holistically, what does that mean to you?
Holistically means everything that just came in that acronym for wealth. It’s about your mind body and spirit. When your mind is right and your body feels good your spirit is left to fly so that you can accomplish all that you have dreamed of if you have a plan. That’s what we are boasting about this Wealth experience in 2016. We are purposely going in at the top of the year to do this so that we can leave women invigorated to go on for 2016 and have a plan when they walk out of the retreat.
Give us an idea what a day will look like during this retreat.
We have a welcoming reception and then we have a session that evening. I think we are having a premier of a new Centric show called From The Bottom Up produced by Nicci Gilbert. The Nicci and I will do a one on one where we will address the issues of reality shows and what they have done to us as black women and how it is that we can stop perpetuating that imagery. That’s the first day, the following day the first session starts at about 8 in the morning. This is about getting the work done. Not too much partying happening at this particular retreat, however it will be a celebration. It will be a celebration of life and hopefully women will walk away knowing so much more and feeling empowered. We are addressing finances, health and relationships as it pertains to their family and spouses. I am hoping that people who haven’t spoken to other people in years will be prompted to call them and straighten out whatever has gone crooked in their relationship.
How do you think the reality shows have affected us?
When you talk about young girls you would hope some there was some sort of balance that was created. Fortunately we have Black women on TV. Hopefully they are using their platforms to further their careers in a positive way. Those who are not on the reality TV front, I’m talking about African American actresses are now given the opportunity to work now and to have shows where there at the forefront and they are able to use their talents. The unfortunate thing is we don’t have any black women on TV outside of news casters and daytime talk show that are real. For me I don’t think we are giving that young girl who is a home a real picture of what she could be.
Who will be in attendance?
So many people will be there. Kelly Price, Faith Evans, Salt from Salt and Peppa, Erica Campbell, and Ledesi. A few of these women will be running their own workshops. Laurie Gibson and Erica Campbell will be running their own one woman show. Lynne Richardson will be speaking on finances. We have a plethora of experts in all of their fields. I go to retreats all the time and our focus is how do we make ours different and bring value to those who are attending and I think we have done a really great job I’m excited about it. There are still a few slots open. I encourage people to go to wealthexperience.info. If they are in the Florida area we have a day rate that is completely affordable. Bring your momma, bring your sister, bring your daughter, you can bring your man however you want to come.
How was 2015 for you and what else do you have coming up in 2016?
2015 was great. God is good. We sat in a board room in 2014 and said what the plan was and put the plan out for everything that was happening in each quarter of the year and everything went accordingly. There were some things that were not in the plan that happened. I got to perform at The White House for the P.O.T.U.S and F.L.O.T.U.S and while I was there I met James Taylor. I got to spend some time with Smokey Robinson, whenever we see each other it’s extremely pleasant but we never have time to connect. I also got to meet Carol Burnett one of my childhood favorites. Two weeks later, we were called back to participate on a panel about how it is that we are focused on the agenda for African American young girls in America. There were things that I couldn’t have planned for that turned out nicely. We’ve just come out of a Sunny Girl planning retreat for 2016 and it looks phenomenal. I am truly blessed to have a great team of folks that I work with and that have chosen to work with me. The Sky is the limit.
Are you doing any new music?
I’m definitely going to work on new music. I’m feeling out who I am going to collaborate with. I want to do an Ep or a full length album with one person. The guys do it all the time. You know I get jealous when I see them do full projects together. I really would like to be able to make that happen. I’m jealous but they have prompted me and inspired me to want to do something. It’s going to be quite a year so I am excited.
