10% Dis

Last updated
"10% Dis"
10%25 Dis MC Lyte Single.webp
12-inch vinyl of 10% Dis
Single by MC Lyte
from the album Lyte as a Rock
B-side "Kickin' 4 Brooklyn"
ReleasedMay 1988 [1]
Recorded1988
Studio I.N.S. Studios [2]
Venue New York, NY
Genre Golden age hip hop
Length5:00
Label First Priority, Atlantic Records
Songwriter(s) Lana Moorer, Kirk Robinson and Nathaniel Robinson Jr. [3]
Producer(s) Audio Two
MC Lyte singles chronology
"I Cram to Understand U (Sam)"
(1987)		"10% Dis"
(1988)		"Paper Thin"
(1988)

10% Dis is a single from MC Lyte's album Lyte as a Rock produced by the hip hop duo Audio Two, who are also credited as songwriters.

Contents

The song was a diss track to then-Hurby Azor associate Antoinette, who she accuses of having "stole the beat" to the Audio Two hit Top Billin'. [2]

It is frequently mentioned among the best rap's diss track, both from the 80s and in general, [4] [5] [6] [7] and has been sampled/referenced by various artists, such as A Tribe Called Quest, Tupac Shakur with Outlawz, Ras Kass, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, [8] Common and Remy Ma.

In April 2013, the song was included No. 21 on Complex's "The 50 Best Rap Songs by Women" list. [9]

Conception and composition

During an interview with Vibe in 2011, Lyte stated that the feud started from a deal between a deal that was made between Hurby Luv Bug (Salt-N-Pepa's producer) and the rap duo Audio Two to record and release a song called 'Stop Illin' based on their hit song Top Billin'.

"Hurby was taking pretty long to get it together so Audio Two figured it out that he wasn't going to do it. And then one night on a trip back from Boston after doing in-stores and performing, we had the radio on WBLS and heard Mr. Magic and Marley Marl playing [Antoinette's] 'I Got An Attitude.' It was the same [Audio Two] track, but it was organized a different way." [2]

According to Lyte, they told her to write a diss track to Antoinette, as doing so would make them look like "the wackest men on the face of the planet." The song, recorded at the I.N.S. Studios in New York City, became a single from her debut album Lyte as a Rock. [2]

"It was pretty easy—we just sat there and thought of the worst things we could possibly say about somebody," Lyte recalled in 2007 in Brian Coleman's book Check The Technique. "It's titled that because that's only ten percent of what I could have said. I didn't even know Antoinette. It was strictly a war on wax." [10] [5]

Samples

The song contains samples of Roxanne Shante's "Roxanne's Revenge" and the intro and drum break in the background comes from The Honey Drippers's Impeach the President, James Brown's Super Bad and Audio Two's Top Billin'.

Appearances

"10% Dis" was included in his compilation albums The Very Best of MC Lyte (2001), The Shit I Never Dropped (2003), [11] and Cold Rock a Party - Best Of MC Lyte (2019). [12]

Samples

MC Lyte herself has sampled the song on her other Diss Track to Antoinette "Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe)" and in his collaboration with Billy Lawrence on "Come On". It has also been sampled/referenced by several other artists:

Legacy and influence

Critical reception

Complex's Rob Kenner would write about the song "MC Lyte's "10% Dis" was 100% effective (...) As the step-sister of Brooklyn's own Giz and Milk from Audio Two, Lyte had access to the hottest beats, and she was also exempt from any sort of pressure to sleep her way to the top, demanding and receiving maximum respect from all men she encountered in this testosterone-soaked industry." [9] Later they would comment in the same media "(...)The track featured a multitude of now-classic lines such as "hot damn hoe, here we go again" and "you're a beat biter, a dope style taker." Ironically, the beat for "10% Dis" sounded more like "Top Billin" than "I Got an Attitude" did." [6] For his part, Rob Marriott would comment on the song "10% Dis is pure, unrelenting devastation - Ether before Ether." [15]

On the 30th anniversary of its release, Albumism's Jesse Ducker reviewed "Lyte as a Rock," in which he commented on the song:

"Throughout her career, MC Lyte has always excelled at recording dis tracks. On Lyte as a Rock she unleashes her first and perhaps best with "10% Dis," her extremely harsh assault on the rapper Antoinette. (...)MC Lyte deliberately dissects Antoinette with a mixture of cold calculation and contempt throughout the six verses of "10% Dis." [16]

In December 2018, Eminem included the song in the list of his favorite diss tracks. [7]

Accolades

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
Billboard U.S. The Best Hip-Hop Diss Tracks From the '80s [5] 2018*
Complex The 50 Best Hip-Hop Diss Songs [6] 2018#26
The 50 Best Rap Songs by Women [9] 2013#21
Ego Trip Hip Hop's 40 Greatest Singles by Year 1980–98 [17] 1999#17
VH1 The 10 Most Brutal Lady Diss Tracks In Hip Hop [4] 2013*
(*) designates lists which are unordered.

Single track listing

7" Vinyl

A-Side (Rough Side)

  1. "10% Dis" (5:00)

B-Side (Tough Side)

  1. "Kickin' 4 Brooklyn" (2:21)

12" Vinyl

A-Side (Rough Side)

  1. "10% Dis" (Radio Version) (5:00)
  2. "10% Dis" (Acapella) (4:30)

B-Side (Tough Side)

  1. "10% Dis" (Original) (5:00)
  2. "Kickin' 4 Brooklyn" (2:21)

Personnel

Credits are taken from the liner notes. [18]

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References

  1. ↑ "The A-List". Spin: 27. May 1, 1988.
  2. 1 2 3 4 MC Lyte (January 7, 2011). "Full Clip: MC Lyte Breaks Down Her Entire Catalogue (Brandy, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J & More)". Vibe.com . Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  3. ↑ "ASCAP Repertory entry for this song". ASCAP. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Pitch Slapped: The 10 Most Brutal Lady Diss Tracks In Hip Hop". VH1.com. September 20, 2013. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 "A Look Back at the Best Hip-Hop Diss Tracks From the '80s: 'Roxanne's Revenge,' 'Jack the Ripper' & More". Billboard . March 1, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "The 50 Best Hip-Hop Diss Songs". Complex . October 31, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Eminem Lists Ice Cube's "No Vaseline," MC Lyte's "10% Diss" and More as His Favorite Diss Tracks Ever". XXL . December 26, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Funkmaster Flex – 10% Dis Lyrics". Rap Genius . rapgenius.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 "The 50 Best Rap Songs by Women". Complex . April 8, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  10. ↑ Coleman, Brian. Check The Technique: Liner Notes For Hip-Hop Junkies. New York: Villard/Random House, 2007.
  11. ↑ "MC Lyte - The Shit I Never Dropped". AllMusic . Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Cold Rock a Party Best Of - MC Lyte - Release Info". Apple Music. 6 January 1997.
  13. ↑ Kawalik, Tracy (February 14, 2019). "The 20 best hip hop diss tracks of the '90s". Mixmag. Archived from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  14. ↑ "Vibe Confidential: Everything You Want to Know Before You're Supposed to Know It." Vibe. August 1998: 44. Print.
  15. ↑ "25 Forgotten Hip-Hop Beefs". Complex . January 28, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  16. ↑ "MC Lyte's Debut Album 'Lyte as a Rock' Turns 30 - Anniversary Retrospective". Albumism. September 12, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Hip-Hop's Greatest Singles By Year (Ego Trip Magazine)". Genius . Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  18. ↑ 10% Dis / Kickin' 4 Brooklyn (track listing). MC Lyte. First Priority Music. 1988. 0-96704.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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