Michelle McCullock (born November 1, 1970), better known by her
stage name
A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
Michie Mee, is a Canadian rapper and actress. Canada's first notable female MC, she is considered a national hip-hop pioneer.
Early life and career
McCullock was born in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
, later moving to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
at a young age, and was raised in the city's
Jane Street
Jane may refer to:
* Jane (given name), a feminine given name
* Jane (surname), related to the given name
Film and television
* ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd
* ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fi ...
area, as well as the
Jane and Finch
Jane and Finch is a neighbourhood located in the northwest end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the district of North York. Centred at the intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue West, the area is roughly bounded by Highway 400 to the wes ...
neighbourhood. She began performing professionally at age 14.Biography > Michie Mee''Allmusic''. Accessed on April 25, 2010. In 1985, during a concert in Toronto,
Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip hop group originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the release of BDP's debut album, ''Criminal Minded ...
introduced her to the audience and she performed on stage. Michie Mee later teamed up with DJ L.A. Luv (Phillip Gayle) and formed the duo Michie Mee and L.A. Luv.Artist: Michie Mee & L.A. Luv ''Jam!'' Accessed on April 25, 2010. The duo was featured on the 1987
Canadian hip hop
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained l ...
compilation ''Break'n Out'', which was produced by
KRS-One
Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...
and
Scott La Rock
Scott Monroe Sterling (March 2, 1962 – August 27, 1987), known by the stage name DJ Scott La Rock, was an American hip-hop disc jockey and music producer from the Bronx, New York. He was a founding member of the East Coast hip hop group Boogi ...
of Boogie Down Productions.Border Block—Canadian Hip Hop vs. America CBC. Accessed on April 25, 2010.
The duo's first single, "Elements of Style", made an impact in the United States, and it signed with
First Priority
First Priority is a youth organization that supports student-initiated, student-led Christian clubs on middle school and high school campuses.
First Priority of America, Inc. supports local city FP movements in cities across the US.
First Priori ...
/
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
in 1988. In the process, Michie Mee became the first Canadian MC to sign a record deal with a major American label. The same year, the duo was featured on the compilation '' The First Priority Music Family: Basement Flavor'', appearing on the tracks "Victory Is Calling" and "On This Mic", which were produced by Howard Hughes & engineered by Walter Sobczak who would several years later ask Michie Mee to record and perform with Raggadeath. "Victory Is Calling" also featured MC Lyte.
In 1990 she collaborated on the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause", a plea for greater inclusion of hip hop music in the Canadian music scene, with
Dance Appeal Dance Appeal was a Canadian supergroup of dance, rhythm and blues, reggae and hip hop artists, who released the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause" in 1990. The song, a plea for greater inclusion of these predominantly black music genres in t ...
, a
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
of Toronto-area musicians that included
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
,
Maestro Fresh Wes
Wesley "Wes" Williams (born March 31, 1968) is a Canadians, Canadian rapper, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes (formerly Maestro Fresh-Wes) or Maestro as a musician, and is cred ...
Lillian Allen
Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner.
Biography
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the Ci ...
,
Eria Fachin
Eria Fachin (April 20, 1960 – May 9, 1996) was a Canadian dance pop singer, best known for her 1988 single "Savin' Myself".
, HDV aka 'Pimp of the Microphone', Dionne, Thando Hyman, Carla Marshall,
Messenjah
Messenjah is a Canadian-based reggae group that flourished to become one of the most successful and popular reggae groups in the history of Canadian music.
History
Messenjah was formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario and released their first album ...
, Jillian Mendez, Lorraine Scott,
Lorraine Segato
Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to pe ...
, Self Defense,
Leroy Sibbles
Leroy Sibbles (born Leroy Sibblies, 29 January 1949) is a Jamaican reggae musician and producer. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s.
In addition to his work with The Heptones, Sibbles was a session bassist and arra ...
The Canadian Encyclopedia
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage.
Available fo ...
dancehall reggae
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
music and spawned the single "Jamaican Funk". Over 60,000 copies of the album were sold in the U.S. and it was nominated for a
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
in 1992.
After Michie Mee ran into trouble with the law, the duo broke up. L.A. Luv later joined the group Dream Warriors.
After starting a solo career and opening shows for artists such as
Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa (also stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa or Salt 'N Pepa) is an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, ''Hot, C ...
,
Sinéad O'Connor
Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...
, and
Judy Mowatt
Judith Veronica Mowatt, (born 1952) is a Jamaican reggae artist. As well as being a solo artist, from 1974 she was also a member of the I Threes, the trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
Early life
Mowatt was born in Gord ...
, she became a founding member of the
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band Raggadeath, which had a Canadian chart hit in 1995 with "One Life". In the late 1990s, Michie Mee began an acting career. She made her first film appearance in 1999's '' In Too Deep''. In 2000, she starred in the
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
series ''
Drop the Beat
''Drop the Beat'' was a Canadian television series produced by Back Alley Film Productions, which aired on CBC Television in 2000 and 2001."TV show puts spotlight on hip-hop". '' Sudbury Star'', February 9, 2000. A short-run dramatic series, the ...
'', playing a rapper named Divine. Later that year, she released a comeback album, ''
The First Cut Is the Deepest
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in May 1967. Stevens's own version originally appeared on his album ''New Masters'' in December 1967.
The song ...
'', which spawned the single "Don't Wanna Be Your Slave" (featuring
Esthero
Esthero ( ; born Jenny-Bea Englishman on December 23, 1978 in Stratford, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California. The name ''Esthero'' refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of herself ...
). The single earned her another Juno nomination.
In 2004, Michie Mee joined a group of local artists (including
Maestro
Maestro (; from the Italian ''wikt:maestro#Italian, maestro'' , meaning "wikt:master, master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music ...
,
Thrust
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...
, and
Toya Alexis
Toya Alexis (born July 16, 1980) is a Canadian vocalist and actress from Ajax, Ontario.
Career
Alexis won a "Rising Star" contest and sang at the Apollo Theater. In 2001 she appeared, as LaToya Lesmond, as a contestant on season one of ''Po ...
among others) and formed the Peace Prophets. The group released the
charity single
A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity.
George Harrison's " Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-mad ...
"Drop the Chrome" in association with radio station FLOW 93.5. The same year, she appeared in the film ''
My Baby's Daddy
''My Baby's Daddy'' is a 2004 American comedy film, directed by Cheryl Dunye.
Plot
Childhood friends Lonnie, G, and Dominic have a rude awakening when they find out their girlfriends are pregnant. Lonnie and G have sons names Carver and Bruce-Ler ...
''. Throughout the remainder of the decade (2005-2009) saw Michie mostly focus on more acting in small films and TV shows, reconnecting with her rock band raggadeath, whilst still rapping here and there making features on other fellow Canadian artists songs.
In 2009, she released the single "Say About Us".
The 2010s, saw Michie again further continue with small acting appearances and continuing music always with again features here and there on other musicians projects.
In 2020, marking her 35th year in the business the start of the new decade brought about a long-awaited new album. In November of that year she released her first full-length album and third overall in twenty years, titled ''Bahdgyal's Revenge''. The album had notable features from long-time friend and collaborator
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...
, and other notable Canadian rappers and Jamaican reggae legends, such as
Lindo P.
She performed on the 2021 ''
CBC Arts
CBC Arts (french: Radio-Canada Arts) is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's div ...
The First Cut Is the Deepest
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in May 1967. Stevens's own version originally appeared on his album ''New Masters'' in December 1967.
The song ...
Canadian hip hop
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained l ...
*
Music of Canada
The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been ...
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...