Sha-Rock and Angie B. at Disco Fever

Photo of Sha-Rock and Angie B at Disco Fever in 1983.

MC Sha-Rock (Sharon Green, b. 1962) was one of the original members of the Funky 4 and then became the +1 More when she returned to the group. The Funky Four +1 More was the first Rap crew with a female MC. Sha-Rock is known as Hip-Hop’s “First Lady,” “Mother of the Mic” and the first most prominent and influential female battle MC. When the Funky 4+1 More disbanded, Sha-Rock joined a new group with two of her peers, Debbie D and Lisa Lee, called Us Girls. While a part of US Girls, they had their first major film debut in the 1984 hip-hop movie Beat Street. Sha-Rock’s early contributions to Hip-Hop paved the way for not only urban youth growing up in the South Bronx, but also laid the foundation for emerging female MCs in Hip-Hop.

When Sha-Rock became a solo artist, she recorded an unreleased track around 1983-1984 with Angie B. (Angela “Angie Stone” Brown, b. 1961) who in the early 1980s was a member of the first female southern rap group Sequence (m. Cheryl “the Pearl” Cook, Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm, and Angela “Angie B” Brown).