3 Questions: MC/VL

By Sarah Askari

Hip hop clowns with grad-school cred, MCs Mighty Clyde and Vicious Lee relive the party-rocking fun of rap in the waning days of the Cold War. Questions like "Isn't this a bit derivative?" become lost in the din of ghetto-blasting grooves, buoyant beats, and the more important query, "Did I just hear them name-check Michel Foucault?" Visit their MySpace page for a sampl, and check out this CP article from December. We caught up with the emcees via email prior to the release of their debut record, Stance.

City Pages: How do we, as a society, combat the problem of wack MCs?

Mighty Clyde: This is a difficult question. It seems that the current socio-economic structure of the United States is a breeding ground for "wack." We have set out in a grassroots endeavor to quell said problem.

Vicious Lee: Simple. Install a DEF-friendly regime and snuff out the resulting insurgency with a unilateral, multi-year, unpopular campaign of small-unit, house-to-house, in-rhyme dissing.

CP: If Stance blows up, is your sophomore album going to be A: a meditation on the isolation fame brings; or B: a scorn-filled retort to hype-creating and hate-mongering music journalists?

MC: "If Stance blows up" is not even a question. Furthermore, there will be no sophomore release, but rather a tournament-style fighting videogame based upon the group.

VL: Gwen Stefani has already deftly addressed both problems with her last two releases. We'll have no choice but to preen our own plumage with a self-referential concept album.

CP: I think a member of your entourage got me pregnant. Will MC/VL pay for my baby's education?

MC: Get in line, City Pages.
VL: This is why we have stage names.

MC/VL celebrate the release of Stance this Friday at the Triple Rock Social Club with Thunder in the Valley, His Mischief, and Pretty Boy Thorson & the Falling Angels. 21+. $6. 9:00 p.m. 629 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis; 612.333.7399.