What Does MC Mean In Rap? (Answered!)

MC stands for “master of ceremonies” in rap. This is a common title bestowed on events hosts and those who lead rituals or ceremonies in many contexts, which was borrowed by the rap community originally for the host of rap events who would lead the event and guide the night. Today, it simply means a rapper.

While it originally had a much broader application, mc has become a term synonymous with rappers and rap in general.

Even within the rap community it once meant something much more specific than it does today. I

t’s a fascinating topic, so let’s find out more.

What does mc stand for in rap?

Mc stands for “master of ceremonies” in rap.

This is a title that has long been used in the rap world for a variety of purposes.

Today, it is most often simply a title used by rappers as part of their stage name to indicate that they are a rapper, or at least that they work in an adjacent genre.

Most of us tend to intuitively understand that an mc is a rapper, though of course not all rappers use this title and some are far keener to use it than others.

Originally, being the “master of ceremonies” in rap meant that you were the person hosting an event and essentially being in charge of introducing acts or livening up the crowd as needed.

Rap events can naturally take many forms, but today and for a long time there has been a tradition of hosting large events with many acts which are all introduced by a single “master of ceremonies”.

Indeed, many big-name acts got their start this way at these sorts of “underground” events.

That is not to say all events were underground in this way, but many certainly were.

This is where the term was originally applied, and most of the time the hosts were also rappers themselves.

Thus, eventually, the term came to mean any rapper.

Indeed, the term is used across all genres of rap, from pop-rap artists like MC Hammer to many gangster rappers;

But the term “master of ceremonies” did not start with rap.

Let’s look into where it originally came from.

Where does mc come from in rap?

 The title of MC is a very old one and goes back to at least the late 19th Century.

It was commonly used in variety shows to describe the host of the event, the person who would introduce the various acts and keep the audience entertained between acts.

This was used well into the vaudeville era until those kinds of shows began waning in popularity.

It may be even older than this and possibly stretch back into religious ceremonies like Catholic Mass.

The Catholic Church has certainly used this title for people who run ceremonies at all times of the year like funerals, weddings, and just about anything that might involve a lot of pomp and circumstance in such a setting.

There may be many different clergy people involved in such an event, but there will usually be one single coordinator of the broader event–they are the MC.

We aren’t quite sure exactly how far back this title was used, but given that such ceremonies have long been a part of Catholic tradition, we can guess it’s probably quite a long way.

The term has come a long way, then, to its modern associated meaning.

Rappers today perhaps aren’t as keen to adopt the title at least as far as putting it into their stage name, but nonetheless, it is still a phrase many rappers use to describe themselves.

How this title is pronounced can sometimes trip people up.

How do you pronounce mc?

 MC is pronounced as its constituent letters: emcee.

It is not pronounced as a word and not to be confused with the common prefix for Scottish and Irish names like McGee.

You simply pronounce the letters–it’s not more complex than that!

What’s the difference between a rapper and an mc?

 Today, there usually isn’t really a distinction between an MC and a rapper.

Rappers call themselves MCs and this is very widely understood simply to mean a rapper.

Naturally, though, at first, a rapper and an MC were two slightly different things–while there was, of course, a lot of overlap.

Rappers were performers, while MCs were the ones hosting the event and introducing acts.

MCs were themselves very often rappers as well in this capacity.

So, at first, there was an enormous difference and a lot of people would prefer that distinction remain in place.

Rap events like this of course still run, and a lot of the time it is a great honor to be an MC for such an event.

Naturally, though, if rappers like MC Hammer are going to adopt the title into their stage name, then they cannot always be the master of ceremonies.

So, for better or worse, the term has come to have a broader meaning than it once did.

The phrase mc is so common in rap and some broader genres of music that a lot of us don’t even necessarily think about what it actually stands for.

It’s a title used by rappers and it means someone who is a rapper.

But as you can see, the term actually has a considerably broader history than this and originally meant something a lot more specific even outside of rap.

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