Meet LiL MC | MC/singer/producer/hip hop educator/ podcaster

We had the good fortune of connecting with LiL MC and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi LiL MC, how do you think about risk?
All of the greatest successes in my life have come from taking risks. Essentially a risk is betting on yourself, if not done in an act of self sabotage. I’ll give you three examples: The first being the birth of my son. I was 20 years old when I found out I was pregnant. I had just gotten into a drunken car accident that was inches away from taking my life and as a result decided to get sober. When I discovered I was pregnant I took that as a sign and knew with such certainty I was meant to have this child despite the doubt that all my friends and family had at the time (and rightfully so). This decision had nothing to do with religious views on abortion or anything pertaining to morality, but more to do with trusting my intuition, so I took the risk and had my son and it ended up being the best decision I ever made in my life. Additionally, when I graduated from college with a degree in psychology, I took a huge risk in decided not to work in the field of psychology but rather to start teaching Hip Hop and focusing on my artistry. Now I work as an independent contractor, building hip hop curriculum and teaching the art of MCing and Beat production to kids all over the bay area. There are many examples in my life where I had gone the non-conventional route and took a risk because I trusted my own intuition rather than looking for external answers or advice.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So to start, I am an primarily recognized as an Emcee/singer/recording artist, but I am also a producer, podcaster, battle rapper, pianist, comic book creator, actress, and overall creative. I began making music, writing songs, and playing piano around 5 years old and pursued performative arts ever since. When I turned 17 I was introduced the freestyling, a form of rapping where you are rhyming improvisationally, and I had an immediate talent for it and fell in love with it. From that moment forward I was rapping/freestyling constantly. I was that girl at the party that took over the music, put on tupac instrumentals, and created a cypher in the middle of the dance floor. I underwent a lot of abuse as a teenager that persisted throughout my life in many forms that immediately led me to drug and alcohol abuse, so through the repression of my many dark memories, I found rapping to be a vehicle for me to express myself and I felt like for once in my life people actually wanted to hear me. Fast forward 13 years, I am now teaching hip hop and making music professionally as my full-time job, I have an 8 year old son who I can now financially support without constant stress, and I am nearly a year sober from alcohol and harmful substances. I’ve had many tumultuous periods of my life where I suffered various suicide attempts, struggles with depression, anxiety and debilitating attacks, and severe hopelessness and despair. To be in a position in life where I feel I have fully embraced my purpose which is to create meaningful impactful art and teach it to women and children from marginalized communities so that they find their voice and feel empowered to speak their truth. While the journey to healing never truly ends and I still experience periods of suffering from the losses I have experienced, I find fulfillment in being a source of strength for others.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my friend was visiting for a day I wouldn’t do the typical bay area tour of all the tourist spots, I would take my friends to some live concerts in Oakland, a block party or cookout at Lake Merritt, I would take them to find some vinyls at my favorite record store in Alameda, we’d go check out some of my friends DJing at one of their residencies in Oakland or San Francisco like Hello Stranger, Neck of the Woods, El rio, or The Elbowroom. I would also take them out to Karaoke at The Mint in San Francisco and do Hip Hop Trivia at 7th West in Oakland. Maybe One day we would spend by the pool at my apartment complex and barbecue some dinner at the barbecue pits by the pool while my boyfriend DJ’s. First Thursday night of the month we would go to The Ruckus Rumpus Festival, and underground burlesque variety show. First friday of the month we would go to first friday which is a block party on telegraph street in Oakland where there are artist booths, food trucks, and live music. We might spend a day shopping out on Haight Street, then go roller skating at one of the secret skate spots on friday night.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I would like to dedicate this interview to Kaila Love, who has been instrumental in a lot of my recent musical successes, specifically my recent song placement in NBA 2K21. Kaila Love is an inspirational female hip hop artist and artist developer who has dedicated a lot of time to helping me develop marketing strategies and artist branding. I would also like to shoutout Hip Hop for Change, the organization that I work for that funded my development of my women’s empowerment in Hip Hop curriculum which I developed with my colleague Amani Jade. Not only did they raise money to help fund out curriculum development but they used their network and reach to help us land contracts and facilitate virtual workshops with over 90 attendees. Their support was crucial to success of this course which is greatly needed in order to understand and appreciate the enormous impact women have had on the evolution of hip hop culture.

Website: lilmcmusic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilmc.music/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-correa-9b073589/

Twitter: tter.com/lilmc415

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LilMcSF/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4mk1Z4Dmsk8tcQw-XQAOQ

Image Credits
Suyen Averroes