Master of Ceremonies

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The Master of ceremonies ("Master of Ceremonies") or the Mistress of ceremonies (abbreviated MC) is the name for a spoken voice artist in a musical stage performance . The typical MC acts either as a kind of moderator who makes certain speeches during the stage program and announces messages in an entertaining way or as a speaking (sometimes screaming) artist who takes on the vocal music for songs . The term comes from the hip-hop scene, is therefore also used colloquially for rappers and accompanying vocalists and is a central part of hip-hop culture . An MC basically has the function of "heating up" the audience, that is, to get them in the mood and to entertain them.

History and characteristics

In the United States, the term became particularly popular in the hip-hop scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Sometimes the abbreviation MC is also interpreted as “Microphone controller” or “Microphone checker”. Within the scene, MC is used almost exclusively and not the long form. Some rappers even have the term in their stage name (e.g .: MC Hammer ).

With the advent of hardcore techno and later hard style, the MCs' sphere of activity expanded. It was no longer customary for every MC to come from the hip-hop area or to appear separately in smaller groups, but instead "moderated" many large events with several thousand spectators as MCs. Other MCs produce together with DJs and lend their voices there.

Nowadays it is common for MCs to be very represented in techno and drum and bass . A typical example of this is the techno band Scooter with their MC and front man HP Baxxter .