Post by Marvin Bethea

by Port City Daily Staff; edited by Marv Daniels KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame has announced MC SHA-ROCK as one of the 2026 inductees. Considered the first female rapper, SHA-ROCK got her start in the late 1970s as a member of The Funky 4 + 1, a hip-hop group based in the South Bronx of New York City. The group was the first hip-hop act to appear on a national television show with its Saturday Night Live performance on February 14th, 1981 introduced by Debra Harry. One of their biggest hits, "That's the Joint," was named one of the best songs of the 80s polled by "Village Voice" and in 2008, VH1 ranked the song 41 on its list of 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. As a pioneer affliated with the hip-hop global awareness group Zulu Nation, SHA-ROCK inspired a style of rapping made famous by Run DMC, LL COOL J, JAY-Z & many other rappers called the "echo chamber".