MC Shan - Biography

Biography

Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects located in Long Island City a section in Queens, New York City, Shan is the cousin of old school hip hop producer Marley Marl. In 1985, Shan started in MCA Records with his first & only major single Feed The World. Despite the success, he was dismissed from MCA because "the rhymes you wrote was wack", according to KRS-One from his song South Bronx. Not long after, Shan moved to Cold Chillin' Records due to his relationship with Marl, and joined Marl's Juice Crew All-Stars. After a few singles were released, MC Shan's debut album Down By Law came out in 1987.

Shan also found himself to be a key player in the noted hip hop rivalry the Bridge Wars between the Juice Crew and Boogie Down Productions. The feud was started when Shan and Marl released a song called "The Bridge" as a B-side to "Beat Biter," itself an answer record directed at L.L. Cool J. KRS-One responded with "South Bronx," and the Juice Crew replied with "Kill That Noise." Slate magazine described it as follows: "In 1986, it was a beef that launched the star of KRS-One, when his withering attacks on MC Shan effectively ended his rival's career." Boogie Down Productions then released "The Bridge is Over," widely celebrated among hip hop fans as the paramount diss track. Years later, MC Shan remade "The Bridge" into "Da Bridge 2001," and strongly denied the bridge "was over", saying:

The Bridge was never over

We left our mark

The jam is dedicated to you and your boys

I brought my Queensbridge thugs to kill that noise

Shan's second album, Born To Be Wild, followed in 1988 and revealed the b-boy persona of Shan, with production once again by Marley Marl. 1990's Play it Again, Shan displayed a more mature style, but it proved to be his last album. When Cold Chillin's sub label Livin' Large was active, he was listed as one of its artists but never released any material. Despite the fact that he focused more on his production career (like Snow's 12 Inches of Snow, which featured "Informer", on which Shan appeared) he recorded "Da Bridge 2001" for Nas's 2000 compilation called QB's Finest, which also featured Mobb Deep, Cormega, and Nature.

Shan also had a brief stint in film, playing a bit role in Steve Martin's L.A. Story feature film as Rappin' Waiter. He is also the older brother of female rapper and radio personality Princess Ivori. Shan is credited as the guest rapper on the Sum 41 song "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About" from the album Half Hour Of Power.