well...
...MC'ing and old school... NO. Let's get that out of the way quick.
I rolled (lord, that's mc 'chat' isn't it - soz) out of old school and into hardcore and then turned into a drum'n'bass fiend in the mid90s before it went pear-shaped (for pear-shaped read: plastic gangsters hijacking the clubs). This being said, mc's were part and parcel of the London scene.
In London (and that's all I can comment on with real knowledge), it was all about the pirate stations advertising the raves and the mc's doing their bit on the mic to get the rave deets out on the airwaves phones: . Most of the mc's cut their teeth on the stations and learnt when to shut up - they knew the vinyl as well as the dj.
There were a few that really made a difference to the hardcore and dnb sound: GQ and Stevie Hyper D - not least as they gee'd up the crowd. That being said, sometimes Det (Brockie's MC) and Skibadee from Kool 94.5 would go too far... but they were part of a team, dj AND mc. So - a few mc's made their mark and really did create an atmosphere, but in the main - a waste of time :S ...killing the sound, rather than adding to it.
Of late, from what I've heard of scouse-house mc's (are they really mc's, or are they trainee town-criers?) and a few other scousers that have got on the mic at after parties etc, I think they should hang up their boots.
This being said, my reputation for talking cod when playing on PR isn't too great (especially on a Sunday night after a mad Friday and Saturday without any kip), so maybe I should consign this post to the deep pool of hypocrisy and shut up as well!
Hehe
Brix.
