So in my personal opinion, I definitely feel like I'm a legendary emcee, and I also feel like we're a legendary brand, which is why I started rebranding ourselves years ago by saying 'The Legendary Roots Crew,' which is how we're introduced on 'The Tonight Show.'
Black Thought
Being an emcee onstage is mostly about crowd control, about monitoring energy levels.
Daveed Diggs
One of the things I think you need to be a good emcee is silliness. And I'm basically a silly guy.
Doug Davidson
When I was growing up, to be an emcee meant to write the most clever, intellectual, and wittiest rap. And that's what we did.
Gza
Emceeing has always been about making the most intellectual, most creative, wittiest rhyme as possible regardless of any subject. It was always about bringing the best out of yourself.
A good emcee will rhyme a lot of different ways. Don't limit yourself.
Ice T
I just enjoyed bar mitzvahs as a kid, and there was this company in the Detroit area where I grew up, and I think they recruited me as a party dancer - you know, like, you dance around and pass out glow sticks. I quickly rose in the ranks and, within a year, became an emcee, which was kind of unheard of.
James Wolk
You can find old Jewish newspapers from Detroit that have my promotional ad in them. It was a totally insane time in my life. Paul Rudd was also a bar mitzvah emcee, you know? It was like being a local rock star in Detroit.
I emceed in metro Detroit throughout college, and even when I moved to New York, I would actually fly back on a Friday, emcee on a Saturday, and fly back on Sunday so that I could audition during the week. It was a big part of my life.
I was an emcee for bar mitzvahs from age sixteen to twenty-one.
The subject matter of the show, 'Cabaret,' was more than risky. And the emcee I would be playing didn't have a single line of dialogue. Still, it was full of possibilities, and it was mine.
Joel Grey
I didn't know at the time that the energy that I was giving off was like a battle Emcee.
Kool Moe Dee
I remember when it was just the three Emcees and then Flash put Mr Ness down.
When 'Joy Luck Club' came out, I kind of became a role model for the Asian acting community. I started to talk at colleges and emcee charity things. I'm much more connected to my sense of being Asian now.
Lauren Tom
Even when I was an engineer, I was a comic on my job. At birthday and holiday parties, I was the one scheduling and emceeing. If you work on your gift, and you're good, it will shine through.
Loni Love
When I worked for Entertainment Tonight I got to emcee Paul McCartney's press conference.
Nina Blackwood
As a poet, I would always hear emcees come up to me and say, 'Yo, you should rap,' and I was like, 'No.' You know, the label was tough for me. I'm a poet. I was proud of that distinction between the two, not wanting to be the other.
Omari Hardwick
I emcee how I feel for the moment. I'll always be influenced by Tribe, but my EP and LP have a lot of different flavors! I'll keep it vintage Tribe if Tribe decides to do another LP... which, in my heart, I'd love to do for the fans.
Phife Dawg
If you're a battle rapper on the block, the emcee battle challenger, not writing your rhymes could really hurt you. When you're an artist where maybe the focus is really the talent and the different things you bring to the game, I believe it's more understandable.
Rick Ross
Brandy is one of my favorite vocalists. Jay-Z is my favorite emcee outside of Biggie.
Rico Love
I think all those artists are artists who are appreciated because you believe their words and you appreciate their honesty in their music. If you don't appreciate the honesty in the music, the beat can be fly as hell but you'll never give an emcee props.
Before 'Insecure,' I was a wedding emcee - a host for weddings. That's a world that a lot of people are not familiar with.
