Does a woman have to be hard to get respect?  Do you have to be a tomboy to be good?	Hardness?  To a certain degree.  You have to be a tomboy for guys to respect you - or else they write you off.  I don't think it's to the point where you have to act like a dude, it's just about being real.
So you can't be seductive and be a hip-hop star and be a girl all at the same time?	Yes, you can.  I'm attractive, and I'm a hip-hopper, and I'm a girl all at the same time.  When I first came out {at age 16}, people used to say: "Oh, my God, she's got a sweat shirt on.  And sneakers.  And she doesn't smile, she looks mean."  My hard doesn't even compare to the hard that's out there now.  Now {she's 22} people say, "Why isn't she as hard as whe used to be?"  I say, "Look, I've grown up."  You want to wear lipstick, you want to do something different with your hair or whatever.  I don't know.  I'm just real.
What's the definition of that?	Of real?  [Pause]  Just your average Joe Blow: Only difference in me and him is I have a record out.  I have a vent.  You may have a vent, if you're, like, a boxer.  To vent, you box.  And you tear up whoever you're in the ring with.  It's the same way with hip-hop.
What do you love about hip-hop?	It's just - free.  It's free, and it's real.  I know you don't like that word, real.
I just wish someone would define it for me.	From an interview with MC Lyte; by Danyel Smith in Rolling Stone, September 16, 1993, p.17