The film The MC: Why We Do It features insights from a number of rapper/MCs on the difference between an MC, or master of ceremonies, and a rapper, and the divergent definitions of these two terms can address some of the issues that Tricia Rose brings up in her book Hip Hop Wars. Because MCing is, among other things, an expression of black culture as well as an important component of Hip Hop, a study of the MC can explain not only the truth about the Hip Hop culture but also why confusion and negative responses to it come about.
The film characterizes the difference between an MC and a rapper as the difference between someone who "moves the crowd" and someone who just performs a rap (Spirer, 2005). The MC is compared to black performers from the 1930s and 1940s like Cab Calloway, who used to "banter with the audience" and "engage the crowd" with his trademark "hidy, hidy, hidy ho" (Spirer, 2005). As one of the MCs in the film points out, "For that one moment, they forgot their ethnicity-that's Hip Hop" (Spirer, 2005).
Although an MC can be a rapper, a rapper cannot become an MC because there is an element of leadership in the MC that the rapper lacks. The MC captures the imagination of the crowd, steering it and drawing it along through the power of his personality and his authenticity. He is revealing himself, being real with the crowd, and they respond enthusiastically to that because it is a sign of courage and strength. The rapper, on the other hand, shows little of his real self; he does not take the risk of letting the audience know who he really is, because he does not want to let them in. Since he is just performing and not really sharing himself with the crowd, they pick up on it immediately. The MC, though, strikes a chord with the crowd because they can detect his genuineness. As one of the film's narrators explains it, "A rapper can rhyme and sound good, but an MC can control the party,...