MC Sha Rock is responsible for many firsts in Hip-Hop. Originally a B-Girl, she first experienced Hip-Hop in 1975 during her 8th grade year of high school when she saw Kool Herc.

"I used to go to the B-Boy parties at the P.A.L. (Police Athletic League) where they played 'Bongo Rock,' 'Sex Machine' and stuff like that," she explained to The Foundation.

She auditioned for DJ Breakout of The Brothers Disco for his new group which only contained KK Rockwell and Keith Caesar as members, and she made the cut. Sha has been featured in movies, released many recordings and rocked stages around the world.

Here are 3 ways that Sha Rock, who is set to perform at the Rock The Bells Festival on Aug. 5 in Queens, paved the way for women.

1. The First

"There were a few female MC's in the early days, but they weren't doing it on a level that was anywhere near Sha Rock," Scorpio of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 tells Rock The Bells. "I mean they were playin' around with it. Sha Rock was on flyers, traveling to different boroughs and holding her own against the guys. There really isn't even a comparison."

Before rap was ever committed to record, Sha Rock had already made a name for herself, and was taken as seriously as her male counterparts in a art form dominated by men.

"I didn’t see any other females doin’ it," Sha told The Foundation. "The thing that really started it was at the time I was going to Evander High School, even though I was living on 165th St & Washington, I went to Evander which was uptown in the Bronx. Dj Breakout & them were in that area , and they would come up to the school sometimes to hang out or whatever."

Sha remembered auditioning for The Brothers Disco (DJs Breakout and Baron).

"One time they said that they were auditioning for their group," she said. "I auditioned and they told me that they wanted me to be down. It was just KK Rockwell & Keith, and then I came in and then Rahiem came along. I can't even say what inspired me , but I would see the original Clark Kent and them (Herculords) say words , but they weren’t rapping. They would say one or two things , get off the mic and play a record. I did see KK & Keith before the audition doing the one word back and forth thing. That might have really made me do it because other than that I didn’t see anyone Emceeing at that time."

2. Rappin' And Rockin' The House

1979 is the year that rap records started to be released and distributed. Although The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight" was the first commercially successful rap recording, and the one responsible for bringing the music to people outside of the boroughs, there were dozens of rap records released in the last quarter of '79. "Rappin' And Rockin' The House" was the first rap record released on Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Record label in 1979.

The 16-minute song was one of the first rap records, and it marked the first time that the public heard a woman hold it down as an MC — The Funky 4 and Funky 4 + 1 were the first mix-gendered crew. "Rappin And Rockin" The House" didn't reach the success of the gargantuan hit "Rappers Delight," but it was a big enough record that it was bought and played among the other available rap records of the day, building the brand new rap industry and introducing the art form to the rest world.

3. Saturday Night Live

On February 14, 1981, The Funky 4 +1 made history when they performed "That's The Joint" on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Their performance marked the first time that a Hip-Hop act appeared on national television. The group was the invited guest of Deborah Harry of Blondie. Harry, who incorporated rap into Blondie's 1981 hit, "Rapture," took an interest in rap music and The Funky 4 after hanging out with Hip-Hop ambassador and graffiti artist Fab 5 Freddy.

After Freddy took her to see Grandmaster Flash play live, Harry was so moved that she mentioned Flash and Freddy in "Rapture" (artist Jean Michel-Basquiat and Freddy also appear in the video). Harry was so impressed by the Funky 4 + One, that she invited them to perform on SNL, and her band members, notably Chris Stein, later contributed to the soundtrack of Hip-Hop's first movie Wild Style.

The Funky 4 + 1 performed "That's The Joint" on SNL, which was the group's biggest record. "That's The Joint" was released on Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill Records, which had a stronger promotion and distribution arm than Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records thus putting Sha and the rest of the group in front of the world where again Sha Rock was the first time that most people witnessed a female MC.