Paper Thin (MC Lyte song)

In an interview with Rolling Stone, MC Lyte says she wrote the lyrics to "Paper Thin" in her rhyme book long before recorded the song "probably '82" at 12 or 13 years old.[6] Lyte also tells that the lyrics are not based on her own personal experiences.

"(...) I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 14. But it was just pulling things from what I had seen, what I had heard. It’s amazing what a kid can learn in the company of adults and just listening to them talk."[7]

"Paper Thin" was produced by King of Chill of the rap group Alliance, who also has songwriting credits. According to an interview with King of Chill in 2019, the initial production work was done in his family's apartment with a Alesis drum machine, and followed by mixing at Firehouse Studio in Brooklyn Heights. The producer has also stated that the success of the song was a "dream come true"

"The goal when you start rappin' is to be the coolest dude on your block and in the neighborhood. But after a while, you tryin' to be heard in the clubs that you frequent, which is Latin Quarter, Union Square, Rooftop, places like that. At the point to now we can hand the record to the deejay, and it's not a hassle for them to play it. You couldn't be nobody and hand the record to the deejay. So we get to "Paper Thin", and he puts it on, and it's just lightin' up the dance floor, that was the greatest thing! Not only that, we had a video to support it on [local cable rap show] Video Music Box, which was our MTV, that was the greatest."[8]

The music video for the song, directed by Lionel C. Martin,[9] was filmed at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn and features cameos by, among others the clothing designer urban April Walker, D-Nice, DJ Jazzy Joyce, MC Serch of the rap group 3rd Bass and their DJ K-Rock.[6]

During an interview with Rolling Stone Lyte commented on the making of the video "It was fun. It was a quick shoot. We probably went from about 9 in the morning till about 7. It was very different from 'Lyte As a Rock,' because 'Lyte As a Rock' was a 24-hour video. We worked 24 hours around the clock for that video 'cause there were so many different setups. But with 'Paper Thin' it was quite simple. Had a train full of people that that I knew and that were very supportive of my career, so they came in."[6]

In the book Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (2007),[10] the writer Jennifer R. Young would comment on the video:

"Her music videos convey these interests in promoting intelligent, respectful images of women. From her first video "Paper Thin," where she is fully clothed in a sweatsuit, turtle neck, jacket, and boots, Lyte seemed more concerned with the delivery of her art than any ill modification of her body.

Like other videos in the late 1980s, Lyte’s use of the subway station and the actual train suggest her affection for the environment from which she came. There is nothing glossy about the video set, which is indeed a subway station.

Dirty stairs and subway platforms, graffiti walls, haggard subway riders, coated windows, and unpolished stainless steel poles all add texture to the video. However, the video is part of the natural elements of the underground, not the other way around. The use of subway trains in early rap videos should not be overlooked. More than just a low-budget decision, video directors who had some, if not a lot of, input from rap artists tapped into a train metaphor whose meaning may have changed, but whose aesthetic traditions stayed intact. Twentieth-century rap videos were not the first to use trains. Black visual artists from the Reconstruction period forward have used trains as an artistic symbol of change. Visual artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988), for instance, is known for incorporating locomotives into his paintings, water-colors, collages, and murals. The train is said to impart several meanings: the migration patterns of African Americans moving from south to north, the upward mobility of an oppressed people, and the overall promise of a better future. The video "Paper Thin" is postmodern in the way that it contributes to hip hop culture, where subways indicate the music’s origins (even borough specific), the audience’s originality, the art’s potency, and the rapper’s resolve despite limited resources and bleak surroundings."[10]

It was included on her compilation video album Lyte Years (1991).[11]

"Paper Thin" was included in her compilation albums The Very Best of MC Lyte (2001), The Shit I Never Dropped (2003),[12] Rhyme Masters (2005),[13] and Cold Rock a Party - Best Of MC Lyte (2019).[14] The single has also been reissued in 2003.[15]

In 1996, Bahamadia recorded a cover of the song.[6]

MF Doom has made a remix of the song on his remix album Special Blends Volume 1 & 2 (2004).

MC Lyte performed this song in her tribute at the 2006 VH1 Hip Hop Honors.[16]

Credits are taken from the liner notes.[23]

• Written By – MC Lyte (tracks A1 to B2), First Priority Crew (tracks: B3), King Of Chill (tracks: A1 to B2)
• Producer – King Of Chill
• Mastered By – Carlton Batts (CSB)
• Executive Producer – Nat Robinson