Lin Que Ayoung, known professionally as Lin Que and formerly as Isis, is a female hip-hop artist.

Biography

Lin Que graduated from Cathedral High School in Manhattan. She released her debut album ''Rebel Soul'' under the name Isis while affiliated with

X-Clan X Clan (formerly stylized as XCLAN and often incorrectly spelled X-Clan) is a hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York, originally consisting of Grand Verbalizer Funkin' Lesson Brother J, Professor X the Overseer, Paradise the Architect, and Su ...

in 1990. She was a member of the hip-hop collective known as the Blackwatch Movement (which included X Clan). On Billboard.com, Andy Kellman Rovi believed that since Professor X took the mic after almost every verse, it was an X-Clan album in every sense but the name. According to an AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson, Isis "showed a lot of potential on Rebel Soul, which proves that her rapping skills were strong and that her technique was excellent." Lin Que left X-Clan and later began to work with

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...

. Now rhyming under her birth name Lin Que, and released a couple of singles for Ruffhouse/

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and

EastWest Records America East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

. She eventually went into A&R work and graphic design, and she appeared briefly in ''

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

'',

Ted Demme Edward Kern Demme ( ; October 26, 1963 – January 13, 2002) was an American director, producer, and actor. Early life Demme was born in New York City, the son of Gail (née Kern) and Frederick Rogers Demme. He grew up in Rockville Centre, New ...

's ''

Who's the Man? ''Who's the Man?'' is a 1993 thriller buddy comedy film directed by Ted Demme in his feature film directing debut. The film stars ''Yo! MTV Raps'' hosts Doctor Dré and Ed Lover as its two main protagonists and features cameo appearances from s ...

'' and

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

's ''

He Got Game ''He Got Game'' is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. The film revolves around Jake Shuttlesworth ( Denzel Washington), father of the top-ranked basketball p ...

''. She collaborated with various artists such as

Will Downing Wilfred "Will" Downing (born November 29, 1963) is an American singer and songwriter. He is married to singer Audrey Wheeler, who was a member of the R&B group Unlimited Touch. Biography Downing enrolled in Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

Steele Steele may refer to: Places America * Steele, Alabama, a town * Steele, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Steele, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Steele, Missouri, a city * Lonetree, Montana, a ghost town originally called Steele ...

of Smif-N-Wessun,

The Beatnuts The Beatnuts are an American hip hop group and production duo from New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu (born Jerry Tineo on December 14, 1968) is a Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernande ...

Monifah Monifa Carter (born January 26, 1972), also known as Monifah, is an American R&B singer. She is best known for her association with the late rapper Heavy D and her music from the mid-1990s, including "I Miss You (Come Back Home)", "You" and " ...

Ce Ce Peniston Cecilia Veronica "CeCe" Peniston (; born September 6, 1969) is an American singer and former beauty queen. In the early 1990s, she scored five number one hits on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Her signature song "Finally" rea ...

Joi Cardwell Joi Cardwell (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she performed in various singing competitions as a child and rose to fame in the early 1990s as a guest vocalist for Lil Louis on the num ...

, and more. She had a brief stint as a member of the

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

-affiliated group

Deadly Venoms Deadly Venoms is an American Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated all-female hip hop group formed in 1997 consisting of N-Tyce, J-Boo, Champ MC, and Finesse. X Clan-affiliated rapper Lin Que was initially intended to be part of the group but departed soon a ...

. In ''Billboard Magazine'' Vol. 110, No. 8, the all female group planned "to function as a female collective independent of any male overseers." After leaving the group for business reasons shortly after its debut album was recorded and never released, she remained writing and creating music with producers Sugar Al Cayne, Azteknique, and Ayatollah. She has written for MC Lyte and has been producing music as well. Lin Que released an album titled ''GODspeed'' in 2007. In 2011, Lin Que decided to go back to college. She majored in Film at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

. At Hunter, she became a two-time winner of the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

New York Scholarship. In the fall of 2015, Lin Que was accepted into the

NYU Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

Graduate Film Program. She graduated from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

with a concentration in Writing & Directing in May 2020.

Discography

Albums

*''Rebel Soul'', 4th & B’way/Island Records 444 030 (North America) / 848 438 (international), 1990 *''GODspeed'', UniverseWorks (self-released), 2007

Singles

*"Rebel Soul", 4th & B'way/Island Records, 1990 *"The Power of Myself Is Moving", 4th & B'way/Island Records, 1991 *"This Is It" b/w "Rip It Up", Ruffhouse/Columbia Records, 1993 *"Let It Fall" b/w "Parley", EastWest Records America, 1995

References

External links

Interview in ''Insomniac'' magazine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin Que Living people African-American women rappers Elektra Records artists Island Records artists Wu-Tang Clan affiliates Rappers from New York City East Coast hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American women musicians 1969 births 21st-century women rappers