When it comes to her music, pioneering female hip-hop artist MC Lyte is doing a

lot of looking back these days.

But it's all with the future in mind.

Coming fresh off the heels of last year's hit single "Cold Rock a Party," tough-

edged rapper MC Lyte has just completed a new album, Seven & Seven,

a forthcoming work that she promises will take hip-hop back to its roots.

"(The album) is headed in the same direction hip-hop is heading -- back to the

original music," the 27-year-old Lyte (a.k.a. Lana Moorer) said recently.

The record, which is scheduled to combine dance sounds with thought-

provoking music, is loaded with guest MCs and vocalists, from Missy Elliott to

Femme Fatale, Beanie Man, Nickie featuring Brownstone, India and Tha Clips.

In addition to MC-ing, Missy Elliott helped produce some of the album along

with Trackmasters, who have produced LL Cool J and The Firm, among others.

"It will have some samples and some live music. It may want to make you

dance but it will also be lyrical and make you think as well," said the Queens,

N.Y.- based Lyte.

Completed songs for the album, which is scheduled for a summer release, include "Bad Day," "Lyte is Too Fly" and "Break it Down."

Lyte first exploded on the scene in 1987 with the Audio Two-produced

single "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)." Her debut album, Lyte as a

Rock, spawned three more hit singles: "10% Dis," "Paper Thin" and the title

track. Making her presence known during a period when the hip-hop world

was almost totally male-dominated, Lyte proved herself an equal of any

male MC with her tough delivery, intelligent rhymes and fearlessness in

taking to task the sexism of some male rappers.

"MC Lyte really knocked down a lot of walls and opened up a lot of doors for

women in hip-hop," said Zenobia Simmons, the compiler and executive

producer of Rhino's recent three-volume retrospective, Fat Beats &

Brastraps: Women of Hip-Hop. "She came along at a historical moment and

showed that women could go toe to toe with male MCs."

Since her 1988 debut, Lyte rapped on the 12-inch remix of Sinead O'Connor's

"I Want Your Hands On Me," released four albums and got a taste of mass

appeal last year with the successful Puff Daddy-remixed single "Cold Rock a

Party."

Now Lyte wants to take it back to where she began, when hip-hop was both

simple and complex, as well as a provocative art form that could also make

people feel good.

The album title, Seven & Seven, simply refers to the number of tracks

that will appear on each side of the vinyl release. "Seven is the perfect number," Lyte said. She remarked that her

producers even tried to invoke the spirit of the 1980s old-school days by

sampling bits of her classic records.

And what will come of all this looking back?

"Most of all," Lyte said, "it will remind you of the old MC Lyte."