Roxanne Shanté

Roxanne Shanté (born Lolita Shanté Gooden; November 9, 1969) is an American hip hop musician. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects of Queens, New York City,^[1] Shanté first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and was part of the Juice Crew.^[2]

Early life and career

Roxanne Shanté was brought up in Queens, New York. She started rapping at the age of thirteen.^[3] In 1984 the young rapper ran into Tyrone Williams, DJ Mr. Magic, and record producer Marley Marl outside the New York housing project "Queensbridge". The three of them were discussing U.F.T.O. since the rap trio had failed to make an appearance at a concert.^[1] U.F.T.O. had recently released a single called "Hanging out". The single did not get a lot of critical acclaim, however the B-Side featured the song "Roxanne, Roxanne", a song about a woman who would not respond to their advances, became a hit.^[4] Shanté, who was a member of the Juice Crew, walked right up to them and offered to write a track to get back at U.F.T.O., posing as the Roxanne in the U.F.T.O. song. They liked her idea and Marley produced the song "Roxanne's Revenge" using the original beats from an instrumental version of "Roxanne, Roxanne". At that time her Queens-based crew was in a battle with KRS-One's Bronx-based crew, because both of the crews claimed that their district was the true home of hip hop.^[3] The track became an instant hit and Shanté, only 14 years old at the time, one of the first female MCs to become very popular. Following this, the "Roxanne Wars" started. Shanté continued to rap and started touring. In 1985 Shanté released a record together with Sparky D, who had dissed her before in her track "Sparky's Turn, Roxanne You're Through" for disrespecting U.F.T.O. and being too young to be in rap battles.^[5] The record called "Round One, Roxanne Shanté vs Sparky Dee" was produced by the Spin Records and included six tracks: The two original battle tracks ("Roxanne's Revenge" and "Sparky's Turn") as well as "Roxanne's Profile" by Shanté, "Sparky's Profile" by Sparky D and a battle track, where the two rappers freestyle and diss against each other, in a censored and an uncensored version.^[6] Other hits were "Have a Nice Day” and also “Go on Girl".^[7] The on-going battle with KRS-One hit its height when KRS-One claimed in his track "The Bridge Is Over" from 1986 that Shanté was only good for one thing: providing sexual pleasure for men - reducing all her worth as a rapper, an opponent and artist to "nothing more than a sexual appendage to male rappers"^[8] She released "Bad Sister" in 1989,^[9] "The Bitch Is Back" in 1992^[10] and a "Greatest Hits" Album in 1995.^[11]

Hiatus

By the age of 25, Shanté was largely retired from the recording industry. She continued to make occasional guest appearances and live performances, as well as mentor young female hip-hop artists. She did the latter by making a cameo appearance on VH1's hip hop reality show Ms. Rap Supreme and gave rap-battle strategies to the finalists of that show. She also took part in a series of Sprite commercials during the late 1990s. She returned to performing, and in 2008, her song "Roxanne's Revenge" was ranked number 42 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs;^[12] she re-recorded the song the following year. In an interview with EmEz in 2015 she stated that she had just been proposed to and that she had been married before.^[13] In the same interview she said that KRS-One was one of her favorite rappers.

Biographical claims

It was reported by Blender in 2008^[14] and more extensively in a New York Daily News account in 2009,^[15] that Shanté earned a bachelor's degree from Marymount Manhattan College and a master's and Ph.D in psychology from Cornell University, and that a quirk in her recording contract obligated Warner Music to fund her college education. These were not new claims by Shanté; she spoke on the subject at length on the Beef II documentary, which was released in 2004.^[16]

However, an investigation by lawyer and journalist Ben Sheffner for Slate magazine found no evidence of Shanté's claims. She was never signed to a Warner Music label, but was under contract to the independent label Cold Chillin' Records, which was in turn distributed by Reprise/Warner Bros. Records from 1987 to 1992. Academic records indicate that she attended only three months at Marymount Manhattan College. Shanté never earned any degree and she is unlicensed by New York State officials to practice psychology or similar disciplines. Shanté told Sheffner that she held a diploma and attended Cornell under a pseudonym because of problems with domestic violence, but she was unable to substantiate these claims.^[17]

The Daily News subsequently ran a five-paragraph correction stating Cornell "has now informed us that it has no record of Shanté ever attending the school," that "Warner Music Group now claims it never had a contract with Shanté—only a distribution agreement with her label," and that "after refusing to return numerous calls and e-mails during the preparation of this article, Marymount now states that Shanté attended the college for less than one semester."^[15][18]

"Do I apologize? Yes, I do. But I am not asking for your forgiveness," Shanté said. "I am sorry about a lot of things that I should've done differently. There were quite a few things that have been exposed with that article; the fact that I never received any royalties, the fact that I did go on to attend college (even if no Ph.D. was acquired), and the fact that at 14 years old and coming straight from the group home, I went on to create a career that even after 20 years of not making a hit record, was still pulling headlines. To be called Dr. Roxanne Shante was, and is, a privilege. But with that privilege comes pressure. I also had to live and talk like someone with a doctorate -- not an easy task at all. I had to make sure that people felt healed and inspired after speaking with me. So, yes, I apologize to all those who applied themselves and put in all the hard work that is required to acquire a Ph.D. I admire you all. But don't discredit all the hard work and sacrifices so many others have also done to also reach their goals."^[19]

Discography

Albums

• Bad Sister (1989)
• The Bitch Is Back (1992)
• "Greatest Hits" (1995)

Singles

• "Roxanne’s Revenge" (1984)
• "Queen of Rox (Shanté Rox On)" (1985)
• "Runaway" (1985)
• "Bite This" (1985)
• "I'm Fly Shanté" (featuring Steady B) (1986)
• "Def Fresh Crew" (1986)
• "Pay Back" (1987)
• "Have a Nice Day" (1987) (UK #58)
• "Go On, Girl" (1988) (UK #55)
• "Loosey's Rap" (with Rick James) (1988)
• "Sharp as a Knife" (with Brandon Cooke) (1988) (UK #45)
• "Live on Stage" (1989)
• "Independent Woman" (1990)
• "Go On Girl" (1990) (re-issue) (UK #74)
• "Big Mama" (1992)
• "Straight Razor" (1992)
• "What's Going On" (with Mekon) (2000) (UK #43)
• "Yes Yes, Y'all" (with Mekon) (2006)

^[20]

Compilations

• Colors (soundtrack album) (1988)
• Lean on Me (soundtrack album) (1989)
• Girls Town (soundtrack album) (1996)

References