Roxanne Shante | |
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 Shante in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lolita Shante Gooden |
| Born | (1969-11-09)November 9, 1969 (age 55)[1] Queens,New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip-hop |
| Occupation | Rapper |
| Years active |
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| Labels |
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| Formerly of | Juice Crew |
| Website | Roxanne Shante onTwitter |
Lolita Shante Gooden (born November 9, 1969), better known by her stage nameRoxanne Shante, is an American rapper.[1] She first gained attention in 1984 through theRoxanne Wars, and was part of theJuice Crew. The 2017 filmRoxanne Roxanne is a dramatization of Shante's life.
Shante was born November 9, 1969, inQueens, New York.[2][1] In 1984, she metMr. Magic andMarley Marl outside the Queensbridge housing project. They discussedU.T.F.O., since the rap trio had failed to make an appearance at a concert.[3] U.T.F.O. had recently released a single called "Hanging Out", which did not gain much critical acclaim; however, the B-side "Roxanne, Roxanne", about a woman who would not respond to their advances, became a hit.[4]
Shante, who was a member of theJuice Crew, was contracted to write a track in rebuttal to U.T.F.O.'s rap, posing as the Roxanne in the U.T.F.O. song. Marley Marl produced the song "Roxanne's Revenge" using the original beats from an instrumental version of "Roxanne, Roxanne". The track became an instant hit and made Shante, only 14 at the time, one of the first female MCs to become very popular. Then the "Roxanne Wars" started, and Shante continued to rap and started touring with her producer, Marley Marl.
In 1985, Shante released a record together with rapperSparky D, who had earlier released adiss track about her called "Sparky's Turn, Roxanne You're Through".[5] The record called "Round One, Roxanne Shanté vs Sparky Dee" was released bySpin Records and included six tracks: the two originalbattle tracks ("Roxanne's Revenge" and "Sparky's Turn") as well as "Roxanne's Profile" by Shante, "Sparky's Profile" by Sparky D and a battle track, in which the two rappers freestyle and diss each other, in a censored and an uncensored version.[6] Other hits included "Have a Nice Day" and "Go on Girl".[7]
In 1985, Shante battledBusy Bee Starski for the title of "best freestyle rapper" but lost due to improper judging. JudgeKurtis Blow later admitted to Shante that he did not vote for her because she was a girl.[8] The ongoing battle with KRS-One hit its height when KRS-One claimed in his 1986 track "The Bridge Is Over" that Shante was nothing more than a sexual appendage to male rappers.[9]
In 1988 she rapped on the Rick James singleLoosey's Rap.
In 1989, Shante releasedBad Sister,The Bitch Is Back in 1992, and a greatest hits anthology in 1995. In 1997 Roxanne was featured onFrankie Cutlass third single title "The Cypher Part III" which featured some of Marley Marl juice crew rappers, Big Daddy Kane, Big Markie and Craig G.[10]
By the age of 25 Shante 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 made a cameo appearance on VH1's hip hop reality showMs. Rap Supreme, giving rap-battle strategies to the finalists of the show. She was in a series ofSprite commercials during the late 1990s.She returned to performing, and in 2008, her song "Roxanne's Revenge" was ranked number 42 onVH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.[11] Shante re-recorded the song in 2009. In an interview with EmEz in 2015, she said that she had just been proposed to and that she had previously been married.[12] In the same interview, she said that KRS-One was one of her favorite rappers.
It was reported byBlender in 2008,[13] and more extensively in a New YorkDaily News account in 2009,[14] that Shante earned a bachelor's degree fromMarymount Manhattan College and a master's and Ph.D in psychology fromCornell University. The articles said that a quirk in her recording contract obligatedWarner Music to fund her college education. These were not new claims by Shante; she spoke at length about them on theBeef II documentary which was released in 2004.[15]
In 2009, an investigation by lawyer and journalist Ben Sheffner forSlate magazine found no evidence of Shante's claims. She was never signed to a Warner Music label, but was under contract to the independent labelCold Chillin' Records, which was distributed byReprise/Warner Bros. Records from 1987 to 1992. Academic records indicate that she attended only three months at Marymount Manhattan College. Shante never earned a degree and she is unlicensed byNew York State officials to practice psychology or similar disciplines.[16] TheDaily News then ran a five-paragraph correction.[14][17] Shante apologized in November 2009.[18]
A dramatized biopic about Shante's life,Roxanne Roxanne, was first shown at the2017 Sundance Film Festival. It received critical acclaim and the lead actressChanté Adams won best breakout performance for her portrayal of Shante. The film was co-produced byForest Whitaker andPharrell Williams. It was written and directed by Michael Larnell.[19][20][21] It was bought by the film studioNeon for general release later in 2017.[22]
At the height of her career, Shante was referred to as the "Queen of Rap" byThe New York Times[23] and has been noted as a hip-hop pioneer.[24][25]The Sunday Times credited her for popularizingdiss tracks.Billboard editor Natalie Weiner wrote that Shante's "blazingly male-shaming diss track" and "hip-hop's first recorded beef" helped move hip-hop further toward the mainstream, calling her "rap's first female star."[26]
Consequence considered her "a mentor for generations of female MCs, and an early advocate in rap for female empowerment."[27] In 1989,The Christian Science Monitor stated that the popularity of rappers like Roxanne Shante,Salt-N-Pepa, andMC Lyte created a path for the next generation of female hip hop artists.[28]
Years later, Roxanne approached Blow and asked him why he sabotaged her. According to Roxanne, he said it was because she was a girl.
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