"Roxanne Shante, legendary MC, and host of Have A Nice Day on LL COOL J's Rock The Bells Radio is receiving the 2025 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first solo female MC to be bestowed with the honor, and she joins Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, NWA, Salt N Pepa, Run-DMC, and Slick Rick as Hip-Hop artists that have received the award.
Prince, Frankie Valli, Maze’s Frankie Beverly, and Taj Mahal will also be honored at the Special Merit Awards on Feb. 1, a day before the 2025 Grammys.
Earlier this year Shante was honored by Cynopsis as one of 2024's 'Top Women In Media'. She received the honor of 'Game Changing On-Air Talent', along with talent from Telemundo, Nickelodeon, and CBS Sports. In an exclusive interview with Rock The Bells, Shante shared that it was an honor to be recognized as a force in broadcasting.
"It is truly an honor to be recognized by the broadcasting industry, especially when I've been able to come in and be myself," she shared. "What was also truly an honor was LL COOL J being able to see that. He was the first one to say to me that I needed to be on radio and in it everyday. When he started Rock The Bells Radio he said, 'Im gonna give you that platform, and I want you to be you'. He allowed me to be a game changer, and allowed the world to see it."
Shante also a received the Hip-Hop Grandmaster Award this year along with Rock The Bells Radio personality Grandmaster Caz who was also honored along with Kool Moe Dee.The Hip-Hop Grandmaster Awards are sponsored by the Paid In Full Foundation, which was founded by Ben and Felicia Horowitz in 2022 and celebrates "Transformational Hip-Hop artists who have not received economic rewards proportional to their exceptional contributions to art and culture." The award includes a financial stipend for the recipients in an effort to "empower the artists to further their creative and artistic endeavors.”
Roxanne Shante is an integral member of DJ Marley Marl's legendary Juice Crew collective of MC's. She released Hip-Hop's first diss record with 1984's "Roxanne's Revenge", an answer to UTFO's gargantuan hit, "Roxanne,Roxanne". Shante's response started the legendary "Roxanne Wars" resulting in dozens of response records. Hits such as "Def Fresh Crew" with Biz Markie, "Have A Nice Day", and "Go On Girl" followed. Shante's life story was chronicled in her Netflix 2017 biopic, Roxanne Roxanne."
Rock The Bells Radio Personality Roxanne Shante To Receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
