The Story of Roxanne Shanté: Hip Hop’s First Female Icon
The milestone anniversary of one of the most influential and diverse music genres in history is here, as August 11th marked Hip Hop 50. In light of the anniversary, legends ranging back from the '70s until now have been resurfacing to pay tribute, revisit the past, as well as stake their claim...
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The milestone anniversary of one of the most influential and diverse music genres in history is here, as August 11th marked Hip Hop 50. In light of the anniversary, legends ranging back from the ’70s until now have been resurfacing to pay tribute, revisit the past, as well as stake their claim as hip hop luminaries. Today we lay out the history of a hip hop icon who helped shape the genre as one of the first ever female MC’s, the Queen of Queens: Roxanne Shanté.
Lolita Shante Gooden, better known to the world as Roxanne Shanté, was born and raised on the streets of New York City, just like hip hop itself. Coming out of Queens, the spit-fire herself was introduced to the rising genre at an early age and possibly more lucrative was the genre being introduced to her. At eight years old, Shanté discovered her love and talent for spitting rhymes whilst watching the witty celebrity wordsmith Nipsey Russel on TV. What’s more, is that the streets called to her as rhyme was just a sign of the times and battles were the name of the game. After her substantial discovery, the little girl would rhyme all day every day, and by the age of ten years old, Shanté won her first battle, securing a cash prize of $50. From there on, Roxanne battled her way to the top beating out her competition one by one leaving a clearer path for those brave enough to follow. Her confidence, fearlessness, and pure talent all came together, leading her to become one of the most popular and sought after female rappers of her time.
Roxanne’s popularity, however, truly began at 14 with a passing interaction with long time acquaintance Marley Marl – American DJ, record producer, rapper, and so much more. Soon after getting out of her two year stretch at multiple girl’s homes and returning to her mother and sisters, Roxanne was walking up the street in the midst of doing her mother’s laundry when Marley called to her. Hearing that she was the best around, the DJ asked Shanté to rap over a track he was working on. Shanté told him she could only give him seven minutes of her time – the time remaining on her laundry.
Marly Marl, Mr. Magic, and Tyrone Williams, all members of the soon to be hip hop collective, the Juice Crew, had been working on a special track using the original beats from group U.T.F.O.’s hit song “Roxanne, Roxanne,” which tells the story of a woman who rejected the group’s advances time and time again. Marl’s track was always meant to be an answer record as U.T.F.O. backed out of a concert promoted by Mr. Magic and lost him a substantial amount of expected income. As Marl laid down the track, Shanté was free to do her thing, taking on the persona of “Roxanne” and putting every member of U.T.F.O. in their place one after another saying, “He ain’t really cute, he ain’t really great, He don’t even know how to operate.” Every second, every word, and every rhyme was free-styled by that 14 year old talent in seven minutes, making history as one of the first moments a female took to hip hop and forced the male dominated genre as a whole to sit down, listen, and show some respect.
The song was officially named “Roxanne’s Revenge” and became a massive hit selling over a quarter of a million copies in the New York area alone. Not only that, but the track spawned a series of answer-back records, possibly the most in history, numbering well over a hundred as artists and fans received Shanté’s free-style as a challenge, including U.T.F.O. who produced another track along with a law suit. This time, the trio’s response highlighted the female rapper Elease Jack who they deemed “The Real Roxanne.” This third track on the same woman took hip hop into uncharted waters, as in that day in age most answer records ended with a second recording. The controversy and attention was quickly named the “Roxanne Wars” resulting in perhaps the first ever ‘rap beef’ between two artists in hip hop history.
