Roxanne Shanté

Roxanne Shanté (born Lolita Shanté Gooden; November 9, 1969) is an American Hip hop pioneer. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects of Queens, New York City, Shanté first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and her association with the Juice Crew. Shanté's career began at the age of 14 when she entered the influential world of record producer Marley Marl, radio DJ Mr. Magic, and Tyrone Williams, who were talking about how UTFO had canceled its appearance at a show that it was promoting. Shanté offered to record an answer to UTFO's recent hit "Roxanne, Roxanne," which was about a woman who rejects the members of the group. The men agreed and the result was "Roxanne's Revenge," a confrontational and profane song in which Shanté assumed the role of Roxanne, dissing UTFO over a Marley Marl-produced instrumental (The official UTFO response to its own song was “The Real Roxanne,” with artists Elease Jacks and later Adelaida Martinez assuming the role of Roxanne and eventually recording under the same stage name as the song title). Shanté's version and the Real Roxanne's version sparked the Roxanne Wars and made Shanté a hip-hop star in the process. The single would go on to sell over 250,000 copies in the New York area alone. One of the founding members of the Juice Crew, most of her tracks would be produced by Marley Marl, with the exception of several songs on Shanté's last album, 1992's The Bitch Is Back. (read more on wikipedia...)

Links To Peel
Peel first heard of Roxanne Shante by import in 1985 when she released her single "Roxanne's Revenge", which he regularly played. Another single "Queen of Rox" was also played many times on Peel's show in 1985 and at the end of 1999, he nominated the track as his Peelenium 1985. After playing the song as part of the Peelenium, Peel commentated that the track was original and not like the big money hip hop artists that were in the charts:


 * "I've not heard that for a decade. What a fantastic record it was! and it didn't sound as though it had dated a minute over the past fourteen years or so. It's strange: sometimes you do wonder, hearing that again, how we've got from a record as startling, as original and exciting as that to a lot of the kind of big money hip-hop that you see in the charts and occasionally hear on the radio, and you think, how did we get there from here? Very odd."

Peelenium

 * Peelenium 1985: Queen Of Rox

Other Shows Played
1985 1989 1999 2000
 * 04 March 1985: Roxanne's Revenge (12") Pop Art
 * Karl's Tape March 1985: Roxanne's Revenge (12") Pop Art
 * 20 May 1985: Queen Of Rox (12") Pop Art
 * 04 June 1985: Queen Of Rox (12" single) Pop Art
 * 23 July 1985: Runaway (12" single) Pop Art
 * 04 September 1989: Live On Stage (Original Version) (12") Breakout
 * 08 November 1989: 'Independent Woman (LP-Bad Sister)' (Breakout) (JP: 'That's the spirit, said he patronisingly.')
 * 15 December 1999: 'Queen Of Rox (12")' (Pop Art) Peelenium 1985
 * 15 August 2000: 'What's Going On?' (12" Single) Wall Of Sound (with Mekon)


 * 05 September 2000: What's Going Off (12") Wall Of Sound (with Mekon)