Roxanne Shanté still had braces when she became a local legend. The rapper was 14 years old in 1984—living with her mom and sisters in the largest public housing complex in America, battle-rapping for quarters out on the block in Queens—when her song “Roxanne’s Revenge,” a clapback to a U.T.F.O. track, blew up. In a grainy VHS clip from that year, she is introduced as “one of the hottest lady rappers on the music scene” and there she is, not exactly a lady yet, with a simple ponytail, a knit sweater of the grandma-gifted variety, classic gold hoops, and a set of rhymes as thrilling and clever as any we’ve heard in the 30-some odd years since. “Roxanne’s Revenge” went on to sell 250,000 copies and made Shanté a trailblazer for women in rap, and she wasn’t even old enough to get her learner’s permit. It is said that there wasn’t a single person in the Queensbridge Houses who could beat her in a battle.
But Shanté hasn’t exactly received the credit she deserves, a fact being (hopefully) corrected by a new biopic about her starring Nia Long, Mahershala Ali, Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock, and newcomer Chanté Adams. Titled Roxanne Roxanne and out March 23 on Netflix, the film is a tough watch, between her mother’s heavy drinking at home, the physical abuse she suffered from the father of her first child at just 16, and the many ways she was cheated out of money (which continued as she attempted major-label success throughout the ’80s and early ’90s). But the film is also a triumphant look at a woman who feels a sense of satisfaction about her accomplishments.
Sitting across from me at a midtown restaurant, her signature ponytail still there, Shanté is excited about the movie and more importantly, her life. These days, she lives in New Jersey with her husband, performing live and MCing weddings and birthday parties on the weekend. She still loves (and is excellent at) rapping, breaking into rhyme a couple times throughout the course of lunch. When asked how it has felt to see MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, Remy Ma, Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B in the decades since her debut, her eyes light up with pride. Decked out in a candy pink sweatshirt proudly bearing her name, Roxanne Shanté tells us how she became one of the first (and best) to do this.
Roxanne Shanté: I was watching Nipsey Russell on “Hollywood Squares” and he was rhyming his answer. I said, “I could do that! I know I could do that!” I was about eight. I practiced the whole day, and after that I was an expert, I guess. I have Nipsey Russell syndrome: the ability of being able to rhyme about everything.
I just took a call that was important from my daughter/I’m sitting here, I’m thirsty, I’m about to pour some water/Lemons are right here, sitting here with knives/I wanna call [her publicist] Kerry over, I wanna be nice.
I don’t wanna clean my room, my sisters make me sick.
It is self-expression. It’s much better than screaming.
No, not at all. I can’t even remember what I just said. It’s been 30 years and I’ve never done the same show twice. Honestly, I think I’m one of the worst entertainers. Also, the same clothes I wear during the day, that might be the same shit I wear on stage. I don’t have a glam squad. I still don’t know how to wear make-up. I never became that entertainer.
No. I think it was supposed to. When I first got involved in hip-hop, hip-hop had an expiration date. They told us, “Look, this shit is gonna be over in 10 years.” So, a lot of old-school artists were swindled out of their publishing because they made us feel like this is not gonna be worth anything in 10 years. Hip-hop is the only genre of music that we were told you must outgrow. Like, if you listen to hip-hop, you weren’t considered an adult. If you make hip-hop, you weren’t considered to be successful. So now to see that switch, to see that everyone listens to hip-hop, that all the commercials are hip-hop-based, the most successful fashions are hip-hop-connected—it makes me very proud to know that I came in and stood there.
I didn’t know too much about the contracts or the checks that were given out. All I know is that I never received a royalty check. I’ve accepted it and I won’t allow it to change my perspective on being a positive person in life. The positive side of it is that a majority of the artists that I knew who did receive money all started to get high. I never got a check, so I couldn’t afford to get high. So therefore, I never used any drugs. I never did any drinking. I barely had enough to just make sure everybody was good and survived on.
Dimples D. She was from my block. She had a record called “Sucker D.J.s” and I loved it. There were many women who did it before me. But none of them did it the way I did it. I did it more from a male’s perspective. No singing, no trying to be cute. I came out just like, “Well, my name is Roxanne, this is who I am.”
Absolutely. When they were saying, “We’d like for you to maybe show a little this and show a little that,” I was like, “Look, I’m already 16 with a baby, I’m not showing nothing else.” I had to fight for respect. And I got it, because they knew that if Roxanne Shanté picks up the microphone, if she's gonna come at you, she’s gonna come at you. And nine times out of ten when she comes at you, she’s going to win.
Absolutely. I met Cardi in the Bronx at an event. She was like, “I really like you!” and I was like, “I really like you, too!” So we took a picture, I posted it on Instagram. I like the way the women in hip-hop now are definitely taking care of their business and becoming bosses. They’re getting great contracts and going out there and being the faces. I think it’s wonderful.
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She’s phenomenal. I love wordplay. I think it’s phenomenal when she does that, and then she throws certain little sounds in there. Remy is a phenomenal writer, too.
I hate to see my sisters fighting. It bothers me. But there was a part of me that wanted to say to them, “You gotta do something. She’s on top of you—what you gonna do?” The sister in me is always wanting to see everyone get along. The competitive battle rapper in me wants to see the winner win.
This is one thing I’ve learned: As a sister, especially as a big sister, when your little sisters are fighting, you kinda let them work that out.
We actually had our own private viewing because I needed to know how she was going to feel about the movie. I was walking on eggshells because I was so nervous. I wanted to make sure that my mom was okay with it. She laughed, she cried, we hugged, we ate food afterwards. And she said, “Listen, the truth is the truth, there are many other women who went through that who had children, who had a dream of leaving out the projects, and somebody came along and stole that dream—but we bounced back from it. Now look, you and your sisters are great, and my grandchildren are all college graduates. So if our story is able to help other families do it, then so be it.”
As an adult, and even as a child, I understood that it wasn’t her. She felt that she let us down. She was feeling that guilt for us. And so she just happened to stray. But when I look in comparison to other people’s parents and the things they did—my mom never used hard drugs. There was never no crack.
When she worked in the hotels, my sisters and I were putting peppermints on pillows, putting plastic bags in the garbage cans. My mom worked at Holiday Inn out at LaGuardia Airport. And she had put so much into this, getting a house with a backyard…
… Hold on a second. I don’t wanna mess up my make-up. I’m not good at wearing make-up.
Thank you. That heartbreak—I understood her totally. I grew up in that one summer, the summer we didn’t move. I was 12 and I think my whole childhood disappeared in a day. I knew from that point on that that’s what it was gonna be. There was nothing wrong with learning how to fend and take care of yourself.
The moment when I cut my ponytail off. In real life, it was a sign that I was really tired of the situation that I was in. My ponytail was literally being used as a weapon: When I was going through abuse, he would grab it and that’s how he kept a hold. And even if I would get away or try to get away, that’s what he would grab. And I was just so sick and tired of him grabbing it, grabbing it, grabbing it that I cut it all off and cut my hair down really, really short.
Well, I bought it this time. [Laughs]
It was very therapeutic. Because you know that you survived it. There are a lot of women who have went through what I went through. There’s a lot of women who are still going through it today. And one of the main things is being able to say, “You know what, if I was able to get away from it at that age, you’ll be able to do it now.” I want young girls to take away from the movie that anything is possible.
It feels great, and it’s definitely one of those “Get your flowers while you’re still alive” moments. Not everybody’s gonna get that. When you do receive your flowers while you’re alive, you wanna take care of them. And you wanna make sure everybody understands how much you appreciate that. I’m not the female hip-hop artist people talk about. I’m not invited to the awards. I’m the person who people would assume would be angry at home. And I’m the total opposite of that. I love life so much. I’m a breast cancer survivor. I know what it’s like to go through lumpectomies, through everything. Life is amazing to me. I enjoy every minute of it.
