Roxanne Shante': Roxanne's Revenge

history...check this out

"my name is Roxanne, but they call me SHANTE"

This post is devoted to female hip-hop artist ROXANNE SHANTE (Ph.D).

when Lolita Shante Gooden was born on November 9, 1969, her parents had no idea that they had brought a hip-hop pioneer and legend into

this world. a native new yorker, more specifically long island city (LIC), Lolita resided in the Queensbridge housing projects. Lolita entered the hip-hop game when she was just 14 years old as Shante. yes thats right 14. how did this come about? well, according to the story, one night 

while walking outside her builing in LIC she overheard three men

talking about how U.T.F.O cancelled thier appearence at a show they were promoting. those three men happened to be Tyrone Williams, disc jockey Mister Magic and producer Marley Marl-prominenticons in the 

hip hop buisness. when Shante offered to record an come-back to 

U.T.F.O's hit "Roxanne, Roxanne", the three took her up on her 

offer thus birthing the confrontational, boastful, and profane hit 

"Roxanne's Revenge". the hit swooped the record charts selling over 250,000 copies in NYC alone. now assuming the role of Roxanne Shante,

the young hip hop icon-tress dropped 102 additional answer records,

sparking the Roxanne Wars and affirming young Shante a permanent 

seat in the hip hop hall of fame. as a founding memeber of the Juice

Crew, with Marley Marl and DJ Mr Magic, Shante showed off her sick 

freestyling skills (i.e "Roxanne's Revenge" which was reportedly written and recorded in one take). Some of Shante's hits include "Loosey's Rap" 

with Rick James, "Have a Nice Day", "Go On Girl" "Queen Pin" and 

"Straight Razor". after 10 years in the hip hop game (1984-1994), 

working with some of the most iconic of artist including Big Daddy 

Kane, M.C. Shan, and Steady B, Roxanne Shante threw the towel in 

and retired from the recording industry. she now devoted her time and 

energy to reciving a higher education, and earned her Ph.D in 

psychology at the prestigous Cornell University (paid for by her 

record label-an unusual contract clause) and eventually running her 

own practice. although she is no longer a recording artist she still stays involved by making occasional guest appearences, live 

preformances and serving as a mentor to young female hip hop artists.

Roxanne Shante's career has come full circle and she is not only an 

iconic artist, but an amazing woman as well.

reminisssssss

come on admit it. there some things that i miss.. my "back in the day":

• quarter waters
• .50 cent ices (the big long ones that make your mouth turn colors....pause)
• .05 cent cry babys
• .25 cent wise onion ring chips
• pineapple soda
• italian ices
• Big Bols

...all in a small brown paper bag :) and afterward go to the chinese food place and get 4 fried chicken wings for $2 (you know the kind that come in the wax paper bags) and french fries for $1 that come in the styrofone box (thats melted in spots of yellow from the hot oil). ahaha and you always have to ask for more ketchup and the lady always gives you an attitude about it. 

lol and if youre lucky you get the sweet tea that comes in the tupperware with the "x" hole at the top. 

come on...admit it you miss it too.

[inspired by Corner Store 360<--lol the name]

HoneyRockwell

whats on your mind

truthfully? today in class we spoke about breaking. it was dope. i learned that its derived from Lindy Hop, tap dancing and African-rooted Brazilian martial art capoeira. 

capoeira. now if your from nyc you KNOW capoeira. and if your shaking your head right now listen closely. have you ever walked by union sqaure and seen a large circle of people dance fighting without thier shirts off? some of the men are usually wearing linen cargo pants no shirt and have a tribal tatoo that takes up the majority of thier backs. lol im just playing. no but they usually dont wear shoes forreal. its pretty cool.  google that shit :)  but anyway, its amazing how so many cultures infuse to create this  fusion of dance. check the pics..look farmilar?

(from left to right capoeira dance in union square; break dance cometition)

after we got into the topic of breaking we started talking about b-boys and b-girls; or break boys and break girls. b-girls and b-boys were vesselss through wich hip hop thrived. they were hip hop. they were about thier music, thier skill, and of course thier swagger. you didn't need "a mille" (haha you like that right) to be a b-boy or a b-girl, you worked with what you had. it didnt matter what you saw on tv or in the magazines because you were your own trendsetter. you told the media what was fresh. thats one thing i noticed. back then the media took direction from you, compared to this generation where we copy the media to a tee. truth b told.  i wish i had been around for that. 

so because i have such an exciting life and all i do after classes is go back to my room and google shit, i definately started researching b-girls. the one that stood out the most to me was honeyrockwell. she is very talented. check the video i posted. 

is it really a new day?

i have to bring this up to ya'll. now i believe that hip hop is hiding. REAL hip hop. im not talking about that over comercialized, just add two cups of water and a beat hip-hop. i mean the real shit. somone told be today that they believe that hip hop is alive and well and thriving. and get this doing better than it ever has. of course i brought up the obvious, "well what about soulja boy? do you consider that hip hop, lets be serious?" and thier reply was "yes, its just a different type of hip hop". that made me think. of course i had to at least for a second ignore the fact that i hate soulja boy because i think hes a fool; any idiot who decides to draw his name on a $2 pair of sunglasses in white out pen and come out with a saga of youtube videos titled "rich nigga shit" usually deserves less thought than what on the bottom on my shoe. but for the sake of argument i let it rock. anywaysssssssss....

soulja boy.

 is his music (if thats what you'd like to call it) just another genera of hip hop? and if not can we please name it so people stop calling it hip-hop. 

personally, i think his songs just sound like an dance instructional. kinda like darrin's dance groove put to music. 

soulja boy off in this hoe

watch me crank and watch we roll

watch me crank dat, soulja boy

then superman that hoe

::shakes head::

?

id like to address this pic of lil mama. now as previously affirmed, i respect everyone style. you are entitled. now why did she think is was alright to throw up the fist? please comment because i am confused

detailed: playin catch-up

i used to love h.e.r / common /1994 / first listen 1999

thats when i noticed that i not only had a love for hip hop, but an innate intrest. a concern. now i knoe all you olheads out there r shaking your head saying "bgirl thats not old school..". and true mayb, but forreal thats my old school. damn, when this hit i was 5 years old. fresh. on the clock, wet behind the ears still smellin like simalac. young. 

retrospect for life / common / 1997/ first listen 1999

retrospect for life. i realized that hip hop was not just something that young black boys and girls could bopp thier heads to but word, this shit was for and from the heart. its like therapy. everytime i hear this song i still get teary eyed, and i straight up know people who let this change thier life. a song . a song. a song. now in what world could a song change (yea, CHANGE) someones life. 

ive always been a fan of common. id like to say from the beggining but seein that his first album can i borrow a dollar? dropped in 92' and i was only 3..... haha but that would b funny if you saw a little baby in pampers waddling to your closest record store just to copp the new common shit. hahah, anyways. i feel like ive been playin catch-up with hip-hop. i envy my mom and her generation who clearly remember wen hits like  oodles of o's, and looking for the perfect beat was casually being playin on the radio...no throback afternoon bs, just chillin. oooorrr ooohhhhh what it feel like to be at a party in BK when beastie boys no sleep till brooklyn blared out the speakers. live. hip hop. 

the wierd part is that my generation is not only playin catch-up, but they're tryin to imitate these greats. do you know the other day i was walking in soho and as i approached the corner of prince and lafayette i saw a scene almost made my eyes bleed.  this boy wearing lime green and pink leggings [yes ya'll this boy had on leggings], a white tank top, black sunglasses with splattered paint and with a big ass radio sittin on his shoulder playin soulja boy! see wtf is that about? but hear me, its not the fit that bothered me. i mean do you. its the confusion. back in the day 'bboys and bgirls' rocked what was funky (aahahaha as my mom puts it), but you see they understood the culture. they were either emceein', burnin', breakin', or straight up ryhmin'. now a days i see the look, but no culture to back it up. hip-hop has become a fashion statement to our young and the shit is sad. its like we have no skillz. and the funny part is the ones that do dont worry about all that extra stuff. its all immitation.