Roxanne Shanté (1969-present) ignited The Roxanne Wars, a series of hip hop rivalries during the mid 1980s, that created the most answered records in history. It was also one of the first “rap beefs” in history.
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This month we’re talking about adversaries. These women fought against systems, governments and – sometimes each other to break barriers in their respective fields. They did unthinkable and sometimes unspeakable things to carve out their place in history.
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Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica. This month, we're talking about adversaries, women who fought for their place in history, whether they fought to get to the top of their sport against how society perceived them, or fought with each other to be champions. We're talking about women who broke barriers and sometimes to seemingly impossible or unspeakable things, to carve out their place in history. This episode of Womanica is brought to you by the all New Toyota Camry. In nineteen eighty four, a Brooklyn based rap group called Utfo released their first hit single, Roxanne. Roxanne Wasted No Time but Stuck Up Maybe it don't mind. The lyrics were about a woman by the name of Roxanne who refused the advances from the men in the group. Over in Another Burrow, a fourteen year old Queen's native recorded her own rhymes over the song's beat. With that, she created an answer back hip hop record, igniting one of the first rap beats in history. Let's talk about Roxanne Chantei. Roxanne Chantey was born Lolita Chantey Gooden in nineteen sixty nine in Queens, New York. As a young girl, Chantey would watch Nipsey Russell and make up rhymes on Hollywood Squares. She would practice and write her own rhymes and compete with other MC's. Chante quickly gained popularity for her rap skills. One day, a local music producer who went by Marley Marle peeked his head out of his window and spotted fourteen year old Chante down at the laundromat. He told her to come up to his apartment and jump on a beat he had, but Chante only had twenty minutes left in her dryer cycle. She needed to make it back before it ended. She didn't want anyone taking her clothes out, so Chante ran up to Marley's living room and he told her to put on a pair of headphones. The beat from utfo's song Roxanne Roxanne was playing. Chantey was familiar with both the song and the content of the lyrics. Like Roxanne, Chantey had experienced cat calling and harassment from men in her own neighborhood. She decided to embrace the character of Roxanne and respond back to the rap group's lyrics. Chante, already a seasoned rap battler, found it easy to lay down a stinging freestyle. In it, she took her turn roasting each of the three rappers in the group with clever bars like oh my rock Sand don't know, I just the Colmaca, Fanny and as Us and you know it's to let me tell you and explain them all to you. Within seven minutes, Chante had made Roxanne's Revenge, making it back to her laundry just in time. It wasn't long before the fourteen year old's disc track could be heard playing all around the city. UTFO took the bait and responded with another song called The Real Roxanne. They originally cast Elise Jack as there Real Roxanne. After creative differences, she was replaced by MC Adelaida Martinez. In a later interview, Adelaida said, trust me, it was a battle. It wasn't easy. It seemed like I had walked into a mess and I had to work hard to clean it up. There is no first or second Roxan. There's only one who lived the life of the real Roxan, and that is me. The Roxane wore snowballed and other mc started jumping into the beef. It said that there between thirty and one hundred dis tracks from all different kinds of perspectives a real cinematic universe. There's Roxanne's doctor The Real Man by Doctor Fresh, the parents of Roxanne by Jiglo Tony and Lacey Lace. Roxanne's siblings even make it into the mix, and the songs Roxy Roxanne's Sister by d w and the Party Crew and Yo, My Little Sister Roxanne's Brothers by Crush Groove. At one point, some felt the beef was overplayed. The East Coast Crew pleaded for an end with their song the final Word, No More Roxanne, Please back at center stage, Utfo and Chantai had a couple more rounds to go. Chante responded to the group's song The Real Roxanne with her track bite This. In her second verse, Shante reclaims her title time to get it straight, Time to make it clear, the real Roxanne is standing right here, to which Utfo answered back with the song, calling her a crab. Roxanne Part two a nasty and desperate response full of name calling and crude comparisons. In a way, Chante had accomplished what she wanted from the start. She later said, you have to get them so angry. Some mcs would battle me and they would mess up their rhymes because they weren't composed. Chante put an end to the Roxanne saga with her record Queen of Rocks. The song takes you through the entire feud. In it, she raps, I tell you something else, don't you see? I have to watch my language because I got so many beefs. Most people say Chantei won the battle. After years of touring, she decided to quit music and go to school. She got her bachelor's degree, than her master's, then her PhD. Eventually, Shante moved to New Jersey and pursued a career in the education nonprofit world. She still makes special appearances to MC and mentors younger women hip hop artists. In twenty eighteen, Netflix released a biopic based on Roxanne Chantei's life. All month, we've been talking about adversaries. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Tune in tomorrow for a special bonus episode brought to you by Toyota