Battle for The Bridge

So The Roxanne Wars kicked off another rap war off the song "The Bridge" by MC Shan and Marley Marl.  This was the song where Marley made sampling in hip hop music famous - using bits of a drum kit from "Impeach the President" by Honey Drippers.  The lyrics of this song were taken as inaccurate, seemingly claiming that the Queensbridge projects in Queens as the birthplace of hip hop.  The group Boogie Down Productions took offense and retorted with their singles "South Bronx" and "The Bridge is Over."  The conflict between KRS-One of BDP and Marley Marl reported continued as late as 2007, but has since ended as they collaborated on an album in the same year.

A live performance between KRS-One and MC Shan was the first where rappers attacked each other, instead of battling to get the crowd most excited.  There is speculation that KRS-One defeated MC Shan with this performance, and articles that indicate that KRS-One pushed in order to advance his career.  Shan wanted the conflict to end, and KRS-One used the hype surrounding The Bridge Wars in order to get ahead.

The conflict, intentional or not between KRS-One and MC Shan, only lent itself to the success behind The Bridge Wars, one of the most influential hip hop wars in history.

UTFO - Roxanne Roxaane, Part 2: Calling her a Crab

UTFO/Full Force - The Real Roxanne

Roxanne Wars

So we just covered a little about Lolita Gooden, aka Roxanne Shanté, and her first single - her response to UTFO (UnTouchable Force Organization)'s song "Roxanne, Roxanne."  Her response sparked what would be known as "The Roxanne Wars."

Most infamously, Roxanne Shanté and The Real Roxanne (Adelaida Martinez) recorded answer songs in response to UFTO's song.  In Roxanne Shanté's version, she takes on the role of 'Roxanne' in her response song.  Shanté and Marley Marl also utilized the original beats of the instrumental version of "Roxanne, Roxanne."  Combined with Shanté's distinctive rap style, controversy ensued and as a result, Shanté rerecorded a version of "cleaner" nature.  Despite this, the original version sold over 250,000 copies in the New York area alone.  

The Real Roxanne, on the other hand, paved a new way in music, much like how Marley Marl introduced sampling to hip hop.  Previously, answer songs were limited to one response to an original recording.  In the case of The Roxanne Wars, however, responses didn't end at Shanté's recording; The Real Roxanne released a third, unprecedented response to UTFO's recording.  

Other recordings followed this third recording within the year, with anywhere between 30 and 100 recordings produced, with various people in Roxanne's life rapping in them.  Shortly after the hype died down, an offshoot of The Roxanne Wars came about - called the Roxanne acts.  The acts were a series of songs following the UTFO release "Roxanne, Roxanne, Part 2: Calling Her a Crab" including responses by Shanté and Sparky D.

The most prevalent war that followed The Roxanne Wars were The Bridge Wars, loosely involving Roxanne Shanté and the Juice Crew (Marley Marl's group) and KRS-One.  More to come on that.

Information pulled from wikipedia primarily.

Roxanne's Revenge (Original-Street Version)

Roxanne Shante recorded "Roxanne's Revenge" as a response to UTFO's song "Roxanne, Roxanne."

An Early Timeline of Cold Chillin' Records

1983-1984 - Mr. Magic Rap Attack radio show

1985 - Roxanne's Revenge is released on Pop Art Records

January 1, 1987 - Cold Chillin' Records is born, original 4 artists are: Roxanne Shante, MC Shan, Kool G Rap, and Marley Marl

1988 - deal made with Warner Brothers, and by this time all artists were signed to Cold Chillin', and included Masta Ace, Craig G, Tragedy, Wu Tang Clan, etc.

From the source - Tyrone Williams

I called up Tyrone Williams, the founder of Cold Chillin' and spoke to him a little on the label.  We're going to meet in a couple weeks so he can give me more insight, but I thought I'd share a little snippet of what I learned:

At the time that he got involved in the business, hip hop music was primarily a New York thing - some states had it, but "the" scene was in NY.  Tyrone, along with Marley Marl and Mr. Magic, started the first rap radio show on WBLS, called the Mr. Magic Rap Attack - Tyrone was the producer, Mr. Magic hosted and Marley Marl was the DJ.  Kids would bring songs that they made and they would play it on the air.  The three of them saw this as an "exclusive" on unreleased music, so they would air the song, record it, and then they would send the artist to Tyrone's roommate, Russell, who would manage them.  As time went on, the age of the artists dropped, and parents wanted Tyrone as their child's manager.  So that's how Tyrone transitioned into artist management.  Len Fichtelberg had his own label, Prism Records, but when Tyrone started signing artists including Roxanne Shante, Big Daddy Kane, and MC Shan, he realized that it was more beneficial to have his own label - and Cold Chillin' was born.