Roxanne Shante

The metamorphia of LolitaGooden into rap phenomenon Roxanne Shante began, unbeknowst to her, in December 198 when Steve Salem, manager of the group UTFC brought a new record to WHBI-FM in Manhattan for DJ Mr. Magic to break on his very popular and highly influential "Rap Attack" program.  Salem was hyping the A-side,"Hanging Out," but Magic and his hanging buddies, Tyrone Williams and producer Marlon "Marley Marl" Williams, dug the B-side, "Roxanne, Roxanne."  They played this cut and the response was immediately overwhelmingly overwhelming!  Pretty soon other stations picked up on the record and UTFO found themselves with a smash hit.

In the meantime, a teenage neighbor of Marley Marl's in the Queensbridge housing project in Queens, New York, Lolita Gooden gets pissed offat the way the girls are downed in the song and and bugs Marley until he takes her into his home studio to cut a tape dising "Roxanne, Roxanne."  To "dis" means to Disrespect someone, to insult with total Disregard for the person's Disposition.  Her spontaneous "answer" set off an explosion, a rap phenomenon that we can now call the "Perils of Roxanne."  There was an on-slaught of Roxannes, dozens of records and a fair amount of legal entanglements.  But when the smoke cleared, there was one obvious victor: Lolita Gooden, now known to the world as Roxanne Shante, the "First Lady of Rap."

With Tyrone Williams as her manager, she has built a solid career from what she calls "a stroke of luck."  "But," she adds, "then it became a stroke of skill.  If it wasn't for me being able to rap the way I do, I would not be able to catch peoples' eye.  And mostly I think it's my voice.

These days, Shante splits her time between school and work in the studio with Marley Marl, readying for her Cold Chillin' debut.  She says that the album is going to be filled with more than a few surprises and a whole lot of good music.  Some may be shocked, but none will be unmoved, she boasts.