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Truth.Culture.Style
Dr. Roxanne Shante:
20 Years Later
By Sheena Neal
20 Years Later
By Sheena Neal
female teen phenomenon who recorded the classic “Roxanne’s Revenge,”
an answer to UTFOs “Roxanne, Roxanne.” After hanging up her mic and
retiring from the industry at the young age of 25, Shantè has taken life after
hip hop to a new level. We caught up with Dr. Shantè who spoke openly to
Jubilee Magazine about education, her religion, female emcees in hip hop
and why she’s “felon friendly.”
Jubilee: Can you share with us some of the positive things that you’re
doing in the community?
Roxanne Shantè: I have an ice cream parlor (Hip Hop Ices) where I only
hire troubled youth, that’s one of the aspects that I bring back to the
community. Also, I’m a court appointed special advocate for children and [I’
m a keynote speaker] - the majority of my keynotes are done through family
services where I speak to troubled teens or to children who are victims of
domestic violence with their parents.
Jubilee: What led you to the idea of having the ice cream parlor?
Roxanne Shantè: Basically, I grew up a troubled youth; I was in foster care
and in group homes. I was one of those children who may have been
considered troubled though I never needed to pursue any other
employment because I started making records at the age of 14. I noticed
that once a child has had any type of run in with the law it was hard for
them to find employment. I also noticed that I was seeing so many adults
and other nationalities taking the jobs that would normally be allotted for
our teens and I was wondering, “where are all of the teens?”
One of the pre-requisites for even working in my parlor is that you have to
have had negative police contact- so in other words, you can’t get a job
there unless you have a record. I had one young man come in to fill out his
application and I noticed that he had a little difficulty with it so when it came
to the question: have you ever been arrested? he looked like- if I circle yes,
then there’s gonna be a problem. So I asked, “what’s the matter?” and he
said, “I don’t know what to put here.” So I asked, “well, have you ever been
arrested?” and he said, “yes.” Then I said, “well, you better circle it if you
want this job!” And he happens to be one of my best employees and is
what we consider to be a junior owner. I don’t open [the ice cream parlor]
up for my own financial gain, I open them up for [the kids] to become
entrepreneurs. Of the kids who are hired, by the time they turn 21, they own
the parlor.
Jubilee: That’s awesome! Speaking of youth, I heard that budding actress
KeKe Palmer will be portraying you in the upcoming film The Vapors. How
involved have you been in that project?
Roxanne Shantè: Yes. Keke Palmer will be portraying Roxanne Shante in
her early years and I think that she is the perfect candidate. I had the
pleasure of having lunch with her and her mom and we shared some
stories and I felt that she could really feel the character and it would turn
out to be a wonderful project. The director, [Furqaan Clover] is a very
talented director, he did Wendy Williams’ project and a few other projects,
so there’s quite a few good things coming out of [the film]- even the
interaction between myself and The Juice Crew members that we may not
have had over the years as a collective. I’ve always had wonderful one on
one relationships with all of my brothers, but they didn’t necessarily have
those same wonderful relationships with each other. But this has definitely
brought everything together.
Jubilee: Can you talk to us about your faith and how it has shaped you into
the person you are today?
Roxanne Shantè: I’ve always had a strong belief in God. My relationship
with my Creator is a wonderful one. I don’t attend an institution or need that
to reinforce how good my God is to me. It shows in my everyday life, it
shows in my triumphs in life after hip hop as compared to others who
chose to worship other things besides God. Not to find fault in them or to
judge them in any way, but my relationship with the Creator has been
wonderful. I grew up as an abused child, I went through a lot and the whole
time, never once did I feel like I wasn’t gonna make it through.
I have two sons, one from birth and one from relationship and they have
been exposed to so much growing up in hip hop. Their dad was deceased
when they were very young and it could have only been God who seen us
through them becoming college graduates and seeing me through
becoming a college graduate as well. And my daughter who was born 1
pound and 15 ounces, people said she was gonna have cerebral palsy
and she was gonna be legally blind, but now at 12 years old, to see her as
a child prodigy (she plays piano with Alicia Keys) is phenomenal. I’m not a
religious fanatic; I’m just a firm believer that I am truly blessed.
Jubilee: What path led you to obtaining your doctorate in psychology?
Roxanne Shantè: I finally got to the point in hip hop where I felt that it was
going in a different direction than I wanted to go in. Where it was no longer
focused on the talent, but focused on how you look or are marketable and I
no longer wanted to participate in it. So I asked God to please order my
steps and when I looked up, I was in front of a nail parlor and Marymount
University and I just knew God did not have doing nails in the plan for me
(laughing).
Jubilee: As a pioneer in hip hop, how are you feeling about the hip hop as
far as female emcees are concerned?
Roxanne Shantè: The content in hip hop as far as female emcees are
concerned makes me very sad. I feel like all of the battles that I participated
in and all of the times that I had to fight for the mic in order for people to
even acknowledge female emcees and for it to turn out that the most
important female entity in hip hope is a video chick is disgusting to me. I’m
not saying that anything is wrong with being a video chick, but it’s a big
difference between a video model because what takes place afterwards is
what separates the chick from the model. In the end, I feel blessed that I
left when I left because I left with a legendary status that will not be
tarnished. I like being a legend and I won’t change that for anybody- there
won’t be any Roxanne Shantè making an album. I wouldn’t change that for
anything, not even to prove that women are very talented. Hopefully, there
will come a time that a female emcee will come out and not just be
compared to me, but maybe even be considered the next me. I would
definitely pass the torch, but until that time, I guess it just stays where it is.
Jubilee: How involved are you in mentoring new artists?
Roxanne Shantè: When it comes to mentoring new artists, I don’t really
influence or encourage them going into the hip hop genre of music. What I
do encourage is a lot of education beforehand. I feel like they need to be
well-educated, they need to understand contracts, publishing, and what
their writers and mechanics are. So, it’s fine if you got hot rhythms and can
spit 16 (bars) off the top of your head but in all reality, I need to know if you
can read 16 chapters, I need you to be able to quote me a hot 10 quotes, I
need you to pick up a record industry book and come to me with vocabulary
words that you may find inside of your contract and truly understand them.
Jubilee: What other exciting endeavors do you have coming up?
Roxanne Shantè: I’ve taken on my professorship at Alabama State
University starting in September (2008).
Jubilee: That’s a huge honor- I know students are going to be knocking
each other down to sign up for your course!
Roxanne Shantè: Honestly, my course (on hip hop) hasn’t even been
posted yet and it’s already filled up for the first eight semesters!
an answer to UTFOs “Roxanne, Roxanne.” After hanging up her mic and
retiring from the industry at the young age of 25, Shantè has taken life after
hip hop to a new level. We caught up with Dr. Shantè who spoke openly to
Jubilee Magazine about education, her religion, female emcees in hip hop
and why she’s “felon friendly.”
Jubilee: Can you share with us some of the positive things that you’re
doing in the community?
Roxanne Shantè: I have an ice cream parlor (Hip Hop Ices) where I only
hire troubled youth, that’s one of the aspects that I bring back to the
community. Also, I’m a court appointed special advocate for children and [I’
m a keynote speaker] - the majority of my keynotes are done through family
services where I speak to troubled teens or to children who are victims of
domestic violence with their parents.
Jubilee: What led you to the idea of having the ice cream parlor?
Roxanne Shantè: Basically, I grew up a troubled youth; I was in foster care
and in group homes. I was one of those children who may have been
considered troubled though I never needed to pursue any other
employment because I started making records at the age of 14. I noticed
that once a child has had any type of run in with the law it was hard for
them to find employment. I also noticed that I was seeing so many adults
and other nationalities taking the jobs that would normally be allotted for
our teens and I was wondering, “where are all of the teens?”
One of the pre-requisites for even working in my parlor is that you have to
have had negative police contact- so in other words, you can’t get a job
there unless you have a record. I had one young man come in to fill out his
application and I noticed that he had a little difficulty with it so when it came
to the question: have you ever been arrested? he looked like- if I circle yes,
then there’s gonna be a problem. So I asked, “what’s the matter?” and he
said, “I don’t know what to put here.” So I asked, “well, have you ever been
arrested?” and he said, “yes.” Then I said, “well, you better circle it if you
want this job!” And he happens to be one of my best employees and is
what we consider to be a junior owner. I don’t open [the ice cream parlor]
up for my own financial gain, I open them up for [the kids] to become
entrepreneurs. Of the kids who are hired, by the time they turn 21, they own
the parlor.
Jubilee: That’s awesome! Speaking of youth, I heard that budding actress
KeKe Palmer will be portraying you in the upcoming film The Vapors. How
involved have you been in that project?
Roxanne Shantè: Yes. Keke Palmer will be portraying Roxanne Shante in
her early years and I think that she is the perfect candidate. I had the
pleasure of having lunch with her and her mom and we shared some
stories and I felt that she could really feel the character and it would turn
out to be a wonderful project. The director, [Furqaan Clover] is a very
talented director, he did Wendy Williams’ project and a few other projects,
so there’s quite a few good things coming out of [the film]- even the
interaction between myself and The Juice Crew members that we may not
have had over the years as a collective. I’ve always had wonderful one on
one relationships with all of my brothers, but they didn’t necessarily have
those same wonderful relationships with each other. But this has definitely
brought everything together.
Jubilee: Can you talk to us about your faith and how it has shaped you into
the person you are today?
Roxanne Shantè: I’ve always had a strong belief in God. My relationship
with my Creator is a wonderful one. I don’t attend an institution or need that
to reinforce how good my God is to me. It shows in my everyday life, it
shows in my triumphs in life after hip hop as compared to others who
chose to worship other things besides God. Not to find fault in them or to
judge them in any way, but my relationship with the Creator has been
wonderful. I grew up as an abused child, I went through a lot and the whole
time, never once did I feel like I wasn’t gonna make it through.
I have two sons, one from birth and one from relationship and they have
been exposed to so much growing up in hip hop. Their dad was deceased
when they were very young and it could have only been God who seen us
through them becoming college graduates and seeing me through
becoming a college graduate as well. And my daughter who was born 1
pound and 15 ounces, people said she was gonna have cerebral palsy
and she was gonna be legally blind, but now at 12 years old, to see her as
a child prodigy (she plays piano with Alicia Keys) is phenomenal. I’m not a
religious fanatic; I’m just a firm believer that I am truly blessed.
Jubilee: What path led you to obtaining your doctorate in psychology?
Roxanne Shantè: I finally got to the point in hip hop where I felt that it was
going in a different direction than I wanted to go in. Where it was no longer
focused on the talent, but focused on how you look or are marketable and I
no longer wanted to participate in it. So I asked God to please order my
steps and when I looked up, I was in front of a nail parlor and Marymount
University and I just knew God did not have doing nails in the plan for me
(laughing).
Jubilee: As a pioneer in hip hop, how are you feeling about the hip hop as
far as female emcees are concerned?
Roxanne Shantè: The content in hip hop as far as female emcees are
concerned makes me very sad. I feel like all of the battles that I participated
in and all of the times that I had to fight for the mic in order for people to
even acknowledge female emcees and for it to turn out that the most
important female entity in hip hope is a video chick is disgusting to me. I’m
not saying that anything is wrong with being a video chick, but it’s a big
difference between a video model because what takes place afterwards is
what separates the chick from the model. In the end, I feel blessed that I
left when I left because I left with a legendary status that will not be
tarnished. I like being a legend and I won’t change that for anybody- there
won’t be any Roxanne Shantè making an album. I wouldn’t change that for
anything, not even to prove that women are very talented. Hopefully, there
will come a time that a female emcee will come out and not just be
compared to me, but maybe even be considered the next me. I would
definitely pass the torch, but until that time, I guess it just stays where it is.
Jubilee: How involved are you in mentoring new artists?
Roxanne Shantè: When it comes to mentoring new artists, I don’t really
influence or encourage them going into the hip hop genre of music. What I
do encourage is a lot of education beforehand. I feel like they need to be
well-educated, they need to understand contracts, publishing, and what
their writers and mechanics are. So, it’s fine if you got hot rhythms and can
spit 16 (bars) off the top of your head but in all reality, I need to know if you
can read 16 chapters, I need you to be able to quote me a hot 10 quotes, I
need you to pick up a record industry book and come to me with vocabulary
words that you may find inside of your contract and truly understand them.
Jubilee: What other exciting endeavors do you have coming up?
Roxanne Shantè: I’ve taken on my professorship at Alabama State
University starting in September (2008).
Jubilee: That’s a huge honor- I know students are going to be knocking
each other down to sign up for your course!
Roxanne Shantè: Honestly, my course (on hip hop) hasn’t even been
posted yet and it’s already filled up for the first eight semesters!
Check out UTFO's 1984 classic: "Roxanne,
Roxanne", the song that fueled Roxanne
Shante to write “Roxanne’s Revenge”.
Roxanne", the song that fueled Roxanne
Shante to write “Roxanne’s Revenge”.