'80s SWAG


Roxanne Shanté / Roxanne's Revenge (1984)
Roxanne Shanté / Roxanne's Revenge (1984)

He said explain to me really what emcees must do[!]

More history behind the Roxanne Wars:

She made the biggest "Fuck you" statement, industry wise, as far as I'm concerned when she laid that heavy ass lawsuit against her record company, and the money she won from the case paid for ALL of her college tuitions

I loved her for that.

Good to see Kangol Kid again . Hadn´t seen him since, well , 1986 or so .

I had that Roxanne Shanté vs. Sparky D. Album that came out a bit later.
And , speaking about the Real Roxanne....that girl who became famous as " The Real Roxanne" , produced by UTFO and Full Force, was actually the second Real Roxanne ( or third, when you count Shante and the other Real Roxanne). They recorded a track with someone they made the Real Roxanne, and later the girl we all know as The Real Roxanne was chosen to become , well....the Real Roxanne. It sounds a bit complicated, I know .
I never knew that these songs were soooo successful back then. I mean, I had them on tape and loved them but I was too young to give a damn about the Billboard top ten.
Shante is now a psychologist.

There were THREE Roxanne's?
I know of Shante and the Real Roxanne that has long wavy/curly brownish/blondish hair that recorded the song "The Real Roxanne" that sampled UTFO's Roxanne Roxanne.

Harlepolis said:

Man this song is HEEEEAAAT!!!

I was instantly turned into the song as soon as she said "let me tell you and explain them all to you..."

The way there is no chorus just nothing but FLOW!!!

1sexymf said:

Yes but the third one ( who was actually number 2) got replaced by the one we all know as Real Roxanne. They did a cut in the studio and then replaced her with the Real Roxanne,and the predecessor to the Real Roxanne was, of course, also called the Real Roxanne. I think there were also two different DJ SPinderellas in SaltNPepa, right ? And there were also two different people called Sweet Tee.

KoolEaze said:

The first "Real Roxanne" was a young lady by the name of Elease, which of whom is the voice of "Roxanne" on the track "The Real Roxanne."



For whatever reasons, her affiliation with UTFO ended, and they opted for a second "Real Roxanne (Adelaida Martinez)," which we came to know as the Real Roxanne.



Confusing, I know.

1sexymf said:

Her name was Adelaida Martinez.

IdentityCrisis said:

Yes, that´s the one. Adelaida Martinez was the "second" Real Roxanne.
Reminds me a bit of DC Comics where the identity of Flash, Green Lantern and other heroes would change over the decades.

How come everytime we wanna talk about Roxanne Shante everybody gotta bring these no-names in?
[Edited 8/28/08 10:55am]

I like the "Street Version" of this song where Roxanne was freestylin' over the original UTFO beat.

paisleypark4 said:

Woooahhhh come on, easy now, relax and show some respect ...respect for the elderly generation, young man ! Those people you call "no names" ( and I guess you are referring to the Real Roxanne, UTFO and their whole extended family) were dope back then. I remember listening to their music in the years between 1984 and 1989, and they were definitely not no names, even The Real Roxanne had her fans,some of her work with Hitman Howie Tee was quite successful and all in all it was a good time !

By the way, I read a great and insightful interview with MC Shan the other day.I think I will start a thread about him real soon, I miss those old school NYC Hip Hop years.
By the way, I do agree with you in some way....Roxanne Shante from the Juice Crew Posse is indeed of a totally different calibre than most of her peers except for maybe Sparky D.But hey, those individuals from the Full Force Family were also cool and had their own thing going on. .

Harlepolis said:

That was a sweet move on her part.

KoolEaze said:

Ok u got me there. I didnt really get the hip-hop scene at that time and wasnt into rap too much when I was little so I missed out on the history of early East Coast rap, and I'm picking up along the way. I was just saying I always hear about UTFO and Real Roxanne and then the posts just goes off course. I know that she wouldnt have even been Shante without UTFO crew but I don't really know anything about these other fake Roxannes with their one hits in the game.

I asked my dad has he spoken to Shan and he said not in a year. I hope that he is ok. If I hear something persoanlly from my dad's side of the family you guys will be the first to know! Thanks for upgrading me

...
[Edited 8/28/08 14:33pm]

KoolEaze said:

The whole Roxanne Wars was its own beast back in 1984-85. There were scores of tracks made by a litany of up-and-coming artists with "Roxanne" in the title. It was like the "Crank Dat [Spider Man, Batman, Lion King, Peter Pan, etc.]" of its day. Very viral.

For instance (pulled from Wikipedia) the various Roxanne-themed answer records:

* "Sparky's Turn (Roxanne, You're Through)" by Sparky D, a feisty woman who criticizes Roxanne (Shanté, in particular) for being disrespectful toward UTFO, and being too young, both for them to pursue, and to be an MC. Even though the record defended UTFO, they were reported to not be appreciative of this additional unauthorized response. It was after this that the saga really took off.

* "Roxanne's Doctor - The Real Man" by Dr. Freshh, who also insulted Roxanne as having no class.

* "Do the Roxanne" by Dr. Rocx & Co., which created a dance based on Roxanne. (Referred to Shanté's cracky wacky voice, as Sparky D had described it in her record). A rare instance of a record in the series not aimed at dissing someone.

* "The Parents of Roxanne" by Gigolo Tony & Lacey Lace, which answered both UTFO and Sparky D. It drew references from both "Roxanne's Revenge" and "The Real Roxanne" as if both represented the true Roxanne.

* "Yo, My Little Sister (Roxanne's Brothers)" by Crush Groove (no relation to Krush Groove), which answered UTFO, Sparky D, and Dr. Freshh.

* "Rappin' Roxy: Roxanne's Sister" by D.W. and the Party Crew featuring Roxy .

* Another record answered Roxanne Shanté by a young woman calling herself "Little Ice," who told her to "make up her mind" if she wanted a man or not.


...and my favorite ---> * "Roxanne's a Man (The Untold Story — Final Chapter)" by Ralph Rolle *_____*, which claimed that Roxanne was actually a man who had been sodomized in prison, and then having "lost his manhood" turned himself into a woman after his release; and insulted UTFO for not realizing this.

Mara said:

those were the days !



I still remember all those songs,especially the one by Ralph Rolle. Back then ,there would be a zillion answer records and second parts and remixes once a song became famous. And many jumped on the bandwaggon.Similar phenoma happened also with The Bridge / South Bronx beef.Some other cats supported either MC Shan or KRS in their songs.And there were tons of jams that bit off Planet Rock,Planet Patrol and all that Jonzun Crew stuff.
Good times,when Hip Hop was actually fun and creative !

I've got about 20 of those Roxanne answer records, and still waiting to see if the collection ever expands to the rumored 100+.
[Edited 8/28/08 15:24pm]

Yes their were infact two Spinderella the first one being Latoya Hanson-Greene and the second one being the more familiar one Deidre Roper. their were in fact two different Sweet Tee's as well Tanya Winley who in 1979 released the first female hip hop record titled Vicious rap she rapped as Sweet T. and then Toi Jackson who in 1986 debut alongside her DJ Jazzy Joyce with the single It's My beat on a side note in the 90's Toi "Sweet Tee" Jackson changed her name to Suga not to be confused with west coast female rapper and E40's sister Suga T.. Sweet Tee(Toi) also rapper with a female rap group The Glamour Girls and appeared on Davy DMX's classic One for the treble before going solo.Sweet Tee(Toi) was also affiliated with Hurby "Luv bug" Azor's Idol Makers Posse the same camp that brought you Salt N'Pepa,Kid N'Play,Dana Dane,Antoinette, & Kwame.
[Edited 8/28/08 23:45pm]

KoolEaze said:

.....Aaaaawwww S**T! You know you're old skool when you can pull Howie Tee's name out your ass

IdentityCrisis said:

Ouch, my head hurts now, lol.
I never knew that.

Ottensen said:

Co-sign!
Howie's Teed off used to be my jam!

1sexymf said:

"Howie's Teed off" was my jam too!!! performed by this woman
Adelaida Joanne Martinez The 3rd final and official Real Roxanne

Not to take anything from the reason of this thread we all know who The Real Queen Of Rox is....in the infamous words of the OG "Big mama" "I gave birth to most of them emcees...."

















along with those she gave birth to...

BTW, I love this track by The Real Roxanne "Bang Zoom (Let's Go Go)":

boriquateddy said:

This is a great picture. Thanks.

I wish I could ID everyone in it.

Mara said:

Top left to right: Sparky D.,Sweet Tee,Yvette Money, and Ms.Melodie
Second middle 3 are Millie Jackson,MC Peaches, and Sparky D. dancer #2
Bottom row are Sparky D. dancer #1, Roxanne Shante,M.C.Lyte, and Synquis of Finesse & Synquis

boriquateddy said:

I thought that was Ms Melody up there!

Thanks so much for the ID.

Mara said:

LOL...yeap thats her flippin the bird...this pic was taken in May of 88.