Mic Check: The Queen of Rap

Story.

Okay, so the other day, I'm watching Michigan football with some new friends. This is California, but we are all from Michigan. So we're talking about the home state, the Great Lakes, the car culture. We talk about one of my favorite films, 8 Mile, with Eminem. Detroit Dark Club, the crowd is roaring. DJ Poor kid. The tracks M M. the mic and his wrapper for his life. enemies, all the shaganders love. So for the fellas, I spit my favorite Eminem line where M starts clowning on his bully. He says

But I know something about you. You went to Cranbrook. That's a private school. What's the matter, dog? You embarrassed? Post be a gangster, but your real name's Clarence. And Clarence lives at home with both parents. And Clarence's parents have a real nice marriage. Crack it up. But they all just kinda look sheepish. That's what I discover. Everybody here actually went to the private school Cranbrook. private school reunion and they parents that all their parents had a clearance parents.

I used to hate you. And there I am Bullying the bullies. Just got Because I'm triggered. Back to a time when I didn't have a voice. At least I didn't trust the voice I had. Трэнсэп Джоджмэн. МАРЧ! One question. When you're listening. The Snap Judgement. Licit language. Sensitive listeners are advised. We all know that. Everyone. Money.

Going Snappers, this story takes us back to those days, those early days of hip-hop, to win Roxanne Chante and the most personal battle that she ever fought. Back then, Roxanne Chante was shining. She grew up in Queensbridge, New York. This was the late seventies, the dawn of hip. Think turntape. Breakdancing. Battle rapping. I was young. Eight or nine? And I was like oh i'm gonna get up in the morning and i don't and just did the whole day with it.

walk through the house and just say a story about everything I see in the house. It became a second language for me. I started rhyming about everything that we was playing with, jumping hop sky, doing rope. I remember leaving out the house and going to the store and I was rhyming about everything that I had to purchase from the store. And one of my girlfriends She was saying.

Now talk about the ice cream. She's throwing things at me and I'm just rhyming them and then she started beating on the wall. And I would rhyme to it. And so before you knew it, every Everybody wants to do that. She was like, shot. Like she was going around telling everybody and they were like,

You'd see them come with all of their friends and I'm sitting there playing Skelly. I'm on the ground shooting tops and they'd be like somebody's here and they wanna bat them. And be like what they want to. Potato chips, ice cream. Stand up and then I'd rhyme about whatever it is they had on. Like you came here with your blue shirt, it got dirty. get hurt I'm about and Queensbridge was becoming famous for its rap battles. Shantae won every time. And she was so good that by age eleven.

Battle rapping became her side hustle. I just started doing them all over the city. We started finding them for$250,$100,$1,500. So I'm thinking great, you know, because we coming from a fixed income. I could use that money so I can go and get school clothes and take care of my sisters and stuff like that.

Years later my mom was going through a lot at the time and I wound up in the foster care system. and I was in Bushwood Girls Group home and then I was in Hegemon. I had came home from Hegeman and was helping my mom with my sisters. I was fourteen. And I remember The first thing I wanted to do was laundry. So I'm taking the laundry down the laundromat and it just so happens that DJ Molly Maul, one of the greatest hip hop producers, lived right above the laundry.

And he's calling me out the window and he's like Yo, yo, and I look up and I'm like, what? And he's like, listen, come to my house because I need you to do a freestyle. Because I heard you good. I said, You didn't hear I was good. And I said, so you work at the Sergio Valente jean factory. Let me get some jeans for me and my sister. And he was like, okay, what kind? I was like, Western.

And he said, all right. And so I said, okay, I'll see you in a few minutes. Let me just put these clothes in the laundry mask. So I put them in there and I only had enough for ten minutes. Let me dry it. I ran up to his house. I only got 10 minutes. He's like, okay, this is the beat I'm gonna play. And he played the big beat. That was the underlining beat for Roxanne Roxanne.

So there was this song on the radio called Roxanne, Roxanne that was done by UTFO. And it was about a girl named Roxanne who didn't want to talk to them and thought she was too good for them and stood them up. So I said, okay, I'm gonna be Roxanne from UTFO Song. And that was the moment that Shantae Gooden became Roxanne Shantae. And he put the beat on it.

And then I started off. Well my name is Roxanne. Don't you know I just like whole rock a party and I do this show. I said I'm a T three guys and you know it's true. Let me tell you anecdote. I met this dude with the name of a hat. I didn't even walk away. I didn't give him a rap. And then I went back downstairs and did my laundry and didn't think about it anymore. And then about one o'clock in the morning, the phone ring.

So I'm really feeling like I'm walking on eggshells with my mom and I don't want a lot of noise. So I run and hurry up and get to the phone and as soon as I pick it up I hear Trina saying, Yo, you wanna ring and I hang up. And then she calls back again. I'm like, stop, you're gonna get me in trouble. And she was like, You're on the radio. Your song is on the radio. And I remember unplugging the phone from the wall and sliding down the wall.

And I get emotional because I think that has a lot to do with How I never felt like a star. I had just came back from a group home. And that was because I was out and I was boosting and I was hustling and I'm trying to take care of my family and I was just a child. And I didn't want them to take me again. I didn't want to draw attention. So now I sit there and I say, Man, wonder what I sound like on the radio. And then I just went back in the room and laid down.

Now I'm going to school and the song becomes super popular. Every time you turn the radio on. A manager comes along and says, Hey, listen, I'm gonna manage your career and we're going out on tour. And my mom, they bought her a washing machine. Some linoleum. They gave her a hundred and fifty dollars for every week that I was on tour. And they make millions. She has a extra hundred and fifty dollars a week. She doesn't have to worry about

And because she didn't know anything about the music industry or the music business, she thought that that was okay. And I don't fault her for that. I was never angry with her for that. She just didn't know. Now I'm on tour for a year. No home address, no nothing. I'm going in clubs and I'm performing at two, three o'clock in the morning. Everybody's around you sniffing cocaine.

So now I'm traveling with all these men. The managers is like my father figure. Everybody else is my brothers. So we're a dysfunctional family. We're on the road. We fight together. We eat together but we travel together and we love each other. That's all I knew. When they told me that I do a show and I'm supposed to split the money with everybody, I believed them.

Roxanne comes back to New York. She's 15 now, and her manager tells her there's a music convention where they're holding a battle rap contest with the low stakes title, The MC Battle for World Supremacy. You were gonna be the best battle rapper in the world. The entire world was gonna know you were gonna get a belt, you were gonna have bragging rights for a whole entire year, and you were gonna get a check.

I just always knew I would win. Because I know that no matter what, I got this battle thing down pat. Roxanne had a very specific vision of how she'd use the money she won. I just wanted a steak from Beefsteak Charlie's. Like there was a restaurant downstairs called Beefsteak Charlie's. I wanted to have me a filet mignon and I was gonna get me a window seat

and I was gonna eat my steak and my baked potato and then I was gonna take myself downtown to Delancey Street. I was gonna buy the girls their coats and stuff and then I was gonna go home. And that was my whole plan. So the battle was at the Marriott Marquee and I remember seeing people pulling up in their limos, and when I got there It was almost like going into Grand Central Station back in the day when they used to have the board and you could see when the trains were coming in and out.

The board listed the tournament draw, the people she'd have to beat to become champion. And when I looked up on the board, it was all of these MCs. And these were MCs that I like, MCs that I know and meet. This is gonna be a long day. The event was held in a banquet hall with a stage. The room was packed. Super rocket Mr. Magic. He was the host. He had a radio show on WBLS called The Rap Attack. Each time he introduced me he was like and she's here to dust off another one. We got her right here.

Fly girl Roxanne Chate. And I started rhyming. It was a blur. Roxanne can't even remember who she faced in the first battle. The judges scored on a scale of 1 to 10. Highest total moves on. Roxanne got her first win with a bunch of tens. But soon she noticed something strange. Every time I would sit down, they'd be like, okay, you ready? And I just felt like it was just a kind.

forth back and forth back and forth. Roxanne was called up to battle one rapper after another with no breaks. I was wondering if they were going to battle each other, but everyone was there to battle me. I was saying to myself, if all of them have rhymes about me, then they must have known that this was gonna take place and no one never told me.

So seven MCs in, we're already a few hours into this. I'm still going. Some of the MCs quit in the middle of the rhymes. They would get so upset. Losing to me was career-ending because You can't be this big, strong male rapper and lose to a little girl.

Our next two contestants, um, they happen to be both good friends of mine. So let's hear for Fruquan from Stessosonic. Come on, give it up. I see Fruquan come from the other side of the state. So I look at him and he looks at me. He grabs the mic. One two one two. And of course he's coming in like I'm gonna win this, you not gonna beat me. I see that he's angry and I know that he's a really good em C.

It's not gonna be easy. My favorite and yours, put your hands together, welcome the Queen of Rocks, Friga Roxanne Sante. One, two. devastating every word that I speak and you see this guy here So when he first starts rhyming tops the head Zisma Superior Scores to add on your name as well. And don't you know it's My biggest the way that Don't you know?

He just said everything he could say. He was going to let the anger of his words try to say all the things that he thought were very hurtful and hateful. I give you credit for Riber rocks in You can't really rap You not even the drunk of the town. But what he did not know was that I had been hearing hurtful and hateful stuff my entire life. So I was ready for it. But the catch was he wasn't ready for his own words to be turned around on him.

And then when it was my turn, I remember using his lyrics against him. What? Wait a minute. Let's get this. See you try to hang with that. You know what you can do? You can kiss my back. And I remembered the whole crowd. Going crazy. Once again put your hands together for Fuquan and Roxanne Shantae. And then I remember him breathing so heavy and I was saying to myself, if we wasn't at the Marriott, he would have fought me. I knew that I literally had one.

When Snap Judgment returns, Roxanne Shante has just one more battle to go, to be crowned the best battle rapper in the world.

Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the mic check episode. When last we left. Fifteen-year-old Roxanne Shante from Queensbridge, New York, had just outwrapped each and every opponent put before her in the MC battle for world supremacy. But The big pride. Okay. That was kind of good. I like that. That knocked the cobwebs out. Shantae moves on to the finals.

And for some reason this whole energy came over me for the last battle because I'm like, now the world is going to know. Not just Queensbridge is gonna know that I'm the best. Not just New York is gonna know the best. The entire world is gonna know Finally, it is the chief rocker himself Busy B. He's the last person for me to battle. If you grew up in New York, anytime between the seven and

And the 80s, and you were going to park parties, or you were going to park jams, or you were going to clubs, or you were going to after-hour spots, then you knew who Busy B was. And people loved And Busy B knew that he was that MC. He walk in with that pride and he walk in with his chest out. And he'd had this whole entourage with him. And yeah, baby, that's how it's gonna be. Like he talked like a pimp.

A party MC can be one of your most difficult opponents because they know what the crowd wants. They know what to say to make the crowd get the ooh and the ah. So even if their rhymes are not as good, they know how to make the crowd respond. And I'm still looking at my watch. I had a little white leather Timex that I valued a lot.

And I was saying like okay I could still, still catch the store. I'm thinking about how I gotta go buy these coats and then I don't wanna make sure that these coats don't get stolen when I get on the train. So now Busy B is getting ready. So I see him fixing his jacket and everything. You see, let me talk to you for a second over here on the side. I said. Okay. 'Cause he's the first one who wanted to talk to me beforehand.

Nobody else even asked me how I was doing, how did I feel? How did I get there? Be was smooth as a motherfucker. He say, Hey, listen, come on over here. Let me talk to you for a second. You want something to eat? You good? You want this? Yeah, they've been wearing ya out all day. And I'm listening to him talking to me and I'm saying, I'm getting ready to get you.

So then he says, Listen, now you know this last round here, I'm thinking we shouldn't go too hard on each other. Don't do me like how you did the other ones. Cause I'm still busy B. So when I leave here, I still gotta be. And then he was like, Do you do cocaine? I said, No, I don't. He's like, oh okay, well hold on, I do. So he took him a little sniff. He said, Now listen, now that we ready

I'm just gonna let you know. I'm gonna be easy on ya. I ain't gonna be hard on you'cause you're a little girl. So that's what we're gonna do when we go out here, we're gonna be easy on each other. I said, okay. And I'm feeling comfortable because I'm like, I don't want to embarrass you like I did the rest because you spoke to me and you had some kind words and you cared.

So Busy B goes out and they get ready to play the beat and one, two, one, two, three. Busy B goes out there and he does his ride. And they were standing in line to see who Now listening. He's out here really going hard at me. And then I'm saying well maybe that was just him having to get that off. But then the next time he comes out and he says some even harsher things.

And when he says them, he's still looking at me winking, got this, then we got yeah, yeah, we got this. And then I realized what he was doing. So then I just went in. And I was like, you know, talking about how backstage you said we wasn't gonna do all of this, and I put all of that in my rhyme. Okay. So the crowd is listening like, oh you tried to set her up. A hop deck in a one, two, three. Your round was two, I think. What's funny? The most money.

I don't know who is getting past. I don't know who is getting past. We all know, yes, I think it's true. But busy, how many stars? Did out my face. Master voice. When they live the music, the music is sweet. Wanna hear who's gonna be a little bit more. You're not MC. Never had a Had it like You always on down, you wanna be like me. What? I can't do that now. That's right. You wanna play a game? Know who got the Jews. And the next thing I knew it's the end of the rhymes.

And now the crowd is going crazy. So now we're waiting for the judges and I see the judges over there, they're talking and they're getting their cards together and they shuffling their cards around and everything else. They give his scores. Nine, eighteen, twenty-seven, forty seven points for the Chief Rocker. All right. They didn't give him a perfect score. So then when it came to me, they turned the cards over. We got a eight. Bambada, we got a ten.

Wiz Kid, we got a ten. Said okay. Roxanne was so far ahead, she didn't even need a high score to win. And then judge number three, he turned it over. And it was a four. The winner, Chief Rocker, Busy B. Busy B wins. And the crowd went crazy. They started booing. And for the first time, I felt not like a super MC, but I felt like a little girl. And I remember looking at the number and I dropped my head. I just couldn't believe it.

I thought that if you were the best, all you had to do was be the best, and all you had to do was be good at what you were. Because of that day is when I started to question everything. Like, am I really supposed to split my money with y'all? Nothing seems real to me in this hip hop thing now. I knew that I was being taken advantage of. I never said it out my mouth before.

I guess that's why it was so hard to say it just now. Before I used to always say they took advantage of my mom. But no, they took advantage of me. That was my first heartbreak. That day I fell out of love with hip hop.

That night I walk From the Marriott Marquis all the way down to 34th Street. I always felt that whatever feeling, whatever pain, I could walk it away. And I walked down to the Empire State Building. I remember looking up at the Empire State Building. Building and I remember saying to myself, and it was the strangest thought, I wonder who likes the Empire State Building. And then got on the train and then went back home.

And they were like, Did you win? What happened? I said, I won, but they didn't pay me. And I left it at that. After that, I just started living life. I did some unthinkables, I did some unimaginables, but I never did any unforgivables. I didn't walk away angry, I walked away hurt. Did I do other things? Yeah. Shout out to the IBW workers, local three, electrical workers union. I learned how to work with that. I worked at the Gramacy Park Hotel. I became a mom.

I never felt like I died. And that could have been the end of her showbiz story. But decades later, in her forties, she stumbled into a gig hosting parties, telling a few jokes, warming up the crowd, getting people changing. She was always good with crowds, quick on her feet, and at one of these parties, two movie producers who knew about her past approached her with an incredible offer.

They wanted to make a movie about her life. Sounds like a setup, right? But From a year of us meeting, We had a movie. And I remember sitting in the car and riding to the movie and seeing people outside in a storm waiting to get in to see my movie. I watched it with everyone else. And that was my way of like hearing my record with everyone else.

After the movie release, the respect from rappers, the thing Roxanne had always been missing, started to pour in. ilmatic. He put in a documentary that like if it wasn't for Roxy and Shantae it wouldn't be no me to hear Killer Mike say things and to hear Eminem say things and to hear Missy Elliott, Zissy Snoop say things, they're saying that they owe a lot to me. to see everybody say all of these things, it was so incredible.

Everything was summed up for me when I saw judge number three, 35 years old. This was the judge who gave Roxanne that photographs. The score that lost her, the MC Battle for World Supremacy. I was with my husband for I just spotted him out of nowhere. Like literally my husband was like

And then I'm like, yeah, leave it alone. And he was like, no. He said because that changed your whole So we see Judge number three and we're on a red carpet and he pulls him to the side and before my husband could say anything and before I could say anything, Judge number three looks at me and he says. So proud of you. I see everything that you've done and I am so happy for you. And then here go my husband cutting in. But why'd you do it? But he was like

Hip hop had just started being taken seriously. As a genre of music. They just started getting out of the parks. They just started getting major record deals. And he said The best in the world, with everybody looking that day, couldn't be a fifteen year old girl. Because they'd have never taken hip hop seriously. I hugged him and I said okay. I said, okay. He said, and I just want to let you know that you won that day. And I said, I know.

A huge big But now Grammy winning for Rocks, Roxanne Shantae. Yeah. And social media on our show notes. Roxanne hosts a daily video. Serious XM channel forty three. The original score for that piece was by Lauren Newsom. The editor was Nancy Lopez. It was produced by Justin Cremon. Now if you missed even a moment, welcome dear friends to the world of snap storytelling. No a tiny plot All of it on podcast platform. KQED in San Francisco. Orbiting Hall of Justice. It rhymes the best. Porque él...

No snare studio. Commission and on Team Snap. The union represented producers, artists, editors, and engineers are members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians. Workers of America, AFL, CIL, local fifty. There's Nancy Lopez. Pat Miss C B. Miller and a suspicion. Winsel Gorial, John Fassi. Flow wildly. Walsh, Rissa Dodd, David. is not the move.

own business. Watching a football game and some idiot start shouting at you about where you at the high Still, not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is Are