Shanté's career began at the age of 14 when she encountered influential gangster world of record producer Marley Marl, radio DJ Mr. Magic, and Tyrone Williams talking about how UTFO had canceled its appearance at a show that it was promoting. Shanté offered to record an answer to UTFO's recent hit "Roxanne, Roxanne," which was about a woman named who rejects the members of the group. The men agreed and the result was "Roxanne's Revenge," a... Read more
Shanté's career began at the age of 14 when she encountered influential gangster world of record producer Marley Marl, radio DJ Mr. Magic, and Tyrone Williams talking about how UTFO had canceled its appearance at a show that it was promoting. Shanté offered to record an answer to UTFO's recent hit "Roxanne, Roxanne," which was about a woman named who rejects the members of the group. The men agreed and the result was "Roxanne's Revenge," a confrontational and profane song in which Shanté assumed the role of Roxanne, dissing UTFO over a Marley Marl-produced instrumental (The official UTFO response to the its own song was “The Real Roxanne,” with artist Adelaida Martinez assuming the role of Roxanne and eventually recording under the same stage name as the song title). Shanté's version and the Real Roxanne's version sparked the Roxanne Wars and made Shanté a hip-hop star in the process. The single would go on to sell over 250,000 copies in the New York area alone. One of the founding members of the Juice Crew, most of her tracks would be produced by Marley Marl, with the exception of several songs on Shanté's last album, 1992's The Bitch Is Back.
At the age of 25, Shanté retired from the recording industry to become a psychologist. She continues to make occasional guest appearances and live performances, as well as mentor young female hip-hop artists. She did the latter by making a cameo appearance on VH1's hip hop reality show Ms. Rap Supreme and gave rap-battle strategies to the finalists of that show. She also took part in a series of Sprite commercials during the late 1990s. She is married and has one son and one daughter, the first child of which was born when she was 14. She earned a PhD in psychology from Cornell University paid for by her record label via an unusual contract clause—and has a practice in Queens. She is a vegan and owns Hip-Hop Ices ice cream parlor in Queens. Show less
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