Musicians often hide messages (or include them
pretty obviously) in their lyrics, messages aimed at fellow performers. This is
perhaps most widespread among rappers - diss tracks add a lot of extra spice to
hip-hop, and they are very popular among fans. Some rappers are especially
prolific when it comes to diss tracks. Eminem's latest album is filled with provocative lyrics
mentioning everyone from his ex-wife Kim to Machine Gun Kelly (again).
While diss tracks are not exclusive to
hip-hop, they are far less widespread in other genres. And the biggest ever
exchange happened early in hip-hop history, with the release of a UTFO track
called "Roxanne Roxanne".
Roxanne, Roxanne…
UTFO released a single "Hanging Out" which was
not very successful. On its B-side, in turn, there was a track about a girl
refusing all the advances of the rappers, called "Roxanne, Roxanne", that was
moderately successful. Producers Tyrone "Fly Ty" Williams, Marley Marl, and DJ
Mr. Magic invited the band to their radio show which they later cancelled -
this has angered the three, of course. Their discussion was overheard by Lolita
Shanté Gooden, 14 at the time, who proposed to record an answer track to get
back at the band. The three agreed - thus "Roxanne's Revenge" was born, a track
freestyled by Shanté - who took the alias Roxanne Shanté - recorded in a single
take using the beats of the UTFO track. And it was filled with profanities addressed to the needy
guy. The track was a huge success, selling more than 250,000 copies in the New
York area alone.
And this is where the war began.
The Roxanne Wars
The Roxanne
Wars went down in history as perhaps the longest series of answer records
ever.
After Roxanne Shanté's response, UTFO shot
back a salvo featuring Elease Jack as The
Real Roxanne. To this, Roxanne Shanté responded with "Bite This" and "Queen
of Rox". The tracks received a lot of airplay, prompting others to get into the
game - soon, records emerged featuring Roxanne's brother, sister, parents, even
her doctor. Over a year, a total of 30 to 100 tracks were released discussing
Roxanne or her extended family - and responses to them.
Finally, it was The East Coast Crew that
called for an armistice, releasing the track "The Final Word - No More Roxanne
(Please)" in 1985 that ended the war.
Roxanne Shanté
For Roxanne Shanté, it was the start of a long
and successful career. Between 1984 and 1996, she released two studio albums
and a "Best of" compilation, and over a dozen singles. She went on an extended
hiatus by the age of 25, shifting to mentoring young female hip-hop artists.
She returned to the stage in 2008 and "Roxanne's Revenge" did, too, becoming
#42 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop". Her story even made it to the
silver screen: the movie "Roxanne Roxanne" based on her life story was first
shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, then headed to Netflix in March 2018.
