The first time I’ve ever heard of Roxanne Shante was in 1985 in 8th-grade at my boarding-school Pickering College in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. At that time, I was listening to very few rap artists (such as Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & The Furious Five; Sugar Hill Gang, to name a few) and had only limited rap records/tapes in my personal music collection, considering that the Rap genre was practically unheard of in Canada where it also was very difficult to find any rap music at any Canadian record shop. Then one day, in early 1985, there was this Bahamian kid (who lived in the dorm-room next to mine) who played me his NYC underground rap mix-tape which he’d brought over from his trip to NYC …… and ….. OH MY GOD ….. the first track ….. blew my mind …..Roxanne Shante’s “Queen Of Rox”  ….. harder-edge ….. drum machine beat/groove, scratches, one-shot stab hits and edgy rap vocals ….. slightly more hardcorish than any other rap I’ve ever heard before. When school was over for the Summer, I went back to England and ordered all of Shante’s 12-inch records from local record shop. Less two weeks later ….. I went to pick up my imported Shante records …..  the guy handed me the stuff with a nice surprise on top: Shante’s spanking-new latest release (UK release, mind you!) Bite This. The single so new …… that even Streetsounds (Electro-7 mix compilation) haven’t picked it up yet!

Here’s what I need you to do:

1. First, play this youtube video of Roxanne Shante’s “Queen Of Rox“
2. And then play Bite This tracks (Flash player below) and at the same time read her wiki and the next article The Story Behind The Story Behind The Roxanne Shante Story.

• Roxanne Shante is known for improvising her rap lyrics on the spot …. recorded in one-takes.

Roxanne Shante – “Bite This” (Extended)…

Artist: Roxanne Shante
Title: Bite This (Extended)
Year: 1985
Label: 10 Records
Beat Producer & Shante’s close friend: Marley Marl
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Roxanne Shante – “Bite This” (mp3)

Roxanne Shante – “Dub This”…

Artist: Roxanne Shante
Title: Dub This
Year: 1985
Label: 10 Records
Beat Producer & Shante’s close friend: Marley Marl
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Roxanne Shante – “Dub This” (mp3)

Links…

• Roxanne Shante’s MySpace link ….. http://www.myspace.com/roxanneshante
• Shante Wikipedia …. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxanne_Shanté
• Marely Marl Widipedia …. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marley_Marl
• The Story Behind The Story Behind The Roxanne Shante Story

YouTube Video: Roxanne Shante – “Queen Of Rox”…

Roxanne Shante

Marley Marll -- Shante's beat producer and personal friend.