October 23, 2007
I ask you a question, I wanna know why:
Dr Lolita Shanté Gooden is New York-based psychologist with a block rockin' background. Under the stage name Roxanne Shanté she revolutionised hip-hop at the age of 14 when she recorded a direct reply to a popular hip-hop track which became a hit in its own right.
This was one of the first rounds in an avalanche of subsequent musical responses, dis records, and on-air replies - a phenomenon now known as the Roxanne Wars.
She was famously dissed in Boogie Down Production's track The Bridge is Over but she always gave as good as she got and, over the next decade, defined herself as one of the strongest female MCs in rap music.
Nevertheless, at the age of 25 she decided to go to college and study psychology. She describes in a video how she was funded by a clause in an early record contract that promised to pay for her education.
The record company obviously didn't think that the young MC, who was already a teenage mother, would amount to much at school.
However, she used the contract to her advantage, applied herself with enthusiasm to her studies, and eventually earned a PhD in psychology.
She now practices in Queens, New York.
Link to Wikipedia page on Roxanne Shanté.
Link to video of Roxanne Shanté explaining how she got her PhD (via MeFi).
Link to MySpace page with audio of key tracks.
