Roxanne Shante Has Her Label Pay For PhD

Roxanne’s Revenge: Former Hip-Hop Artist Doesn’t Get Angry, She Gets A PhD

Posted by: Ami Angelowicz Filed in: entertainment, video
4:00PM, Sunday August 30th 2009

Some stories make me want to run through the streets screaming “Take that ‘the man’!” This is one of them. Before Salt-N-Peppa were pushin’ it and Lil’ Kim was blowing your mind with her dirty bird lyrics, Roxanne Shante was blowing up the airwaves with her single “Roxanne’s Revenge.” She was just 14 at the time (it was 1984), and even though the song was a hit and her future looked promising, she didn’t achieve the same fame and fortune as the female hip-hoppers that followed in her footsteps. After some shady business (lying, stealing her royalties, the usual) with her record label, Warner Brothers, she realized that they were slippery bastards. By 19, she was a bitter has-been—a broke teenage mother living in the projects. But Roxanne decided to truly get revenge when she found a life-saving clause in her contract, which stated that the record label would fund her education for life.

Guess they thought a young, poor mother would never want an education? Wrong! Roxanne not only went to college, she went on to get her PhD in Psychology from Cornell, and sent the $217,000 bill to Warner Brothers. Of course it was a struggle to get them to cough up the dough, but eventually Roxanne was able to. Call her “doctor” now; because she earned her doctorate in 2001, and went on to launch a therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans. The coolest? She often incorporates hip-hop into her sessions, encouraging her clients to unleash their inner MC. As if that weren’t enough, she also offers $5,000 scholarships each semester to female rappers and gives advice to young women in the music business. This kind of revenge is seriously sweet. [NY Daily News]

comments

Oliveira
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 03:10 pm: [report]

This is the most amazing post on The Frisky ever. *goes to repost on own blog and twitter*

retro chic
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 04:23 pm: [report]

Oh, totally, Oliveira. TF: thank you. Please post more inspirational stories like these. Maybe they’re not as blog-sational or salacious as the others, but far more uplifting and, presumably, what a woman’s site would want to promote and associate itself with.

NYDN’s: //She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college.// She got that right. Good for her – she showed them!

VocalVal
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 04:46 pm: [report]

This rocks as did the song. I immediately FB posted this. Perhaps this is Roxanne’s REAL revenge. Do it, girl!!!

spanishdoll
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 05:53 pm: [report]

That. Is. Awesome.

cadyms
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 06:30 pm: [report]

I’m in a PhD program, and it’s a seriously tough road. But I’m guessing her academic background gave her way less to go on than the average PhD student, and to do it as a single mom - I can’t even begin to imagine to tenacity and sheer guts required.

cadyms
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 06:32 pm: [report]

Oops - *the* tenacity required.

nikkiPi
wrote on August 30 2009 @ 11:43 pm: [report]

Very few comics get sued for pursuing their trade – although George Carlin was and the suit went to the Supreme Court – but Sunda Croonquist is being sued for making jokes, as it is her trade, at the expense of her in laws, and they, led by mother in law Ruth Zafrin, are suing her. She is being represented by her husbands’ law firm, and has pledged to remove the material but won’t pay monetary damages. Perhaps whoever’s idea it was to sue Sunda Croonquist may want to get easy loans instead.

silvergurl
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 07:07 am: [report]

um, that is so freaking awesome. go roxanne!

BlueVibe
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 08:15 am: [report]

That just plain rocks!

I Go To 11
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 09:33 am: [report]

Good for her! Way to stick it to “the man”. More inspiring stories like this one, please!

Squidtermz
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:57 am: [report]

Yeah I saw this story in the local paper the other day. Very awesome. Good for her. It’s sad that people still think you can get a deal and be set for life.

bogart4017
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:56 pm: [report]

Roxannes revenge indeed. I’m sure they’ll think twice before sticking that clause in ever again.

julseymp
wrote on September 2 2009 @ 04:48 pm: [report]

Hell yeah! That is effing a-maz-ing.

wisteria
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 03:26 am: [report]

So amazing it just had to be untrue.

Looks like it’s a total lie:

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-roxannes-revenge-looks-like-its-a-total-lie/