Nas Credits This Hip Hop Pioneer With Making Him Take Rap Seriously
Hint: "Roxanne, Roxanne, I wanna be your man."
Roxanne Shanté was just 14 years old when she released “Roxanne’s Revenge” in late 1984, a seething response to the U.T.F.O. track “Roxanne, Roxanne.” Growing up in the Queensbridge Projects in Queens, a young Nas would often see her around and recognized her as “hood star.”
Admittedly, he was a bit intimidated by Shanté’s imposing presence. After all, she was older than him, part of the infamous Juice Crew and had a reputation for being tough. During a recent interview with Ebro In The Morning, the Illmatic legend recalled essentially getting bullied into rapping by the then-teenage spitter, a moment immortalized in the 2017 Netflix biopic Roxanne Roxanne. .centered-ad {
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“Roxanne Shanté was a young teenage girl who had heart ’cause she would just be out in the projects, hanging, and I would see her,” he explained. “We heard about her and she was a hood star at first. She heard me doing some little rhymes and she was interested, and she was like, ‘Yo, I want you to participate in something. I want you to do some stuff. I want you to work on your craft and when I see you again, have it together.
“Wait, and this is in the movie, she saw me and said I didn’t have it together and next time I see you, if you don’t have it together, ‘I’m gonna fuck you up.’ 100 percent. 1000 percent real — and I believed her. I’m younge