"Roxanne's Revenge" is the debut single by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Roxanne Shante Lolita Shante Gooden (born November 9, 1969), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. She first gained attention in 1984 through the Roxanne Wars, and was part of the Juice Crew. The 2017 film ''Roxanne Roxanne'' ...

. It was produced by a then unknown

Marley Marl Marlon Lu'Ree Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge Houses, Queen ...

and released in 1984 through the independent label Pop Art Records. In the song, a 14-year-old Roxanne Shante, whose real name is Lolita Shanté Gooden, responds to

UTFO UTFO (an abbreviation for Untouchable Force Organization) was an American hip-hop group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group consisted of Kangol Kid (born Shaun Shiller Fequiere; August 10, 1966 – December 18, 2021), Educated Rapper (EM ...

's hit song " Roxanne, Roxanne". In addition to her feud with UTFO, this also caused between 30 and more than 100 "answer songs" from different hip hop artists to be produced at that time (according to different statements), in what would be called the "

Roxanne Wars The Roxanne Wars were a series of hip-hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding rap music's first diss record and perhaps the most answer records in history. It is one of hip-hop's earliest feuds and perhaps the first " rap beef". The disput ...

". The song spent 12 weeks on the ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart, reaching 22 in March 1985 and becoming Shanté's most successful song as the lead artist on that chart. "Roxanne's Revenge" sold more than 250,000 copies in the New York area alone. The song also "bubbled under" the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

at no. 109. "Roxanne's Revenge" is frequently regarded as one of rap's best

diss tracks A diss track, diss record or diss song (an abbreviation of ''disrespect'' or ''disparage'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feu ...

, both of the 1980s and in general.

Background

Roxanne's revenge is regarded as an inspiration towards rapper Nicki Minaj song Roman's Revenge. Roxanne's Revenge was the first female rap diss track

Single track listing

12" Vinyl

A-Side

# "Just Say Stet" (3:40) # "Just Say Stet" (Instrumental) (3:44)

B-Side

# "Rock De La Stet" (Vocal) (6:30)

Personnel

Credits are taken from the liner notes and the official page of the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

. *Written By – Glenn Bolton, Arnold Hamilton, Paul Huston, Martin Nemley, Leonardo Roman, Marvin Shahid Wright *Producer – Stetsasonic *Co-producer – Eric Calvi, Robin Halpin (tracks: A1, A2),

Jim Klein Jim Klein is a Los Angeles born, Philadelphia-based, Emmy Award-winning composer, music producer, recording engineer, and songwriter. Klein is best known as the producer and songwriter behind the influential freestyle group Pajama Party, whose ...

(track B) *Keyboards, Horns – DBC *Mastered By – Herbie Jr :^)* (Herb Powers Jr.) *Engineer – Eric Calvi *Producer (exec.) –

Tom Silverman Tom Silverman is an American entertainment executive. He is most notable for founding the pioneering hip-hop and electro-funk music label, Tommy Boy Records, now known as Tommy Boy Entertainment. Early life and education Silverman grew up in Wh ...

References

{{authority control 1984 singles American hip-hop songs Diss tracks Songs about revenge