"I said I was done with RAP once I realized I never got a ROYALTY CHECK"- Roxanne Shante
- Thread starter KENNY DA COOKER
- Start date
Yes her producers and writers got her royalty checks that's how it works 
Few female MCs back then made a living off albums because few blew up and went mainstream.. Those who didn't usually did not pen their bars so no money from writing..
Few female MCs back then made a living off albums because few blew up and went mainstream.. Those who didn't usually did not pen their bars so no money from writing..
Yes her producers and writers got her royalty checks that's how it works
Few female MCs back then made a living off albums because few blew up and went mainstream.. Those who didn't usually did not write their bars..
Its obvious you didn't fully pay attention to.the interview and don't know a Damn thing about Shante
Shante was a writer as well...
Along with The first hit record ROXANNE REVENGE which was a freestyle she recorded in one take she had a number of compositions she wrote
And was at least entitled to a mechanical royalty on each of those singles
But as she stated the conflict of interest of her manager ..also being her record label president along with the lawyer being in cahoots with the label prez
Created this mess of her not being able to secure proper compensation of her work she being creating since the age of 16
Last edited:
It's hard to live off one record
Its obvious you didn't fully pay attention to.the interview and don't know a Damn thing about Shante
Shante was a writer as well...
Along with he first hit record ROXANNE REVENGE which was a freestyle she recorded in one take she had a number of compositions she wrote
And was at least entitled to a mechanical royalty on each of those singles
But as she stated the conflict of interest of her manager ..also being her record label president along with the lawyer being in cahoots with the label prez
Created this mess of her not being able to secure proper compensation of her work she being creating since the age of 16
You probably do know more about her than me.. All I know is she had ghostwriters and didn't achieve serious success off whatever she wrote herself.. I still respect her legacy though
Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
She look like Mo’Nique with these fukkin glasses on
Is she on that shyt?
Is she on that shyt?
MegaTronBomb!
Power is in my hair nikka
This sounds much more believable than her "degree" the labels paid for.
zayk35
Superstar
They are really overstating her legacy...plus she just like 99 percent of all the pioneers got ripped off because the game didn't really have much infrastructure at that time
yes it is very believable....
because her fellow juice crew member and label mate MC SHAN basically stated the same thing in this interview that they were getting robbed by Fly Ty (ceo of Cold Chilling records/cofounder of the Juice Crew)
TRHH: [Laughs] OK. A lot of people know you for producing the Snow record ‘Informer’. How big was that record for your career?
MC Shan: That right there is what I eat off nowadays. As far as Hip-Hop is concerned I got robbed by Fly Ty Williams, Cold Chillin’s manager and producer. He robbed me of all of my proceeds as far as Cold Chillin’ is concerned. I’m very thankful that I did something outside of my own thing so that I can eat today. I don’t have to run around looking for jobs and things like that and I still do my shows and get my Hip-Hop money. As far as my royalties, Fly Ty, I want to get that straight, Fly Ty, Tyrone Williams of Cold Chillin’, Mr. I’m Mr. Savior ain’t nothing but a thief. And he’s a bum!
TRHH: Well, I’m sure he pulled the same kind of nonsense on Biz, Kane and those guys right?
MC Shan: Well they were more protected because they had other people involved. Me and Shante, Tyrone was our manager. Biz and them had protection from other managers and stuff like that. They had barriers set up between them and Ty.
Ghostface Trillah
God-level poster
Cold chillin was the 80's version of Cash Money.
no sir..that's not true at all.................
in fact the "rap game" definitly had infrastructure back then...i would say based on my experiences almost TOO MUCH
you have to realize unlike today where you have basically only 3 major labels (sony, warner, universal) whom work in cahoots with each other swapping label presidents...a&r's ..reps and legal counsel
back then you had 5...(cbs/sony,bmg, universal, emi, warner)along with huge radio conglomerates (emmis, cbs, cummulus, clear channel) along with teams of radio consultants dictating what gets on air and what doesn't..
like the a$$hole who chastised my boss (program director/dj) for allowing me to spin You Must Learn by Krs One WITHOUT his consent on a small AM radio station in georgia............
yeah the infrastructure was full of BURERACACY and RED TAPE..........unlike today where a young cat can say FUKK THE POLITICS and just upload his shyt to YOUTUBE or SOUNDCLOUD and get heard!
and rap back in that day from 1980 on up until the mid 90s was basically regulated to only nightime airplay with the legendary mixshows like the Red Alert Show....Chuck Chillout .......and the infamous Juice Crew led Rap Attack which Shante and Shan was heavily featured on....
it was VERY POLITICAL........... and the PAYOLA was strong...
JUICE CREW to be honest inspite of thier OBVIOUS TALENT (kane, shan, biz, g rap, marley , master ace) definitly benifted from having Fly Ty their Label CEO being executive producer as well of the WBLS "mr magic rap attack show"...so it was like they didn't even have to FIGHT for airplay like most rappers cause they already had first dibs on it...
and BDP was no different.......KRS and SCOTT LA ROCK had RED ALERT in thier pocket....he even became KRS's tour deejay after La Rock passed away........so this is why the BRIDGE WARS was intense cause not only you had BDP vs. JUICE CREW it also pitted the two urban stations against each other for NYC rap supremacy WBLS vs KISS FM....
although i did love the "entertainment value" of it.......i can't like the infrastucture of rap at the time was basically it's not what you know as far as TALENT or knowing how to SPIT BARS or MOVE THE CROWD...but WHO YOU KNOW (networking,,,,relationships)
that's why i LAUGH when people love to speak so passionatly about the "culture" of hip hop "back in the day"...
PUHLEEZE
.... it was PURE BUSINESS....hip hop STOPPED being a culture once it left the parks (70's) and got a BARCODE slapped on it and was made available as product for radio play and distribution in 1980....
so i can understand both ROXANNE SHANTE's and SHAN'S frustation.....
it was ALL A DREAM as BIGGIE said...
Last edited:
Ghostface Trillah
God-level poster
If there was no infrastructure back then what is Def Jam? Ruthless?
There was infrastructure. There wasn't information readily available for artist to educate themselves to not be taken advantage of but that had been happening since the 40's. Crazy thing is that there's tons information and history now on how to get raped and people are still lining up to willingly get raped just to be famous.
Majority of those labels like sleeping bag records was fukking artist over in the 80s
Now that should be some documentaries more than death row
Now that should be some documentaries more than death row
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
this...go read about how the old blues/r&B/early rock and roll guys were getting jerked because they didn't understand the business
Who told you she had ghost writers?It's hard to live off one record
You probably do know more about her than me.. All I know is she had ghostwriters and didn't achieve serious success off whatever she wrote herself.. I still respect her legacy though