Hip-Hop Legend Roxanne Shanté Receives Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Roxanne Shanté, who made history as the first solo female MC in hip hop in the 1980s, made history again last week as the first solo female rapper to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy Awards.
The 55-year-old Queens, New York, native was honored alongside Dr. Bobby Jones, the late Prince and Frankie Beverly, among others.
Previous rappers and rap groups who have received Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards include N.W.A, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Salt-N-Pepa.
In 2016, rap group Run-DMC became the first rappers to win the award from the Recording Academy.
‘Roxanne’s Revenge’
In an interview with CBS Mornings, Roxanne told Gayle King she started rapping at 8 years old after being inspired by actor and comedian Nipsey Russel, who incorporated rhymes into his comedy acts. To teach herself how to rap, she set herself one goal: to rhyme word for an entire day.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘If I can rhyme for this entire day, I’ll never be able to stop,'” she said in the interview.
She entered her first rap battle at 10 years old, defeating rappers twice her age and earning the winning prize of $50. The moment was depicted in the 2017 Biopic Roxanne, Roxanne.
At 14 years old, Roxanne recorded “Roxanne’s Revenge,” one of hip hop’s first diss tracks as a response to U.T.F.O.’s song “Roxanne Roxanne.” The track took off, cementing her as one of hip hop’s earliest success stories.
“[Rap was] literally a second language to me,” she said. “It was just as easy as breathing.”
Decades Later, Finally Recognized
Roxanne largely stepped away from the music industry in her 20s, citing finances and a chance to focus on her family.
“Being responsible for my family members, I needed things that were financially lucrative for me, and at that time it wasn’t,” Roxanne told The Breakfast Club in 2018. “I was a battle rapper. I had no intention of making records.”
In her acceptance speech at the 2025 Grammy Awards, Roxanne said she was finally able to check everything off of her list with this award.
“When the Academy gave me that phone call and said, ‘We would love to give you the lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy,’ I sat on my bed and I said, “I finally achieved it,'” she said.
