Roxanne Shanté truly asserted her status as the first woman battle rapper with the release of her 1987 single, “Have A Nice Day.” She had already started the Roxanne Wars in 1984 with her Marley Marl-produced debut, “Roxanne’s Revenge.” The 14-year old Queensbridge emcee had dissed UTFO and set off a litany of response records from at least 30 other artists. Boogie Down Productions released “The Bridge Is Over” in 1987 and made the mistake of saying that Shanté had no value outside of the bedroom. Shanté came back with “Have A Nice Day” later that year and reminded everyone that she was the mother of microphones and BDP really stood for “Broken Down Punks.”
Roxanne Shanté lyrically demolished another all-male crew before she would release her first album two years later. Those witty beatdowns opened up a place for every female rapper after her to be a merciless wordsmith in a rap combat. She wasn’t just the queen of her Juice Crew but of rap in general. KRS-One admits that when Roxanne Shanté confronted him and asked why her name was mentioned on “The Bridge Is Over,” he said, “I Don’t Know.” In 2018, the biopic about her life, Roxanne Roxanne, premiered on Netflix. She also launched her Have A Nice Day daily show on LL Cool J’s Sirius XM Rock The Bells Channel in 2018. Since 2021 the Have A Nice Podcast has aired on Thursdays and it is the official after-show to her daily lineup. In 2025, Roxanne Shanté became the first female rapper to receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.
