Roxanne Shanté is listening to her Juice Crew partner Masta Ace talk about RZA’s upcoming EP, Juice Crew, when she has an a-ha moment. Unbeknownst to her, RZA had started the project years ago to accompany the 2017 release of the Shanté biopic Roxanne Roxanne.
Suddenly it all clicked.
Song titles like “Single Mothers,” “Lolita,” and “Roxanne the Truth” made more sense. This isn’t just a random EP featuring members of the legendary Juice Crew—it was an album with a specific intention: tell Roxanne Shanté’s story.
“To tell you the truth, this is my first time on the call hearing that that’s what it was,” she admits. “I just found out about the project this year.”
Fellow Juice Crew members Big Daddy Kane and Craig G, who are also on the call, smile at her revelation as she continues, “All these songs are about me. I can really say all these muthafuckin’ songs was really about me.”
Shanté appears genuinely surprised. Though she smashed through barriers as one of the first female battle rappers in hip-hop and recently earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering role in the culture, there’s a sense it doesn’t feel real to her. Then again, it did take nearly 40 years for her to receive the recognition she deserved.
As a teen, Shanté was battling grown men on the streets of New York and rose to hip-hop infamy with the 1984 release of “Roxanne’s Revenge,” an answer track to “Roxanne Roxanne” by U.T.F.O. It was the spark that lit the fuse for the infamous Roxanne Wars between Shanté and another young female rapper called The Real Roxanne. But life happened and by age 25, she had largely retreated from the public spotlight.
Since then, women like Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Eve, Foxy Brown, and The Lady of Rage have continued down the path laid by Shanté and other pioneering female rappers like MC Sha-Rock from the Funky 4 +1.
The Juice Crew EP perfectly encapsulates her trials and tribulations while allowing Big Daddy Kane, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Masta Ace, and Shanté the space to flex their rhyming prowess. But to Shanté, there’s a deeper meaning.
“During my first time hearing some of the tracks, especially the one that’s done by Craig G, ‘Lolita,’ I literally was in tears because it gave me a chance to hear how my brothers really saw my life during the time we were growing up,” she explains. “It really touched my heart.”
And the feelings are mutual. The love and respect between the four Juice Crew members on the call is palpable. Kane points out it wasn’t just women who were influenced by Shanté—men were, too.
“When we look at a lot of women in the hip-hop game, Lil’ Kim came from Biggie, Lauryn came from the Fugees, and Foxy came from Nas and JAY-Z and so on and so on. In Shanté’s case, she was the first, and a whole bunch of male artists were birthed by her. By what she set off with ‘Roxanne’s Revenge,’ it led to MC Shan, Biz Markie, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and Master Ace. All of these men have careers because of this young lady. And the craziest thing about it, with the exception of Craig, is she’s younger than all of us.”
Momentum for the Juice Crew project began building in November 2025 with the release of “Open Ya Eyes,” a potent mixture of Kane’s buttery lyrical delivery and RZA’s cinematic, blaxploitation-inspired production. For Craig G, jumping on the project was an easy decision.
“The Wu-Tang has never hesitated to say that the Juice Crew was a blueprint to their crew,” he says. “They’ve always given us props. They’ve always talked about how they basically took that blueprint and went a step further with it. To me, it’s like a circle. They always talk about how we inspired them to do what they do.”
Masta Ace was equally as honored to participate. He was originally approached by RZA’s brother, 9th Prince, who told him the soundtrack would accompany the Roxanne Roxanne biopic.
“Like Kane said, if anybody’s deserving of it, it’s her because she was the catalyst for all of us,” Ace says. “If there was no ‘Roxanne’s Revenge,’ we probably would have not formed as a crew and got together anyway.”
Shanté, clearly moved by their sentiments, doesn’t hesitate to express her admiration for them, as well.
“My hip-hop brothers are the greatest, they’re icons,” she says. “This is not just some small crew that’s put together. We’re talking about superstars. To be able to see them take bits and pieces of my life and put them in songs, and now say, ‘Listen, this is for you,’ just really makes me feel honored.”
Shanté begins to choke up but stops herself, noting she’s “filming some shit.” She adds with a laugh, “I can’t let my face take over. I can’t cry. I can’t mess up my makeup.”
She adds, “I love y’all. I appreciate y’all so much,” to which Kane replies, “We love you, too, baby girl!”
The topic drifts to beloved Juice Crew member Biz Markie, who died in July 2021 at age 57. Affectionately nicknamed the “Clown Prince of Hip Hop,” Biz brought comedic relief to the crew. His vibrant, outgoing personality made him a crowd favorite and the crew was understandably heartbroken when they lost him. Shanté talks about missing Biz on “Roxanne the Truth,” a reminder that grief is still a heavy burden to bear.
“He’d absolutely be on this call with us if he was still here,” Shanté says. “Biz might have wanted two songs, knowing Biz. Biz might have felt like, ‘Yo, I’m going to do this one, and then I want to do another one,’ because there was always a wonderful sibling rivalry and competition in the Juice Crew, but it never stopped us from being brothers and sisters.”
Kane hops in, “Biz was definitely the master of one-upping somebody. Either he has one too or he had it first [laughs]. It would have been very, very interesting just to hear his take on this project and see where he went with it, because you know it would have been something funny.”
The foursome continue to muse on Biz’s ability to “be funny without even trying,” and—just for a brief moment—it was like he was there.
“You could have the worst day, get around Biz and you gonna laugh,” Craig says. “That’s what I miss about him most. I’ve been backstage with him, having a bad day, and he made a joke and I just totally forgot about it.”
As hip-hop enters its 53rd year, it looks promising for the OGs. In addition to Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It Series…, which included albums by De La Soul, the late Big L, Nas and DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Slick Rick, and Mobb Deep, artists like Public Enemy, MC Lyte, L’Trimm’s Lady Tigra, EPMD’s Erick Sermon, and Kid Capri are pumping out new projects, yet another reminder hip-hop isn’t just a “young man’s game.”
But there’s still more work to do.
“There’s a lot of education that needs to take place about the pioneering years,” Craig says. “There’s a lot of legends that contributed to this culture very early. I was literally just a kid that was dubbing tapes. I don’t want that history to get lost, especially now in the age of AI, where people are just creating their own versions of truth and facts. The Hip Hop Museum is one of the sources hopefully that will preserve the true history of our culture and the beginnings of it.”
The ‘Juice Crew’ EP arrives January 16 and includes contributions from another fallen member of the Juice Crew, Grand Daddy I.U.
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