Rapper behind 'Roxanne's Revenge' gets Warner Music to pay for Ph.D

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...l_for_phd.html

Roxanne's revenge was sweet indeed.

Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. - financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal

Very nice!

[Jay Tea]

So finally, the 'real' Roxanne?

She's only 4/5 years older than me, and I remember listening to her records when I was 13/14...

[chillas]

Cool story. Good for her!

[Simply Madeline]

Heard about the rapper who forced her label to pay for her Cornell Ph.D.? It never happened.

http://www.slate.com/id/2227090/

An investigation by Slate has revealed:

• According to Warner, neither it nor any of its subsidiary record labels ever had a contract with Shanté, and it was not obligated to pay for her education. Indeed, there's no evidence that it ever did.[/*]
• Shanté—real name Lolita Shanté Gooden—doesn't have a Ph.D. from Cornell or anywhere else. Indeed, she admitted it in an interview with Slate. And Cornell has no record of Gooden (or "Shanté") ever attending or receiving a degree.[/*]
• According to Marymount Manhattan College records, Shanté enrolled there but dropped out less than four months later without ever earning a degree.[/*]
• New York state records indicate that no one named Lolita Gooden or Roxanne Shanté is licensed to practice psychology or any related field.[/*]

[Jay Tea]

Hm. You do wonder why people come up with stuff that's so easily refuted.

[rujasu]

Hmm. I bought this story at first read because it didn't really seem that outlandish. Nice job of actually doing research/investigation by Slate.