Roxanne's Revenge

"Roxanne's Revenge"
Single by Roxanne Shante
B-side"Roxanne's Revenge (Vocal)"
Released1984
Recorded1984
GenreGolden age hip hop
Length4:20
LabelPop Art Records
Songwriter(s)Lolita Shanté Gooden, Marlon Williams
Producer(s)Marley Marl
Roxanne Shante singles chronology
"Roxanne's Revenge"
(1984)
"Runaway"
(1985)
Music video
"Roxanne's Revenge" on YouTube

"Roxanne's Revenge" is the debut single by American rapper Roxanne Shante. It was produced by a then unknown Marley Marl and released in 1984 through the independent label Pop Art Records. In the song, a 14-year-old Roxanne Shante, whose real name is Lolita Shanté Gooden, responds to UTFO's hit song "Roxanne, Roxanne". In addition to her feud with UTFO, this also caused between 30 and more than 100 "answer songs" from different hip hop artists to be produced at that time (according to different statements), in what would be called the "Roxanne Wars".

The song spent 12 weeks on the Billboard R&B singles chart, reaching No. 22 in March 1985 and becoming Shanté's most successful song as the lead artist on that chart. "Roxanne's Revenge" sold more than 250,000 copies in the New York area alone.

The song also "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 at no. 109.

"Roxanne's Revenge" is frequently regarded as one of rap's best diss tracks, both of the 1980s and in general.