As one of the vanguard figures in Rap history, Roxanne Shante made her mark when she got involved in the infamous and very heated lyrical battle against Rap group UTFO. The conflict, dubbed the “Roxxane Wars,” put her on the Hip Hop map. Recently, Shante has become the center of another controversy that may end up damaging her reputation.
This past August, Shante told the New York Daily News that she earned a Ph.D in Psychology from Cornell University [click here]. Not only did she claim to have received her doctorate from the university, but she also affirmed that her former record label, Warner Music, funded her education “for life” [click to read]. According to Shante, there was a clause in her contract that would make Warner responsible for her schooling, and they eventually paid over $217,000 for her to go to school. However, after an investigation done by Slate.com [click here], it was discovered that many of Shante‘s claims were false [click to read].
At first, Shante told Slate via email, “[I] made a mistake on an application and put my old name so maybe that’s the reason for [Cornell’s] computer error?” However, Shante admitted yesterday that her claims regarding Warner Music and her doctorate were indeed false.
“It is very easy to criticize someone and I have left myself open to criticism,” she said in an open letter. “All I can say to that is before you level any further criticism and cynicism, walk in my shoes. I am making this statement to apologize to the people that truly care about me for any angst that this situation has caused, and to thank them for their continued support…Like all of you, I am human and may have not made the correct decision all the time. And, like anyone else, I would like to think that my entire life or career is not judged by one error or mistake.”
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At the end of the statement, Shante emphasized that she would not comment on the situation any further.
