Roxanne Shanté will become the first solo female rapper to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy. The award, given to artists with outstanding contributions to music, will be presented on February 1 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles. Other honorees this year include Frankie Beverly, The Clash, Dr. Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal, Prince, and Frankie Valli.
Previous hip-hop recipients of the award include Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Salt-N-Pepa, and N.W.A. Speaking to CBS Mornings’ Gayle King, Shanté reflected on the milestone, saying, “When you get in the music industry, you want three things: to get paid, to get on Billboard, and to win a Grammy. Now, I’ve done all three.”
Before this, Shanté received the Paid in Full Foundation’s Grandmaster Award, presented by Nas in Las Vegas last October. Nas honored her alongside Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz, acknowledging their contributions to hip-hop. “These innovators were at times uncredited, slept on, and if not for them, there would be no us in Hip Hop,” he said.
Nas also paid special tribute to Shanté, writing, “Thank you, Big Sis, for your contributions to Hip Hop. She started it all!”
