Consumer Guide Album

Roxanne Shanté: The Bitch Is Back [Livin' Large, 1992]
As politically incorrect as the dickheads she disses, Shanté scorns "bitches" and "hoes" (and "hookers" and "sluts" and "bull daggers") who think they can rap--that is, every female rival you can think of, many of whom she calls out by name in the scabrous "Big Mama." She claims to rhyme her own, but she only had her name on three tracks last album, which was four years ago, and this one doesn't bother with writing credits. So if in her world the original is still the greatest, that world exists mostly in her own mind. The thing is, though, it also exists on her records. Because she still is the greatest--she just is. Her tone and attack and enunciation vie with Ice-T and Chuck D and Rakim. Her material is full of outrageous insults and filthy internal rhymes. And perhaps because hard is all there is where she comes from, her tough, jazz-tinged music is as fresh as the stuff gets these days. She's of limited use showing off a slow groove or going dancehall, and I'm not going to claim she's got redeeming value. But I'm also not going to tell you "Brothers Ain't Shit" has nothing to say. A-