Roxanne Shante: "We stopped listening with our ears and [started listening] with our eyes instead. That "s where the female rapper made herself less important to the Hip Hop industry."

Roxanne Shante says that female rappers have become a commodity in music.

"Being involved in the industry, I understood the shift of a female rapper from an artist to a commodity," Shante says in an interview with Billboard. "It really devastated me because I didn "t understand why a female rapper would think she needed to have a male hype man. People always made it seem like I was aggressive with my rhymes, but that "s what Hip Hop is. You have to prove that you "re the best. It "s about your talent and your delivery. But as we went on, we stopped listening with our ears and [started listening] with our eyes instead. That "s where the female rapper made herself less important to the Hip Hop industry."

Roxanne Shante says she has more to share. 

"I "m working on the Roxanne Shante story called Please Believe It," she says. "I "m a breast cancer survivor so I "ve learned to enjoy the finer things in life such as family and friends...The Roxanne Shante story is an open book. Keep reading."

hiphopdx.com