In the Netflix original film Roxanne Roxanne, in the early 1980s, the most feared battle MC in Queens, New York, was a fierce teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders. At the age of 14, Lolita “Roxanne Shanté” Gooden was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the streets of the Queensbridge Projects in NYC.
Chanté Adams, who stars as Roxanne Shanté, won the 2017 Sundance Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance.