Hip-hop love unites actress Nia Long and '80s rapper Roxanne Shante

(23 Mar 2017) HIP-HOP LOVE UNITES ACTRESS NIA LONG AND '80S RAPPER ROXANNE SHANTE A love for hip-hop unites actress Nia Long and 1980s rapper Roxanne Shante. Long portrays Shante's mother in the biopic "Roxanne Roxanne" that premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. The 46-year-old actress, raised in Brooklyn, New York, says she grew up rapping along to Shante's songs "Roxanne's Revenge" and "Have a Nice Day." "I just remember being in the mirror, being 13 and with my girlfriends, and we would do these pseudo rap battles. And every girl wanted to be her because she was the boss," Long said. "She was - she is a pioneer in hip-hop. We are of the same generation. That was the music that told our stories, the music that supported our journey." Shante started her rap career at the tender age of 14 as part of producer Marley Marl's Juice Crew that included Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane. She acknowledges she wasn't savvy enough at the time to pay attention to the business side of the music industry. But the former rapper, now 47, says some of the sting is gone now that she's the subject of a well-received independent movie. "The truth to the story is that I did great at the end the end and I think that's where it really matters, right?" Shante said. "It's the end game. So I think I did great great at the end. So I think I would've preferred to have had this happen now than to have had this happen then and not being able to benefit from it the way I do now. Like now I'm at the age where I can appreciate all of this." Shante isn't recording new music any time soon. "I enjoy being a legend. I don't want to tamper with that. I think there was a lot of artists who should have left certain things alone," she said. "Once you reach to a certain point where you are, you just kind of like enjoy it. So I enjoy being Roxanne Shante, female rapper from the '80s. I enjoy that and I don't want to change it. I wouldn't change it." Shante has a 30-year-old son who visited the New York set of "Roxanne Roxanne." "He's so cute. Then he was like, 'I'm Roxanne's son.' And he so well spoken. He was amazing," Long said. "Hip-hop did that. That's no bedtime. Hip-hop, staying up late. Being in the studio, being at the show, raised in the green room," Shante responded. Long said that while the music industry has a reputation for being volatile and sometimes cutthroat, "if you have little ones, they treat your little ones like family." "I remember – years ago, I directed a video and it was a hip-hop video. And all the men just gathered around my son who was like two at the time. And I didn't even have to worry about him," Long said. "They held him down. So the whole idea that it takes a village – it really – there might be issues within the hip-hop community and certain beefs, but I really do think that at the end of the day, it is one big happy family." "Roxanne Roxanne" is expected to be released in theatres later this year. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...