Roxanne, Roxanne Has Warner Bros. Pay For Ph.D

The '80s icon scored a smash hit at age 14: "Roxanne's Revenge," a razor-tongued response to rap group UTFO's mega-hit "Roxanne, Roxanne." The 1984 single sold 250,000 copies in New York City alone, making Roxanne Shante (born Lolita Gooden) hip hop's first female celebrity. She blazed a trail followed by Lil' Kim, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah - although Shante didn't share their success.

After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered and they stopped paying her royalties. "Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies," she said. "And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking."

But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life. She eventually cashed in, thanks to the dean at Marymount Manhattan College, Marguerita Grecco arm-twisting the label, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 - all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle.

"They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn't have an exact reason why they were telling me no," Shante said. She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college. The company declined to comment for this story.

Dr. Shante, 38, runs an unconventional therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans - a group traditionally reluctant to seek mental health help. She also offers $5,000 college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the nonprofit Hip Hop Association.

Now there's at least a lifetime movie in here somewhere!