Roxanne Shante Is No Doctor!

When something seems too good to be true. It usually is. Bloggers (including us) have been chiming in on the triumphant story of how rapper Roxanne Shante scored her Ph.D. free of charge, from her record label thanks to a clause in her recording contract.

Well, it's a hoax!

First reported by the NY Daily News, Shante allegedly used that footnote in her contract to get Warner Music to cough up $200K for her education. But, the Slate.com says it ain't true.

According to Warner, neither it nor any of its subsidiary record labels ever had a contract with Shanté, and it was not obligated to pay for her education. Indeed, there's no evidence that it ever did. Shanté—real name Lolita Shanté Gooden—doesn't have a Ph.D. from Cornell or anywhere else. Indeed, she admitted it in an interview with Slate. And Cornell has no record of Gooden (or "Shanté") ever attending or receiving a degree. According to Marymount Manhattan College records, Shanté enrolled there but dropped out less than four months later without ever earning a degree. New York state records indicate that no one named Lolita Gooden or Roxanne Shanté is licensed to practice psychology or any related field.

Well, I'll be damned. Amazing how fast bad news can travel via the interwebs, but we always hope that these kinds of feel-good stories are true. Guess not!