rap musician
Personal Information
Born Inga Marchand on September 9, 1979, raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY.
Career
Rapper for Def Jam Recordings, 1996-; appeared with Total, Lil Kim, and Da Brat on the song "No One Else," 1995; rapped on the song "I Shot Ya," with L.L. Cool J, 1995; recorded her debut solo album Ill Na Na, 1996; appeared on the song "You're Makin' Me High," with Toni Braxton, 1996; appeared with Case on the song "Touch Me, Tease Me,"1996; released the album Chyna Girl, 1998; founded Ill Na Na Entertainment, 1999.
Life's Work
At the age of 16, rapper Foxy Brown was a star. She sold over one million copies of her first record, Ill Na Na. With her second album, Chyna Doll, Brown did what only one other female rapper, superstar Lauren Hill, had done: She premiered in the No. 1 position on The Billboard 200 list of the best-selling albums in the United States. However, she also received criticism for her sexually explicit lyrics and her image as an obscenity-throwing, vulgar, underdressed sexpot. Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, allegedly attacked the editor of Vibe magazine on a New York street. She was lumped together with other bad-girl rappers like Lil' Kim and Da Brat, and got very little respect on the street. "I was gonna be a sex symbol," Brown told Essence. "That was my gimmick. I thought being a sex symbol was what I had to do to make it work." Although her bad-girl image increased her record sales, it devastated her mother and family. In 1999, she vowed to revamp her image.
Middle-Class Ghetto Princess
Although her lyrics paint the portrait of a hardened ghetto goddess, Brown was raised with her two older brothers in the middle-class neighborhood of Park Slope in Brooklyn. Brown's parents divorced when she was four, and she didn't see much of her dad after that. The family then moved in with Brown's grandfather. Her mother cared for her aging father, and taught elementary school. Brown attended high school at Brooklyn College Academy. The family attended Baptist church, and were very close-knit. In an interview with Essence, Brown said, "In our family, we said 'I love you' every night. ...That's the love we had."
Brown's mother wasn't surprised that her daughter would end up on stage. She told Essence, "Inga used to dress up in my high heels and put my pearls on." Brown's teachers commended her for her high grades and hard work, but told her mother that she was a chatterbox. Brown's wild side emerged at an early age. While working part time at a local beauty salon, she would come home with gold sprayed in her hair. Brown started rapping in the school lunchroom, reciting the rhymes of Heavy D and Queen Latifah, among others. She went on to gain attention as a talented MC at city rap competitions. Brown's mother thought her daughter was simply a fast talker. "I didn't know that Inga could rap," she told Essence. "I didn't even know what rap was. I just knew that Inga was talking real fast, but she'd always talked fast, so it wasn't anything new."
Tough as Foxy Brown
In 1995, soon-to-be-megastar rapper and producer Jay-Z discovered Brown and used her on The Nutty Professor soundtrack. She then appeared on LL Cool J's song "I Shot Ya," and Toni Braxton's "You're Makin' Me High." Rolling Stone magazine said she had a rhyming style "as badass as the boys while putting a femme touch on it." After being involved in a major-label bidding war, Brown signed with Def Jam Records. She took the name Foxy Brown from the blaxploitation film of the same name. The film starred her hero, the sexy, no-nonsense actress Pam Grier.
Brown released her first album, Ill Na Na, in 1996. Although many interpreted the title as lewd, Brown really got it by adding Ill, meaning good, to Na Na, her childhood nickname. Rolling Stone said the album showed that Brown had "the powerful voice and expert rhyme skills that belie her age." The article also noted that her "come hither looks, exposed flesh, and abundantly sexual lyrics" were inappropriate for some listeners. At the tender age of 16, Brown was a platinum-selling rapper, and a star with a notorious reputation. Because her music career kept her too busy to attend class, Brown finished high school by taking correspondence courses. Her second album, Chyna Doll, was released in 1998 and featured sexually explicit lyrics. Entertainment Weekly called the album "as glossy and hard as Foxy Brown's exquisitely manicured nails."
Dirty Words Earned Dirty Looks
Although her lewd persona sold records, it didn't earn Brown much respect. In public places, she was routinely groped by men, and women would roll their eyes in disgust when they saw her. Brown and other female rappers were seen by some as lacking knowledge about the true meaning of sex, feminism, and power. Essence contributor Joan Morgan described these female rappers as "creatures of their own design who exercise the same creative rights as their male counterparts--coupling highly materialistic, violent and lewd personas with deliciously infectious rhythms and rhymes." Shortly before the release of Chyna Doll, Brown appeared on the cover of Vibe in a bikini, while grabbing her breast and crotch. Her mother was devastated. Although Brown said that the photo was used against her wishes, the resulting controversy helped to fuel sales of Chyna Doll. Angered by the use of the photograph, Brown allegedly attacked the editor of Vibe on a New York City sidewalk. Many record stores wouldn't display the poster for Chyna Doll because it featured another revealing photograph.
Faced with the disapproval of her mother, Brown vowed to clean up her act. In 1999, she told the media she'd be "sexy but classy" and that she'd "gradually" tone down her lyrics. However, she seemed torn between pleasing her mother and pleasing her fans. Brown was quoted as saying in Essence, "I want women to be proud of me as a whole--grandmothers, mothers--and I want to change the way I am perceived." Moments later, in the same interview, she remarked, "I'm not even going to say that I'm going to change my lyrics, because I'll be going against everything I stand for. And I won't have any of the fans that loved me and supported me through the first four years of my career. My two-plus million fans would be like, "This isn't Foxy.'"
Brown did make some attempts to branch out and revamp her image. She hired an African American female publicist, who wanted to promote a more sophisticated Foxy Brown, and teamed up with a stylist who dressed her in designer business suits rather than lingerie and bikinis. She also got a job modeling jeans for Calvin Klein. Brown also sought credibility as a business woman. At the age of 20, she started her own record label, Ill Na Na Entertainment. Brown told Rolling Stone, "I just want to be accepted, not for a female or male, just accepted, period. For being me."
Works
Selected discography
- Ill Na Na, Def Jam, 1996.
- Chyna Girl, Def Jam, 1998.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Entertainment Weekly, February 5, 1999, p.69.
- Essence, March 1997, p. 76; August 1999, p.72.
Other- Additional information for this profile was obtained from "Foxy Brown," RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.tunes.com (February 24, 2000); and "Foxy Brown," UBL.com - Music's Homepage, http://www.ubl.com (February 24, 2000).
— Brenna Sanchez
