Sparky D

A prominent figure amid the golden-age hip-hop clash known as “The Roxanne Wars,” rapper Sparky D burst onto the scene in 1985 via the single “Sparky's Turn (Roxanne You're Through).” That record took aim at Roxanne Shanté and her own “Roxanne’s Revenge,” an “answer song” recorded in response to UTFO’s “Roxanne, Roxanne.” On “Sparky’s Turn,” D stood up for U.T.F.O., yet the crew declined to endorse the record, viewing it instead as an invitation for additional, often lesser, artists to exploit the swelling “Roxanne” phenomenon. Their prediction proved accurate when Dr. Freshh (“Roxanne's Doctor: The Real Man”), Gigolo Tony & Lacey Lace (“The Parents of Roxanne”), Ralph Rolle (“Roxanne's a Man”), and others quickly joined the fray. Sparky D later teamed with Shanté on the 1985 EP Round 1 and toured alongside revered DJ Red Alert. B Boy Records issued her first full-length project, This Is Sparky-D's World, in 1988; two years later she appeared on Malcolm McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team’s “Operaa House.” After stepping away from the industry, Sparky confronted crack addiction and its aftermath, eventually relocating to Atlanta, where she rebuilt her life as an EMT working nights and a gospel singer by day.