Growing up in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn and born to Trinidadian immigrants, Inga Marchand knew she was destined for greatness. She told the New York Post she watched a lot of her friends head down the wrong path. She said, “I didn’t want to be the young black girl having a baby, a baby’s father, being on welfare. That wasn’t going to be my story.”
She had dreams of being a criminal-justice attorney, then she discovered at the age of 14 that she could rhyme. Her lyrics caught the attention of DJ Clark Kent and Tone of the production group Trackmasters. They put a plan in motion to turn the teenage rapper into an international star.
After making a name for herself on the New York City open mic scene as Queen Nefertiti, she changed her rap name to Big Shorty and secured a deal with Capitol Records. According to Vibe, she changed her rap moniker once again to AKA, before being dropped from the label.
She tried to get signed by Bad Boy Records, but Puff Daddy wasn’t interested. Therefore, she went back to the drawing board and revamped her image. The New York Post reports she wanted to change her name in honor of actress Pam Grier’s famous character in the 1974 film Foxy Brown. She began writing lyrics that glorified fashion, the mafia, and physical intimacy.
Meeting Jay-Z
At the age of 15, she was introduced to an older, up-and-coming rapper named Jay-Z. Together, they would go on to achieve greatness. It also helped that Foxy had a team of industry execs who believed in her. Chris Lighty of Violator Records, Steve Stoute, and Tone were able to get her featured on LL Cool J’s “I Shot Ya” remix. In the song, 17-year-old Foxy raps about getting intimate without protection and being, quote, “disease-infested.”
On the other side of town, Foxy’s acquaintance Kimberly “Lil Kim” Jones was also climbing the ranks on the rap scene. Foxy told Vibe magazine she and Kim would stay on the phone until six in the morning, chatting about how they were going to take over the rap world. They also made a pact and agreed to help each other out no matter what.
Jumpstarting her career
After linking up with The Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim became the First Lady of Biggie’s Junior M.A.F.I.A. crew. However, Foxy’s associate DJ Clark Kent told XXL [double-X-L] that Foxy was supposed to be a part of Junior M.A.F.I.A. as well. That didn’t quite pan out, but Kim and Foxy remained on friendly terms. Shortly thereafter, Kim was on a phone call with rappers Nas and AZ and she three-way’d Foxy so she could freestyle for them.
Foxy told BET that AZ was so impressed, he drove to her Brooklyn neighborhood immediately to meet her. He then set up a meeting between him, Foxy, and Nas.
Nas told Drink Champs when he first saw Foxy, he said, “Oh, she’s a beautiful, beautiful sister. And she got bars, she’s gonna win.” He flew her to Los Angeles to meet with Jimmy Iovine of Interscope records, the parent company of Aftermath Records, to get her signed to a deal. But Nas knew it wouldn’t work out. He said, “I saw she was already on her way so I stepped back and let her go.” They would stay close friends and Foxy told Rap City that Nas was actually the one who gave her the nickname “na na,” and she added the word “ill” in front of it. While chatting with The Combat Jack Show, Foxy said by referring to herself as the “ill na na,” which is slang for female reproductive organs, it boosted her confidence and made a powerful impact on her teenage years. She decided she would embody the term and completely accept it as a part of her image.
Foxy’s career was moving forward at full steam. She recorded a verse for Jay-Z’s song “Ain’t No N***a” which also appeared on The Nutty Professor soundtrack. It solidified their positions in the rap game. She was also featured on Case’s song entitled “Touch Me Tease Me.”
As her star power rose, a bidding war ensued. Puffy came back and tried to sign her, but Foxy decided to go with Def Jam records.
Dropping her first album
Immediately, she was linked to several men in the industry, including Jay-Z, Allen Iverson, and Master P. However, in 1996, she reportedly started dating Dogg Pound rapper Kurupt. Their relationship started out wonderful but would eventually go up in flames. We’ll get into that in a bit…
On November 12, 1996, Lil Kim released her debut solo album entitled Hard Core. Seven days later, Foxy dropped her debut album Ill Na Na. It landed at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and was one of the highest-charting rap albums of the year. Hooking up with Jay-Z again on the song “I’ll Be” and with Blackstreet on the track “Get Me Home,” Ill Na Na was certified platinum within months.
In February 1997, Foxy and Lil Kim appeared on the cover of Source magazine together. They conducted separate interviews with journalist Michael Gonzales, who was quick to point out the differences between the two. He told XXL Lil Kim was, quote, “so nice, like somebody’s little sister.” As for Foxy, he described her as being a diva because she demanded they ride in a limo instead of a Lincoln Town Car.
Locked up
In January 1997, she was on tour promoting her first solo album when she got locked up in North Carolina. According to The Village Voice website, she was accused of spitting on two Holiday Inn employees and threatened to hit one of them with a fishbowl after they failed to locate an iron she requested. After missing her court appearance, she received a 30-day suspended sentence and 80 hours of community service.
That same year, she teamed up with her friends Nas, AZ and Nature to form a group called The Firm. They released one album before going their separate ways. Foxy put her focus on her second album, Chyna Doll, which was released in January 1999. It included the track “Dog & A Fox” featuring her Def Jam labelmate DMX. The album landed at the number 1 spot on the Billboard chart.
To coincide with the album’s release, she appeared on the January 1999 cover of Vibe magazine. Readers got a peek inside her relationship with Kurupt, who was then her fiancé, and Foxy claimed some of the information the writer included in the interview were lies. To settle things, she reportedly met up with the writer and physically attacked her.
A breakup & a scary accident
By the time the magazine was released, her relationship with Kurupt was reportedly falling apart. Kurupt told The Breakfast Club things were great between them, up until he heard rumors she was sleeping with DMX. Kurupt felt disrespected and also felt that Nas didn’t approve of their relationship because he thought Foxy should be dating a west coast rapper. On that note, Kurupt decided to end their engagement. Foxy denied she cheated in an interview with Wendy Williams and blamed fellow rapper Eve for starting all the rumors. Kurupt quickly moved on with the late singer Natina Reed of the R&B group Blaque.
Things got progressively worse in March 2000 when the brakes on Foxy’s Range Rover went out, causing her to crash into a fence in Brooklyn. According to MTV, she was hospitalized and ticketed for driving on a suspended license. That same year, she reportedly entered rehab for an addiction to pills.
Her beef with Lil Kim
Foxy and Lil Kim began to publicly beef with each other by exchanging disses on different songs. In February 2001, Lil Kim’s entourage encountered the rapper Capone and his crew outside the Hot 97 offices. According to Complex, a fight ensued because Kim was upset about Foxy’s lyrics on a Capone-N-Noreaga song entitled “Bang, Bang.” One of Capone’s associates was shot. Foxy tried to reconcile with Kim after the shooting, but Kim rejected her apology. Kim was later sentenced to time behind bars for lying about her involvement in the incident.
A new love & music delays
In July 2001, Foxy dropped her third album, Broken Silence. It debuted at number 5 on the Billboard charts. The album featured the new man in her life, Jamaican dancehall artist Spragga Benz on the song “Oh Yeah,” and her track “Na Na Be Like” was nominated for a Grammy.
She and Spragga got engaged in 2001. Sadly, in 2002, Foxy was locked up for punching a cop in the stomach at Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport.
Things took another sad turn in 2003 when Foxy told Wendy Williams her album Ill Na Na Part 2: The Fever had been shelved indefinitely. The project was said to be a joint venture between Bad Boy and Def Jam Records, and Foxy was beefing with the head honchos of both labels. According to Foxy, she was blindsided when she found out Puffy owned 50% of her contract. She was released from Def Jam, but it came at a cost. The stress became so much, she believed it led to her having a miscarriage. She and Spragga eventually ended their relationship.
In 2004, Foxy made headlines again after attacking two nail techs after she refused to pay her $20 bill. She received three years’ probation and was ordered to take anger management classes.
There was good news to report in late-2004 when Jay-Z was named the CEO and president of Def Jam. Foxy was resigned to the label, but her life took another unexpected turn.
In 2005, the New York Post reported she went to bed feeling normal and woke up unable to hear. She was diagnosed with hearing loss due to a rare viral infection and underwent surgery in 2006 to restore her hearing. According to MTV, the surgery was successful, although she was still required to wear hearing aids.
More issues
Foxy was ready to get back to work and promised her album would be out by the end of 2006, but it didn’t happen. Instead, she was back in the news in February 2007 after getting locked up for throwing hair glue and spitting on a beauty supply store employee.
In the upcoming months, she began dating a man named Timothy Collier. But in June 2007, she discovered he was a small-time pimp so the relationship ended. Timothy decided to seek revenge by calling three of his workers to jump Foxy. According to the NY Daily News, the woman ripped out Foxy’s weave, stole her purse which contained $500, and they also took her hearing aid. Foxy cooperated with authorities but later refused to testify. All charges were dropped.
Foxy was in more hot water in August of that same year when she got into a disagreement with her neighbor. The person claimed Foxy was blasting her car stereo throughout the neighborhood, and when she complained, Foxy threw her Blackberry cell phone at her, which knocked a tooth loose. The neighbor was granted a restraining order.
Not long after posting bail, Foxy was busted for driving while talking on her cell phone and giving false information to an officer. According to MTV, she was also driving with a suspended license and registration.
Still can’t catch a break
Foxy signed her record label, Black Rose Entertainment, to Koch Records in 2007. Her first album, Brooklyn’s Don Diva, was set to be released at the end of 2007, and her album Black Roses was slated to drop in 2008, but her legal issues got in the way.
In August 2007, a judge decided it was time for Foxy to face the music. Due to her throwing a cell phone at her neighbor, and because she left New York without permission, she was hit with multiple probation violations. She served eight months behind bars. One week after getting released, she pleaded no contest to the beauty supply incident and was put on six months probation.
Brooklyn’s Don Diva was finally released in May 2008. The release of her record was overshadowed by rumors that she was engaged to Rick Ross. Although Rick didn’t deny they were an item, he told MTV News, “The engagement is speculation. I’m married to the money.”
Things were quiet for her up until July 2010 when she was busted for violating her neighbor’s restraining order. According to the NY Daily News, Foxy allegedly didn’t like how her neighbor looked at her, so she reportedly cussed her out, lifted her skirt, and mooned her. The case was later dismissed.
Another nail tech incident
2011 brought a whole new set of issues. In February of that year, she was supposed to perform at a New York fashion show. But according to TMZ, after showing up late and intoxicated, she locked herself in a bathroom and had to be physically escorted out. A month later, she performed on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The day after her performance, she made a nail appointment on the ship but showed up three hours late. According to TMZ, when the nail techs wouldn’t accommodate her, Foxy went ballistic and security had to remove her. She was told to stay in her cabin until the boat docked in the Cayman Islands. Foxy was then kicked off and escorted to an airport where she flew back home.
She found herself back in the headlines in 2013 when an uncredited blog said Foxy was overheard at a baby shower saying Jay-Z was her first and that he had an STD and was attracted to transsexuals. Foxy told TMZ she never made any of those statements and Jay-Z denied experiencing “Fox’s box” on his 2013 song “Picasso Baby.”
What’s next for Foxy?
Foxy disappeared, only to reemerge in September 2017 when Wendy Williams revealed she had given birth to a baby girl. A few days later, Foxy confirmed the news by posting a photo of her daughter on Instagram. She later posted a video of Spragga Benz and captioned it “daddy,” which led everyone to assume he was her baby’s father, although she has yet to officially confirm.
These days, Foxy seems to be laying low and staying out of trouble. Despite the interest in her personal life taking over the headlines, she’s still considered one of the top emcees who paved the way for other female artists in a male-dominated industry.
Let us know your thoughts on Foxy Brown’s rap career or drop us a comment on our YouTube channel!