Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand
September 6, 1978
Foxy Brown
Marchand is an American rapper. She is a Trinidadian-American of Dougla (mixed Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian) and Chinese-Trinidadian descent. She and her two older brothers grew up in Park Slope, a middle-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. Her parents divorced when she was four, and her family moved in with her maternal grandfather. She later attended Brooklyn College Academy.
Marchand After signing to Def Jam in 1996, she released her debut album, Ill Na Na, later that year on November 19, 1996. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA and has sold over 7 million copies worldwide. She was also part of the hip-hop supergroup The Firm, along with Nas, AZ, and Cormega (who was later replaced by Nature). The Firm’s sole album arrived in 1997 and was released by Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. In 1999, her second album Chyna Doll, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, making her the second female rapper to top the chart after Lauryn Hill in 1998.
Her third album Broken Silence, was released in 2001, which featured the Grammy-nominated track “Na Na Be Like”.[7] In 2003, she left Def Jam and canceled the release of her Ill Na Na 2 album, but returned in 2005 once Jay-Z, then the label’s president and CEO, signed her again to begin work on another unreleased album titled Black Roses. Her mixtape Brooklyn Don Diva was released in May 2008, and her visual album, King Soon Come, was slated for 2019 release but has been delayed indefinitely.
Brown’s impact on the rap world has often been overlooked she’s bright, talented, sexy, and, most important, she’s not afraid to take risks creatively” and her “impact still stands.” Her albums have been cited to harness “a winning formula of looping R&B songs into hip-hop hits, resulting in the genre-shifting record,” Ill Na Na. The release of her album marked a monumental moment in hip-hop history but was downplayed due to comparisons between her and rapper, Lil’ Kim although Foxy may not have achieved the “iconic status” Kim had reached, “her debut album was an essential part of a turning point in mainstream rap music.” Rolling Stone author, Kathy Iandoli stated.