Rochell'le is a famous R&B/hip hop singer mentioned in the promotional website "Forgotten Legends of West Coast Rap" for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
History[]
Background[]
Rochell'le began her career by singing R&B ballads and love songs titled Dreamin, My Dream Came True and Dream Rap, and her image is described as "all tea parties and teddy bears".
This briefly changed when a female rapper, The Real Rochelle, released a song titled Rochell'le, Rochell'le (which could be a reference to the TV show Seinfeld, which had a fictional movie and musical, also titled Rochelle, Rochelle). Rochell'le quickly responded with the highly unexpected diss rap song Rochell'le's Revenge, which was rumored to have been ghost written by her boyfriend, gangsta rap legend Madd Dogg. In the song, she "lyrically destroyed her similarly-named rival with clear logic: simply, that there could only be one Rochell'le, due to the uniqueness of her name and the unusual apostrophe before the final two letters". This string of back-and-forth songs is based on the 1985-1988 Roxanne Wars (Rochell'le being a parody of Roxanne Shanté).
Downfall[]
After the Rochell'le Wars, her then manager/producer Jimmy Silverman influenced her to take on a more sexualized, hip-hop driven image with the albums Leg$ (1991) and, after breaking up with Madd Dogg, Dangerous Curves (1994) which caused the public to lose interest.
Forgotten Legends says that she has disappeared from the scene and people wish to see her return as of 2004.
Character[]
Influence[]
Rochell'le is clearly based on the real-life R&B singer and songwriter Mariah Carey, one of the bestselling artist of the 1990s. Just like Rochell'le, Mariah also started as a singer of love ballads with her self-titled 1990- debut.
Rochell'le taking on a more sexualized image also parodies Carey and similar events in her career between 1995 and 1999, from adding hip-hop music and sexualized music videos and in her music on her albums Daydream (1995), Butterfly (1997) and Rainbow (1999) (including her album artwork for Rainbow) and up to Carey's breakdown in 2001 and her film and album/soundtrack project Glitter which was also released in 2001 and her divorce from Tommy Mottola in 1997.
Rochell'le is also a parody of R&B singer Michel'le as evidenced by the unusual name spellling. Her debut album was also produced by then-boyfriend gangster rapper Dr. Dre.
Rochell'le's disappearance in 2004 is likely a reference to Mariah Carey's 2001-2004 struggles. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released in 2004, almost six months before Carey made a huge comeback with The Emancipation of Mimi (2005).
Gallery[]
