Foxy Brown is an African American rap musician, model and actress. Her birth name is Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand. She was born on September 6, 1978 in Brooklyn, New York. As a teenager, she won a talent contest, where she was discovered by the rapper LL Cool J’s production team. They were so impressed by her rapping skills that they signed her on to rap on LL Cool J’s upcoming album “I Shot Ya”. This was followed by appearances on several other artists’ songs and albums such as “You’re Makin’ Me High” by Toni Braxton and “Ain’t No Nigga” by Jay-Z. Her early success led to many labels singling her out and she eventually signed with Def Jam Records. She was also featured on the soundtrack of the 1996 film “The Nutty Professor” starring Eddie Murphy.
The same year, Brown released her debut album titled “Ill Na Na”. The album was produced by Trackmasters and sold more than 109,000 copies in the first week alone. It debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 album charts. It included several performances from other artists such as Jay-Z, Blackstreet, Method Man and Kid Capri. It was eventually certified platinum, with two of the most popular singles being “Get Me Home” and “I’ll Be”. After the successful release of her debut album, Brown went on to form a band named “The Firm” along with hip hop super stars Nas, AZ and Nature. Their first album was titled “Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album” which sold half a million records and was certified gold.
Brown’s second studio album, ‘Chyna Doll’ was released in 1999 and sold 173,000 copies in its opening week. Sales couldn’t keep up, but the album was eventually certified platinum. Her third album “Broken Silence” was released in 2001 and debuted on the Billboard charts at #5. Her album “Black Roses” remained unreleased due to legal troubles and her temporary hearing loss between 2005 and 2006. In 2007, Brown signed on to Koch Records with whom she released the street album “Brooklyn’s Don Diva. It reached #83 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Foxy Brown has been involved in many feuds with other artists over the course of her career. The chief of these is her former high school friend and rapper Lil’ Kim. The two initially collaborated on the song “No One Else”, however, a dispute developed after both their debut albums were set to be released within a week of each other and similarities were noted between their singing styles and even their appearance by some critics. The dispute quickly became serious and even dangerous, as members of their posse got hurt after a shooting incident in February 2001. The dispute between them has been publicly displayed in several songs, interviews and performances and the two have not reconciled to date. Her other feuds include Queen Latifah, Queen Pen, Kurrupt, Eve, Ja Rule, Jacki-O, Lady of Rage and Remy Ma.
Brown also has been involved in a multitude of legal troubles and feuds during her career. Some of the legal charges filed against her include spitting on two hotel workers, using obscene language on stage, crashing her car and driving without a license, assaulting a store employee, punching a police officer at Jamaica airport, assaulting two manicurists and violating an order of protection against her neighbor. Foxy Brown has served jail time, been charged with several fines as well as many hours of community service. At present, she is set to release her fourth studio album which was due to be released in December 2013 but has been delayed for unknown reasons.
