5 shows and movies about music icons like Selena: The Series

Is Roxanne Roxanne on Netflix?

Hip-Hop rose as an art form in the ’70s and ’80s with MCs rocking the mic. But it wasn’t just boys and young men getting the people hype, young women and girls like Roxanne Shante were spitting their truth for the world to hear, too.

Their names have been honored in hallowed halls, but there’s something about being immortalized in film that speaks to the legendary status of one’s artistry and career. The biopic is the illuminating medium that polishes an icon’s legacy for it to be seen by both new fans and old alike.

Roxanne Roxanne represents the flowers given to the film’s namesake, whose career started at 14. Roxanne (Chanté Adams) lit up New York City clubs with her rhymes, but she also dealt with troubles at home with a single mom and siblings who needed them both.

Talent can’t keep you from making mistakes concerning love and family even if it can provide a light and the possibility of a way out. The 2017 film captures that reality in stark colors with a cast that includes Nia Long and Mahershala Ali.

Is The Runaways based on a true story?

If you’ve ever sung “I Love Rock & Roll” at the top of your lungs, then you know who Joan Jett is or at least can recognize her voice. The rock legend has scorched countless stages with her dark voice and growl, but before she struck out on her own and formed The Black Hearts, she’d been a part of the ’70s rock band, The Runaways.

Immortalized in the 2010 film, the band’s short-lived time in the spotlight screams into focus, careening through the lives of these young teen girls making a name for themselves in the male-dominated L.A. rock scene. They’re loud, brash, vulnerable, and as punk and glam as they come.

The Runaways takes a deep dive into the band’s beginnings majorly through the perspective of Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) and her relationship with Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart). It’s a tale fueled by dreams and the inevitable tumult caused by the very thing the industry is famous for “sex, drugs, and rock & roll.”