Doreen "Sparky D" Broadnax was born in Brooklyn, growing up in Brownsville. In 1983, she joined the local female hip-hop group The Playgirls, which consisted of Lisa "City Slim" Yarborough and Romona "Mo Ski" Luck. The following year, the group released "Our Picture of a Man" on Sutra Records, and it was during this time that Sparky D met rapper Spyder-D.
In 1984, Roxanne Shanté released the diss track "Roxanne's Revenge" against UTFO, and shortly after, Spyder-D decided to produce a response to the track, which would go on to interpret Sparky D: she signed with NIA Records and created "Sparky's Turn (Roxanne You're Through)", an early response to Shanté's vibrant cut, which sold over 300,000 copies in the weeks following its release in 1985.
Given the success of both tracks, in the same season Shanté and Sparky D agreed to release the split EP "Round 1", also including the battle track of the same name, and released on the newly formed Spin Records, a subsidiary of NIA. Sparky Dee built a career as a solo rapper, becoming known as one of the first female battle rappers on the circuit, and in the following years signed with Next Plateau Records and then with B-Boy Records, releasing several singles and her first studio album in 1988, when unfortunately her name is no longer as hot as three years before.
Her opening track is an acapella where she spits bars with a determined hardcore delivery, it's pretty great. Unfortunately, however, there are ten other tracks. The first part is quite decent, made of accessible rhythms and a lively delivery even if less hardcore than the opening track: after the ballad ("Changes"), the disc collapses in a second part that is a little dully, Sparky D stops to perform hardcore and chooses a delivery more directed towards pop rap with functional hooks sung in a faded way, on funky/pop rhythms. It's a shame, because here she has proven to be quite capable of keeping a hardcore profile.
Produced entirely by Spyder-D, with scratches by DJ Grand Creator K-Wiz and some live instruments, the album did not gain a following and was also ignored by critics, immediately ending her career. The female rapper comes out with her bones a little broken from the Roxanne Wars, but when the game spits her out, things get worse and she's ends up in the oblivion.
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