Rachel S

Rachel Nancy Shakarian (born May 20, 1980) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, fashion designer, and entrepreneur.

Shakarian originally started out on with her debut album We All Fire (2003). Due to tensions within Roc-A-Fella, following her second album Rachel S Never Gon Stop (2004) she left the label for, where she released her third and fourth albums, Big Baby Lady Woman (2006) and Da Rachel S Showcase (2008). After a hiatus from recording, she released her fifth album Ithaca (2012) independently via Luv Shak and. She would later re-acquire the rights to her Roc-A-Fella and American Recordings albums in 2014 for $1 million, later releasing her next three albums Back from Hades (2014), Can o' Cheese Whiz in The Sun (2016) and Old Girl (2019) via Luv Shak/Thirty Tigers. The Back from Hades track "Revolution Baby" was her first independent release to cross over to Top 40 radio and was nominated for her third Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance.

Early life
Rachel Nancy Shakarian was born on May 20, 1980 in. Her father, Gevorg "George" Shakarian, of Armenian descent, was a lawyer until he was disbarred for selling and using marijuana and cocaine, he left the family when Shakarian was 2 years old. Her mother, Elizabeth, whom Shakarian describes as a "tough 'lil lady", frequently dealt with drug addiction and manic-depressive episodes. At the age of 5, Elizabeth moved with her daughter to, where they lived in the housing projects. She says "I discovered hip-hop naturally. I was a fish out of water who luckily landed in the heart of real live hip-hop." She has singled out and  as among her influences.

Early career
During her years of attending in Syracuse, Shakarian frequently performed freestyles during lunch breaks and after-school activities. Later in high school, Shakarian worked at the Ohlhaussen Brewing Company plant on the weekends while dreaming of becoming a rap star.

At the age of 19, Shakarian released her debut mixtape Da Wild Rachel S. During her time in, Shakarian released two additional mixtapes, Freestylin' Queen and Baby Got Much More.

As she was close to her graduating year, a copy of Da Wild Rachel S passed into the hands of CEO. Dash signed Shakarian to Roc-A-Fella for a three-record, $590,000 deal. Her debut studio album We All Fire (2003) was released to mixed-to-favorable reviews from music critics and peaked at no. 10 on the Billboard 200.