The Real Roxanne was a record company ploy to sell records to irritated ladies – UTFO did a record called "Roxanne Roxanne" which was all about a conceited girl of that name, and their manager figured that women would want to buy an "answer record".
Roxanne Shante wasn't affiliated with UTFO or their record label but was going out with legendary producer Marley Marl, and put out her own answer record which was generally a bit more gritty and sweary. Appparently this then spawned another 30-100 records – hip hop nerds can check some of them out here:
http://fatlacemagazine.uproxx.com/category/roxanne-battle-records/