Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist. He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He gained wider recognition in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, record producer, and DJ. He was instrumental in the commercial breakthrough of the hip-hop subgenre crunk in the early 2000s and is often credited as a progenitor of the genre. He was the frontman of the crunk group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums. In addition, Lil Jon served as a producer for most recordings by artists who popularized the genre; these include Pitbull, Too Short, E-40, Ludacris, Ciara, and Usher.
Aston George Taylor Jr., professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Hot 97 in New York, which was a pop radio station at the time.
Yo! MTV Raps is an American two-hour television music video program, which first aired on MTV Europe from 1987 to mid-90s and on MTV US from August 1988 to August 1995. The American version of the program was the first hip hop music show on the network, and was based on the original MTV Europe show, which first aired one year before the American version. Yo! MTV Raps produced a mix of rap videos, interviews with rap stars, live in-studio performances, and comedy. The show also yielded a Brazilian version called Yo! MTV and broadcast by MTV Brasil from 1990 to 2005.
Wild 'n Out is an American sketch comedy and battle rap improv game show television series created and hosted by musician and comedian Nick Cannon currently airing on VH1. It debuted on July 28, 2005, on MTV.
Wanted: Dead or Alive is the second album by the hip hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, released on August 14, 1990. The album was released a year after the duo's debut, Road to the Riches, and received greater acclaim from most music critics. The singles "Streets of New York" and "Erase Racism" received notable airplay on Yo! MTV Raps and the former is credited by Nas as being influential on his song "N.Y. State of Mind" from his critically acclaimed album Illmatic.
Scott Kluesner, better known by the stage name DJ Rectangle is an American DJ, turntablist, and record producer within the dance, hip hop, and club music.
Algernod Lanier Washington, better known by his stage name Plies, is an American rapper. Born in Fort Myers, Florida, Plies was a wide receiver on the Miami Redskins football team of Miami University in Ohio for two years in 1995 before embarking on a musical career. After a brief transfer to University of Central Florida, he dropped out and signed with the South Florida-based record label Slip-n-Slide Records in 2004; after four mixtapes, he signed a joint venture with Atlantic Records two years later.
Niatia Jessica Kirkland, better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and dancer. She experienced top 10 Billboard placements at 17 with her debut album VYP (2008), which debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned her four major singles including her staple song and dance anthem "Lip Gloss", earning her two Teen Choice Awards and Monster Single of the Year nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards. Kirkland gained further attention in pop music after a collaboration with Avril Lavigne for the remix of her hit single "Girlfriend".
U-N-I are a hip hop duo from Inglewood, Los Angeles, consisting of Y-O and Thurzday.
DJ Vlad is a Ukrainian-American interviewer, journalist, and former DJ. He is the creator of the news website VladTV.com. His namesake YouTube channel hosts interviews of prominent entertainers and celebrity figures, and has accumulated over five million subscribers. He is based in Calabasas, California.
Battle rap is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and disses originating in the African-American community. Battle rap is often performed spontaneously, or freestyled, in live battles known as rap battles, where participants will compete on the same stage to see who has the better verses.
Jonathan Edgar Park, known by his stage name Dumbfoundead, is an Argentinian-born American rapper and actor. He began his career in the 2000s as a battle rapper in Los Angeles and has since become one of the most prominent East Asian American rappers, known for his witty and socially conscious lyrics.
"All I Do Is Win" is a song by American DJ and record producer DJ Khaled featuring American rappers T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, and Rick Ross. It was released on February 8, 2010 as the third single from the former's fourth studio album Victory, along with "Put Your Hands Up". The song peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Tim Chantarangsu, formerly known as Timothy DeLaGhetto, is an American internet and television personality and rapper. He is best known from the improv comedy show Wild 'N Out where he was a cast member from 2013 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021.
Michael Jones, better known by his stage name Wax, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and comedian. He became a YouTube star after uploading several videos of himself rapping and singing. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Wax is best known for his single "Rosana", which was released in 2012 and again in Europe in 2013. There it reached number one in Austria and top ten places in several other European countries.
Khaled Mohammed Khaled, known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry artists to perform on singles and albums, for which he often serves as producer and hype man. Known as the "Anthem King", his distinctions are his booming voice presence, "motivational" abstractions, maximalist production style and numerous catchphrases.
Damn Daniel is a 2016 viral video. Daniel Lara and Joshua Holz, students at Poly High School in Riverside, California, reached Internet fame after Holz's video, an edited collection of Snapchat videos, became popular on Vine, YouTube and Facebook. In March 2016 Time magazine listed Lara and Holz as two of "The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet".
MTV Spring Break refers to the channel's annual spring break coverage, featuring numerous live performances from artists and bands on location. The annual tradition continued into the 2000s, when it became de-emphasized and handed off to mtvU, the spin-off channel of MTV targeted at college campuses.
