Curtis James Jackson III, known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in South Jamaica, a neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, he recorded his debut album Power of the Dollar for Columbia Records; however, he was struck by nine bullets during a shooting in May 2000, causing its release to be cancelled and Jackson to be dropped from the label. His 2002 mixtape, Guess Who's Back? was discovered by Detroit rapper Eminem, who signed Jackson to his label Shady Records, an imprint of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records that same year.
Christopher Edward Martin, known professionally as DJ Premier, is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as Vibe. He formed the hip hop duo Gang Starr alongside American rapper Guru, with whom he has released seven albums. He formed another hip hop duo, PRhyme—with American rapper Royce da 5'9"—in 2014, with whom he has released two albums.
Teren Delvon Jones, better known by his stage name Del the Funky Homosapien or Sir DZL, is an American rapper.
Aaron Dontez Yates, better known by his stage name Tech N9ne, is an American rapper and singer. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two million albums and his music has been featured in film, television, and interactive media. In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie award at the mtvU Woodie Awards.
Otis Lee Jackson, Jr., known professionally as Madlib, is an American record producer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. Critically acclaimed for his eclectic and sample-heavy production style, he is regarded as one of the most influential producers in modern hip hop and alternative hip hop. His frequent collaborators include MF DOOM, J Dilla, Freddie Gibbs, Talib Kweli, and Erykah Badu.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip-hop in Middle America and is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. His success is considered to have broken racial barriers to the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, he came to be a representation of popular angst of the American underclass and has been cited as influencing many musical artists. His most successful songs on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 include "The Real Slim Shady", "Without Me", "Lose Yourself", "Not Afraid", "Love the Way You Lie", "The Monster", "Godzilla", and "Houdini".
Paul van Haver, better known by his stage name Stromae, is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip-hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attention in 2009 with his song "Alors on danse", which became a number one in several European countries. In 2013, his second album Racine carrée was a commercial success, selling two million copies in France and yielding chart-topping singles "Papaoutai" and "Formidable".
Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, also known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and record producer. Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, but changed his name when Tyler, the Creator invited him to join his alternative hip hop collective Odd Future in late 2009.
Andrae Hugh Sutherland, known professionally as Popcaan, is a Jamaican deejay.
Sonny John Moore, known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, and singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the post-hardcore band From First to Last. He recorded their first two studio albums with the band, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004) and Heroine (2006), before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007. He began his first tour as a solo artist in late 2007. After recruiting a new band lineup, Moore joined the Alternative Press Tour to support bands such as All Time Low and the Rocket Summer, and appeared on the cover of Alternative Press's annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" issue.
Nayvadius DeMun Cash, known professionally as Future, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of Auto-Tuned melodies in trap music. Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.
Tyler Stephen Cassidy, also known as Froggy Fresh, is an American singer and rapper. He became known after the comedy rap music video for his song, "The Baddest", became popular on YouTube. He continued rapping until 2018, when Cassidy stepped away from his Froggy Fresh character and began a career as a singer under his real name. As of May 2023, Cassidy's FroggyFreshRap YouTube channel has over 806 thousand subscribers and 172 million video views, while his Tyler Cassidy Music channel has over 365 thousand subscribers and 42 million video views.
Adila Sedraïa, known professionally as Indila, is a French singer-songwriter and record producer. She collaborated with many musicians on vocals and lyrics prior to releasing her first single, "Dernière danse", in December 2013, which reached SNEP second in France and became in December 2023, 10 years after its release, the first French-language song to exceed one billion views on YouTube. She released her debut album Mini World in February 2014.
Leigh Daniel Avidan, also known by his stage name Danny Sexbang, is an American musician, internet personality, comedian, and actor. He is one half of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party with Brian Wecht, as well as the co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps with Arin Hanson. He is also part of the more rap-based comedy music trio Starbomb with Hanson and Wecht, and the vocalist for the rock duo Shadow Academy, known for its inspiration from classic novels, alongside Jim Roach. As of October 2023, Avidan also performs vocals for the electronic music duo Skyhill, originally formed in 2007.
Kero Kero Bonito (KKB) are a British indie pop band formed in London in 2013. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled.
Durk Devontay Banks, known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper. Regarded as a pioneering artist in the Chicago-based hip hop subgenre drill music, he has been noted as one of the subgenre's most commericially successful rappers. He initially garnered local success with the release of his Signed to the Streets mixtape series (2013–2014), which led to him to sign with Def Jam Recordings. The label released his debut studio album, Remember My Name (2015), and its follow-up, Lil Durk 2X (2016), to moderate commercial reception before parting ways with the rapper in 2018.
Lucki Camel Jr., known mononymously as LUCKI, is an American rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. Regarded as an influential figure in underground hip-hop, he initially came to public attention in 2013 after releasing his debut mixtape, Alternative Trap. He followed with a number of projects, including his debut studio album Freewave 3 (2019); he later followed with the mixtapes Days B4 III (2019) and Almost There (2020) after signing to record label Empire.
Hat Films is an English comedy and gaming YouTube channel comprising Ross Hornby, Alex Smith and Chris Trott. Since 2014, they have been part of The Yogscast network.
Starbomb is an American musical comedy group composed of Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht of musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party together with Flash animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson and "space rock masters" TWRP, a Canadian music group known for collaborations with NSP. The songs of Starbomb consist of video game parodies; Avidan provides sung vocals, Hanson provides rapping vocals, and Wecht performs instruments. All three are also known as a part of YouTube Let's Play web series Game Grumps.
David Paul Brown, known professionally as Boyinaband, is an English musician, songwriter, rapper, and YouTuber. Brown is known for his song "Don't Stay in School" and collaborations with other YouTubers such as iDubbbz, Roomie, Andrew Huang, TheOdd1sOut, Jaiden Animations, Emma Blackery, Dan Bull, Corpse Husband, and PewDiePie. His work spans various genres including electronic, hip hop and heavy metal as a producer, vocalist, rapper, songwriter, DJ and instrumentalist.
