Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is regarded as one of the most influential and greatest hip hop artists of all time. Wayne was formally part of Cash Money Records, where he would release 5 number 1 albums under the label name before ultimately leaving in 2018. Wayne is now apart of Young Money Entertainment, a record label he created.
The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group formed in Englewood, New Jersey in 1979. Their hit "Rapper's Delight", released the same year they were formed, was the first rap single to become a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a peak position of number 36 on January 12, 1980. This was the trio's only U.S. hit, though they would have further success in Europe until the mid-1980s. The trio reformed in 1994 and embarked on a world tour in 2016.
"Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip hop track that serves as the debut single of American hip-hop trio the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III ", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip hop music to a wide audience, reaching the top 40 in the United States, as well as the top three in the United Kingdom and number one in Canada. It was a prototype for various types of rap music. The track interpolates Chic's "Good Times", resulting in Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatening to sue Sugar Hill Records for copyright infringement; a settlement was reached that gave the two songwriting credits. It also interpolates Love De-Luxe's "Here Comes That Sound Again". The track was recorded in a single take. There are five mixes of the song.
Sylvia Robinson, known mononymously as Sylvia, was an American singer and record producer. Robinson achieved success as a performer on two R&B chart toppers: as half of Mickey & Sylvia with the 1957 single "Love Is Strange", and her solo record "Pillow Talk" in 1973. She later became known for her work as founder and CEO of the pioneering hip hop label Sugar Hill Records.
Chad Lamont Butler, better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper and record producer. He was best known for his work with Bun B as one half of the hip-hop duo Underground Kingz (UGK).
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper and record producer. 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.
Henry Lee Jackson, known by his stage name Big Bank Hank, was an American hip hop recording artist and manager. Also known as Imp the Dimp, he was a member of the trio The Sugarhill Gang, the first hip hop act to have a hit, with the cross-over single "Rapper's Delight" in the pop charts in 1979. He contributed to many documentaries based on the rap music industry. Lyrics to his verse from "Rapper's Delight" were allegedly plagiarized from rhymes written by Grandmaster Caz.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Melle Mel, Scorpio, and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
Funky 4 + 1 was an American hip hop group from The Bronx, New York, composed of Jazzy Jeff, Sha-Rock, D.J. Breakout, Guy Williams, Keith Keith, The Voice of K.K. and Rodney Stone. The group originally started with K.K Rockwell, Keith Caesar, Rahiem and Sha Rock, the rest of the members joined at later times. The latter two members also performed together as the duo Double Trouble, notably in the film Wild Style. They were the first hip hop group to receive a record deal, as well as the first to perform live on national television. The group was also the first to start selling their records commercially. The group was also notable for being the first to have a woman MC, Sha-Rock.
Sugar Hill Records was an American record label specializing in hip hop music that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and funding from Tony Riviera and Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.
Dreux Pierre Frédéric better known by his stage name Lil' Fizz, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and actor best known for being the youngest member and rapper of the R&B group B2K. Formerly, he starred on the television show Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood.
Guy Anthony O'Brien, known by his stage name Master Gee, is an American hip hop recording artist and DJ. He is a founding member of the hip hop group the Sugarhill Gang. On the band's signature song, "Rapper's Delight", he raps, "I said M-A-S, T-E-R, a G with a double E, I said I go by the unforgettable name of the man they call the Master Gee". He was 17 at the time of recording the song, alluded to by the lyric, "I guess by now you can take a hunch, and find that I am the baby of the bunch".
Sugarhill Gang is the self-titled debut album by influential rap group the Sugarhill Gang. It is considered to be the first hip hop studio album, leading to more studio albums by other rappers.
8th Wonder is the second album by the American rap group the Sugarhill Gang. The album was released in 1981 for Sugar Hill Records and was again produced by Sylvia Robinson and James Cullimore. Though not as successful as the group's previous album, the album did feature the minor hits "8th Wonder" and "Apache" and featured an appearance by another Sugar Hill Records rap group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on "Showdown".
Curtis Brown, better known by the stage names Grandmaster Caz and Casanova Fly, is an American rapper, songwriter, and DJ. He was a member of the hip hop group The Cold Crush Brothers from 1979 to the mid-1980s. He is best known as the (uncredited) main writer of Big Bank Hank's raps on the seminal 1979 hip hop single by The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight".
Dimitri Leslie Roger, known professionally as Rich the Kid, is an American rapper. After a number of independent mixtapes, he signed with Interscope Records in 2017 to release his debut studio album, The World Is Yours (2018). Supported by the singles "New Freezer" and "Plug Walk", the album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. His second and third studio albums, The World Is Yours 2 (2019) and Boss Man (2020) peaked at numbers four and 24 on the chart, respectively. He has also released the collaborative mixtapes Nobody Safe (2020) with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Trust Fund Babies (2021) with Lil Wayne. Furthermore, he founded the record label Rich Forever Music in 2016, which has signed rappers Famous Dex and Jay Critch.
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 1979.
Joseline Hernandez is a Puerto Rican reality television personality, rapper, and actress. She is best known for starring in the first six seasons of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and the spin-off Stevie J & Joseline: Go Hollywood with Stevie J. She has starred in the Zeus Network reality series Joseline's Cabaret since 2020.
Carlos Reginald King is the CEO of television production company Kingdom Reign Entertainment which produces shows such as Belle Collective (2020), and Love & Marriage: Huntsville (2019) seen on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Hollywood Divas and The Next:15, seen on TV One, Selling It: In the ATL, on WeTV, and My Super Sweet 16 featuring rapper Lil Wayne and his daughter Reginae on MTV.
First Family of Hip Hop is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable network, on January 15, 2017, and ended on March 19. The show follows the life of the family of late Sylvia Robinson.
