John David Jackson, better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive DJ Clue's radio show, then on Hot 97. Jackson subsequently signed to DJ Clue's Desert Storm imprint, and later secured a distribution deal with major-label, Elektra. Jackson gained prominence with his first release, Ghetto Fabolous (2001), which spawned the hit singles "Can't Deny It" and "Young'n ". His second release was 2003's Street Dreams, which was supported by two US top 10 singles, "Can't Let You Go" and "Into You".
Jasiel Amon Robinson, better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 2006 hit single "It's Goin' Down", and as a feature on T-Pain's 2007 U.S. number-one single "Buy U a Drank ".
Cameron Jibril Thomaz, better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single "Say Yeah" received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008, becoming his first minor hit.
Christian J. Ward, professionally known as Hitmaka, is an American record producer, record executive, disc jockey (DJ) and rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Ward initially secured a record deal with American rapper DMX's vanity label Bloodline, under the stage name Iceberg. Ward would later sign with Epic Records, where he gained major recognition rapping as Yung Berg, releasing his major-label debut single "Sexy Lady", in April 2007. The single was released in promotion for his debut album Look What You Made Me (2008). As a rapper he’s known for other singles such as "Sexy Can I" and "The Business".
DeAndre Cortez Way, known professionally as Soulja Boy, is an American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence after his self published debut single "Crank That " peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven non-consecutive weeks in 2007. He then released his debut album, Souljaboytellem.com (2007), which also included the single "Soulja Girl".
Christopher James Gholson, better known by his stage name Drumma Boy, is an American record producer.
"Lost" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Gorilla Zoe, released October 14, 2008 as the lead single from his second studio album Don't Feed Da Animals (2009). The song leaked in May 2008 entitled "Losin' My Mind", featuring a verse from fellow American rapper Lil Wayne. It is notable that, specifically with the Lil Wayne version, both songs use the auto-tune effect. "Lost" received positive reviews from critics praising Drumma Boy's electronic production and Zoe's sincere Auto-Tune delivery of introspective lyrics.
LGBT representations in hip hop music have existed since the birth of the genre despite blatant discrimination. Hip hop has long been portrayed as one of the least LGBT-friendly genres of music, with a significant body of the genre containing homophobic views and anti-gay lyrics, with mainstream artists such as Eminem and Tyler, the Creator having used homophobia in their lyrics. Attitudes towards homosexuality in hip hop culture have historically been negative. Slang that uses homosexuality as a punchline such as "sus", "no homo", and "pause" can be heard in hip hop lyrics from some of the industry's biggest artists. However, since the early 2000s there has been a flourishing community of LGBTQ+ hip hop artists, activists, and performers breaking barriers in the mainstream music industry.
"Every Girl" is a song by rap group Young Money released as the first single from their debut collaboration album titled We Are Young Money. It was legally released to the iTunes Store on June 11, 2009. Young Money Entertainment rappers Lil Wayne, Drake, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, and Mack Maine make appearances on the track. The video was shot on February 13, 2009 and was released on April 6 of that same year. The song was leaked to the internet on January 28, 2009, just two days after "Prom Queen" was officially released.
Slaughterhouse was an American hip hop supergroup consisting of rappers Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce da 5'9". They released two studio albums as a group: Slaughterhouse (2009) independently and Welcome to: Our House (2012) under Shady and Interscope Records.
"Red Nation" is a song by American rapper and West Coast hip hop artist Game featuring vocals from rapper Lil Wayne, from his anticipated fourth studio album The R.E.D. Album. Released as the album's lead single on April 12, 2011, the song was written by Game and Lil Wayne, and it was produced by Miami-based production duo Cool & Dre, noted for producing three of Game's singles including the 2005 smash hit single "Hate It or Love It" which featured vocals from former fellow G-Unit member rapper 50 Cent. The single also marks the second collaboration between Game and Lil Wayne, their first collaboration being on Game's 2008 international hit single "My Life" from his third studio album LAX (2008), which featured vocals from Lil Wayne during the song's chorus. The song features a music sample of the nightclub hit "Kernkraft 400" (2000) performed by German techno and electro band Zombie Nation from their debut album Leichenschmaus (1999).
Jeffery Lee Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Roscoe Dash, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his debut single "All the Way Turnt Up", which peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2010. He is also known for featuring alongside Wale on Waka Flocka Flame 's "No Hands" the same year, and alongside Kanye West on Big Sean's "Marvin & Chardonnay" in 2011, both reaching 13 and 32 respectively on the Hot 100. Johnson also has numerous accolades as a songwriter, ghostwriting for various names in the industry.
Carlos Coleman, better known by his stage name King Los or simply Los is an American rapper and lyricist. He originally signed to Bad Boy Records during the 2005 in conjunction with his Bloc Incorporated record deal. After his deal fell through he returned to releasing music independently. Los signed to Diddy's Bad Boy Records again in February 2012, which is now distributed by Interscope Records. However, on March 19, 2014, he would announce that he was again leaving Bad Boy and Interscope. He is currently signed to After Platinum, 88 Classic and RCA.
Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr., known professionally as ASAP Ferg, is an American rapper from New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Aside from his solo career, he is a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob, from which he adopted a record deal with Polo Grounds and RCA, the same labels that helped launch A$AP Worldwide. Two years prior, Ferg's A$AP Mob cohorts A$AP Rocky and A$AP Yams, negotiated their own respective deal in 2011. His debut studio album Trap Lord was released on August 20, 2013, and was met with generally positive reviews. On April 22, 2016, Ferguson released his second studio album, Always Strive and Prosper. On August 18, 2017, Ferguson released his second mixtape, Still Striving, which was preceded by the single, "Plain Jane". In 2019 and 2020, he released Floor Seats and Floor Seats II respectively, the latter featuring the single "Move Ya Hips". In 2021, Ferguson signed an additional management deal with Roc Nation.
Michael Owusu Addo known professionally as Sarkodie, is a Ghanaian rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur from Tema. His contributions to the Ghanaian music industry have earned him numerous accolades, including the Vodafone Ghana Music Award for "Artiste of the Decade". He was announced the first winner of BET's Best International Flow artist at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards. He is also considered one of the major proponents of the Azonto genre and dance and one of the most successful African rappers of all time.
Brianna Perry, also known as Lil' Brianna, is an American rapper and actress from Miami-Dade County, Florida. She was the youngest act signed to Missy Elliott's label The Goldmind Inc.. Perry made her debut on Trina's album Diamond Princess (2002) on the track "Kandi". Since then, she has released several mixtapes and starred as a regular cast-member on the reality-television series Sisterhood of Hip Hop. In 2016, Brianna left major label Atlantic Records due to low promotion and moved forward with her indie label Poe Boy Entertainment.
"Throw That Boy Pussy" is a song, later turned into a viral video that originally was intended as a music video to promote a debut single created by Las Vegas based production company Level Eight Studios for the song of the same name by Fly Young Red. The song released in September 2013, with the said music video premiering in March 2014. The song heavily references homosexual anilingus with many same gender sexual undertones. The song mainly samples Lil Wayne and Trina's "Wowzers" single also released in 2013.
Rae Sremmurd is an American hip hop duo originating from Tupelo, Mississippi, formed by brothers Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee. In 2013, they signed a record deal with Mike WiLL Made-It's EarDrummers imprint. In January 2015, the duo released their debut album, SremmLife, which was certified platinum by the RIAA. In August 2016, the duo released their second album, SremmLife 2. During that same year, the duo also created their own record label, called SremmLife Crew Records. The duo is best known for their single "Black Beatles" from SremmLife 2, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100, while also charting internationally in the top ten in many countries. The duo also released other platinum-certified singles such as "No Type", "No Flex Zone", and "Swang". Their third studio album, SR3MM, was released on May 4, 2018, and served as a triple album. Their fourth studio album, Sremm 4 Life, was released on April 7, 2023.
Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, known professionally as YoungBoy Never Broke Again, is an American rapper. Between 2015 and 2017, he released eight independent mixtapes and steadily garnered a cult following through his work. In late 2017, Gaulden was signed to Atlantic Records. In January 2018, he released the single "Outside Today", which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song became the lead single for his debut studio album Until Death Call My Name (2018) which peaked at number 7 on the US Billboard 200.
Alyssa Michelle Stephens, professionally known as Latto or Big Latto, is an American rapper and singer. She first appeared on American rapper Jermaine Dupri's reality television series The Rap Game in 2016, where she was known as Miss Mulatto and won the show's first season, but she rejected the record deal offered as a result of winning the show.
