Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content.
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985, originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip, rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop and merging jazz with hip hop, influencing numerous hip hop and R&B musicians.
Reginald Noble, better known by his stage name Redman, is an American rapper, DJ, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an artist on the Def Jam label.
Swollen Members is a 4-time JUNO Award-winning Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting mainly of Madchild and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only along with the other former members Easy Roc & Zodak who were only in the group for a few years and producer Rob the Viking, an official group member since 2002. Swollen Members has released nine studio albums, one greatest hits album and 2 compilations, as well as numerous other singles. From 1996 to 2016, Swollen Members were the second best-selling Canadian hip hop artist in Canada and were the best-selling Canadian hip hop group in Canada.
Native American Hip Hop is hip hop culture practiced by people of Native American heritage, including Canadian First Nation hip hop artists. It is not a specific form of hip hop but varies in style along the lines of hip hop in general. Native Americans have been present in hip hop culture since its inception as breakdancers, DJs, rappers, and graffiti artists. The Native American contribution to hip hop can occasionally be veiled by the ethnic umbrella term of Hispanic or Latino, terms that may refer to Native Americans in certain contexts.
The Native American Music Awards are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in 1998, which recognizes outstanding musical achievement in styles associated with Native Americans, predominantly in the United States and Canada.
The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte —Sicangu Oyate—, Sicangu Lakota, or "Burnt Thighs Nation". Learning the meaning of their name, the French called them the Brûlé. The name may have derived from an incident where they were fleeing through a grass fire on the plains.
The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name Sicangu Oyate translates as the "Burnt Thigh Nation", also known by the French term, the Brulé Sioux.
Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend and fellow rapper Mack Maine. The label was an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Republic Records.
Julian B is a Native American rapper.
Alternative hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip hop groups that refuse to conform to any of the traditional stereotypes of rap, such as gangsta, bass, hardcore, and party rap. Instead, they blur genres drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae, and even folk."
Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, known professionally as Supaman is an Apsáalooke rapper and fancy war dancer who grew up in Crow Agency, Montana.
Comedy hip hop or comedy rap is a subgenre of hip hop music designed to be amusing or comedic, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip hop styles.
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.
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 2012.
The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, is a Canadian electronic music group who blend instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chanting and drumming. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, the group consists of Tim "2oolman" Hill, and Ehren "Bear Witness" Thomas. Former members include co-founder DJ Jon Deck and Dan "DJ Shub" General, who left the band for personal reasons in spring 2014, and was replaced by Hill. Co-founder Ian "DJ NDN" Campeau left the band for health reasons in October 2017, with the band opting to remain a duo for the time being.
Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. It was recorded from 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of the rapper's experiences as a young criminal, and was the only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered sixteen days before the release of his second album Life After Death in 1997.
Rezawrecktion were a Native American Music Award-winning hip-hop group. Formed by four members of the Apsáalooke, the band self-released an album in 2005, It's Time, and were nominated for that year's Gospel/Christian Recording Native American Music Award. They won the award and immediately began touring, while working on a second album. The group then became defunct, with Supaman beginning a solo career.
Tanaya Winder is a performance poet, writer, motivational speaker, and educator. She was raised on the Southern Ute reservation in Ignacio, Colorado and is an enrolled member of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe. Her background includes Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, Dine, and Black heritages. With fellow Indigenous writer Casandra Lopez, she founded As/Us, an online literary magazine to "showcase the creative literary expressions and scholarly work of both emerging and established women writers from around the world." With Lakota rap artist Frank Waln and other collaborators, she runs Dream Warriors Management, an organization to promote Indigenous artists and support young Native students. In 2015, Winder published her first book of poetry, Words Like Love.
Anthony Parker, known by his stage name Wordsmith, is an American hip-hop artist and music label owner. He has released five albums over his career, and is a member of the nominating committee for the Grammy Awards as a songwriter. In 2009, he founded the NU Revolution record label. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Independent Music Award for Best Album - Rap or Hip-Hop for his fifth studio album, Perspective Jukebox.
