Public Enemy is an American hip hop group formed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav on Long Island, New York, in 1985. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as American racism and the American media. Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), was the first hip hop album to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Their next three albums, Fear of a Black Planet (1990), Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black (1991) and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994), were also well received. The group has since released twelve more studio albums, including the soundtrack to the 1998 sports-drama film He Got Game and a collaborative album with Paris, Rebirth of a Nation (2006).
Mia Young, better known by her stage name Mia X, is an American rapper and songwriter. She was the first female emcee to get a contract with rapper and entertainment magnate, Master P on his successful record label No Limit Records. She is known for collaborations with several No Limit Records artists, including Master P and Silkk the Shocker on the seminal albums, Ice Cream Man, Ghetto D and Charge It 2 Da Game.
Underground hip-hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music that is outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed to independent labels or no label at all. Underground hip hop is often characterized by socially conscious, positive, or anti-commercial lyrics. However, there is no unifying or universal theme – AllMusic suggests that it "has no sonic signifiers". "The Underground" also refers to the community of musicians, fans and others that support non-commercial, or independent music. Music scenes with strong ties to underground hip hop include alternative hip hop and conscious hip hop. Many artists who are considered "underground" today were not always so, and may have previously broken the Billboard charts.
Deidra Muriel Roper, known professionally as DJ Spinderella or simply Spinderella, is an American DJ, rapper and producer. Roper is best known as a member of the hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa. Roper occasionally appeared in The Salt-n-Pepa Show, a reality TV series focusing on reforming the group and which aired on the VH1 network in 2008.
Mohandas Dewese, better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one of the pioneering groups in hip hop music, the Treacherous Three, and for his later solo career. During his career he released a total of seven studio albums, with 1994's Interlude being the last to date.
Wild Style is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash and ZEPHYR.
The Cold Crush Brothers are an American hip hop group that formed in 1978 in the Bronx, New York City. They were especially known for their memorable routines which included harmonies, melodies and stage-stomping performances. The Cold Crush Brothers still perform across the United States.
Nathaniel Glover, also known as Nate or Danny Glover and better known by the stage name Kidd Creole, is a former American rapper. He was a member of the pioneering old school hip hop group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother Melle Mel. In August 2017, Glover stabbed a homeless man to death in an altercation in Manhattan, New York City. In May 2022, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter.
Doug E. Fresh is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines and various special effects using only his mouth, lips, gums, throat, tongue and a microphone.
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, Melle Mel, Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Scorpio, and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
Super Bad is the second solo album by DJ Terminator X. The album was released on June 21, 1994, on Def Jam Recordings sub-label RAL and was produced by Terminator X, Kool DJ Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Russell Simmons. The album was only a minor success, making it to #189 on the Billboard 200 and #38 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Two singles were released, "Under the Sun" and "It All Comes Down to the Money," the latter of which made it to #26 on the Hot Rap Singles. "It All Comes Down to the Money" was released in 1993.
Carlos Mandes, also known as DJ Charlie Chase is a Puerto Rican DJ who played a key role in establishing Latinos as a contributing force in The Bronx's early hip hop culture. Hitting the hip hop scene in 1975, Chase was a founding member of The Cold Crush Brothers along with Dj Tony Tone and members Grandmaster Caz, JDL, EZ AD and Almighty Kay Gee. Chase and Tone were also responsible in forming the first ever MC convention in hip hop history in 1980.
The Gambian hip hop scene is a relatively new scene in African hip hop which developed in the mid-1990s and was heavily influenced by American hip hop and Senegalese hip hop. Gambian hip-hop has been heavily influenced by international music scene including worldbeat, Senegalese wolof music, and American hip hop, as well as traditional Gambian mbalax and n'daga music. Dominican merengue and Jamaican reggae, ragga, and dancehall have also influenced the development of Gambian hip-hop.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Norman Rogers, known professionally as Terminator X, is an American DJ best known for his work with hip hop group Public Enemy, which he left in 1998. He also produced two solo albums, Terminator X & The Valley of the Jeep Beets (1991) and Super Bad (1994), featuring Chuck D, Sister Souljah, DJ Kool Herc, the Cold Crush Brothers, and a bass music track by the Punk Barbarians.
Sandra Jacqueline Denton, better known by her stage name Pepa or Pep, is a Jamaican-American rapper and actress, best known for her work as a member of the female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa. Denton starred in The Salt-N-Pepa Show, a reality TV series focusing on reforming the group which aired on the VH1 network in 2008. Since January 2016, Denton has appeared as a supporting cast member on the music reality television show Growing Up Hip Hop which airs on We TV.
Joseph Saddler, popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of hip hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be honored. In 2019 he won the Polar Music Prize. On May 21, 2022, he acquired an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Buffalo State College.
Curtis Brown, better known by the stage name Grandmaster Caz or 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".
Hip Hop Family Tree is a series of educational and historical comic books written and illustrated by Ed Piskor that documents the early history of hip hop culture. Originating online with Boing Boing, the series was published in print form by Fantagraphics Books. The first collection was a 2014 New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller (#7) and was listed in The Washington Post Top 10 graphic novels of 2013. The second collection won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work in 2015.
The Hip Hop Hall of Fame, also known as the Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum, is a New York chartered non-profit 501 c(3) museum and educational institution whose focus is hip hop music and culture from around the world.
