Public Enemy is an American hip hop group formed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav in Roosevelt, 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).
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.
Coke La Rock is an American rapper from New York City who is sometimes credited as being the first MC in the history of hip-hop. In 2010, he was inducted into the High Times Counterculture Hall of Fame at the annual ceremonies at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.
Deidra Muriel Roper, known professionally as DJ Spinderella or simply Spinderella, is an American DJ, rapper and producer. She 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.
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, Rammellzee with Shockdell, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash, and ZEPHYR.
Maxwell Dixon, known professionally as Grand Puba, is an American rapper and record producer, best known as a member of Brand Nubian from New Rochelle, New York. He was formerly a member of Masters of Ceremony.
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 in the United States as of 2023. "A snapshot from hip-hop's 50th summer: A live mixtape"..
Nathaniel Glover, also known as Nate or Danny Glover and better known by the stage name Kidd Creole, is a former American hip hop recording artist. 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 in New York City. In May 2022, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter.
Douglas Davis, known professionally as Doug E. Fresh, is a Barbadian-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, 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.
Cold Chillin' Records was a record label that released music during the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. A producer-and-crew label founded by manager Tyrone Williams and run by Len Fichtelberg, most of the label's releases were by members of the Juice Crew, a loosely knit group of artists centered on producer Marley Marl. In 1998, the label shut down, and the majority of its expansive catalog was bought by Massachusetts-based LandSpeed Records.
Lorenzo Dechalus, known professionally as Lord Jamar, is an American rapper, DJ, record producer, actor and podcaster. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Brand Nubian, which was formed in 1989. In 1996, he discovered Dead Prez and got them signed to Loud Records.
The New York City Breakers are an original B-boy group in early 1980s that was established in the Bronx borough of New York City formed by Michael Holman. The group originally consisted of members from Wildstyle and "Floor Master Crew"
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 established the Latino community 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. In 1980, Chase and Tone were responsible for forming the first MC convention in hip hop history.
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.
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, 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.
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".
Hip Hop Family Tree is a series of educational and historical comic books 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. 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.
