Tracy Lauren Marrow, better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American rapper, actor, songwriter, and producer. He began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays—the second hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records and released another album, Power, which would go platinum. He also released several other albums that went gold.
Keith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is generally considered to be one of hip-hop's most eccentric and unusual personalities.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group from Compton, California. Its members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music.
Italian hip hop started in the 1980s. One of the first hip hop crews to catch the attention of the Italian mainstream was Bologna's Isola Posse All Star, then and still today produced by Sandro Orru, who had written the soundtrack to the animated TV series Signor Rossi in the 1970s. The European Music Office's report on Music in Europe claimed that, in general, hip hop from the south of Italy tends to be harder than that from the north.
The Swiss hip hop culture began in the early 1980s.
Percy Robert Miller, also known by his stage name Master P, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, entrepreneur, and former basketball player. He is the founder of the record label No Limit Records, which was relaunched as New No Limit Records through Universal Records and Koch Records, then again as Guttar Music Entertainment, and currently, No Limit Forever Records. He is the founder and CEO of P. Miller Enterprises and Better Black Television, which was a short-lived online television network.
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, Hooked, in 1989 on Ichiban Records, before signing a contract with SBK Records, a record label of the EMI Group, which released a reformatted version of the album in 1990 under the title To the Extreme, which contained Ice's best-known hits: "Ice Ice Baby" and a cover of "Play That Funky Music". "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard charts.
Yo-Yo is a Grammy nominated American hip-hop artist, actress, and entrepreneur.
Raymond Leon Scott, better known by his stage name Benzino, is an American urban media proprietor, television personality, rapper, and record producer. Scott became an executive in the industry through producing records and co-owning the magazine The Source. Currently, he is known for appearing on VH1 reality TV series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and TV One original series Next :15.
Hip Hop Connection (HHC) was the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture. It was described by rapper Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world".
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown, better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo tha Dogg Pound, along with Daz. His first solo album arrived in 1998. After feuding, the duo reunited in 2005. Kurupt has been in rap supergroups too, like the DPGC, which includes Snoop Dogg.
Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning hip hop into a call for political and/or social action and a form of social activism. Inspired by 1970s political preachers such as The Last Poets and musician Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy was the first predominately political hip-hop group. It has helped to create a new form of social expression for subordinate groups to speak about their exclusions, injustices and lack of power. Political hip-hop is the use of hip hop music to send political messages to inspire action or social change or to convince the listener of a particular worldview. There is no all-encompassing political hip-hop ideology; rather, there are multiple perspectives that range anywhere from anarchism to Marxism to the values of the Five Percent Nation.
European hip hop is hip hop music created by European musicians. Hip hop is a style of music developed by African American and Caribbean communities in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. Due to this success, it has gained worldwide popularity, especially in Europe where many diverse and unique styles of hip hop have been created. This diversity is especially apparent in the forms of hip hop music and culture emanating from settler communities from Europe's former colonies and peripheries.
Noyz Narcos, stage name of Emanuele Frasca, known as Noyz or White Zombie, is an Italian rapper, beatmaker and writer. He is also a member of the Italian hip-hop collective TruceKlan.
Marco Fiorito known as Kaos One, Don Kaos, Dottor K, Ahmad or simply Kaos is an Italian rapper, beatmaker, writer. He began his career in 1986 in Milan, first as a breakdancer and writer, then as MC, first in English and then in Italian. Kaos One is acknowledged as one of the forerunners of Italian Rap.
Inoki, also known as Inoki Ness, pseudonym of Fabiano Ballarin, is an Italian rapper and record producer.
ColleGrove is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist 2 Chainz. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was originally a collaborative effort between 2 Chainz and fellow American rapper Lil Wayne, but due to his record label issues, only 2 Chainz was credited as the primary artist.
CSOA Forte Prenestino is a large self-managed social centre based in a squatted fort in Centocelle, Rome. It was occupied on May Day 1986. Forte Prenestino is an "important node of production of cultural and political events" and hosts many groups and events across its 13 hectares.
Cor Veleno is an Italian hardcore hip hop music group, made up of the producer DJ Squarta and rappers Grandi Numeri and Primo Brown, the latter of whom died in 2016.
