Digital Underground is an American alternative hip hop group from Oakland, California. Its lineup changed with each album and tour.
Crunk is a subgenre of southern hip hop that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the early to mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more nightclub-oriented subgenres. Distinguishing itself with other Southern hip hop subgenres, crunk is marked and characterized by its energetic accelerated musical tempo, club appeal, recurrent chants frequently executed in a call and response manner, multilayered synths, its pronounced reliance on resounding 808 basslines, and rudimentary musical arrangement. An archetypal crunk track frequently uses a dominant groove composed of a nuanced utilization of intricately multilayered keyboard synthesizers organized in a recurring pattern, seamlessly shifting from a lower to a higher pitch that encompasses the song's primary central rhythm, both in terms of its harmonic and melodic aspects. The main groove is then wrapped up with looped, stripped-down, and crisp 808 dance claps and manipulated snare rolls coupled and accompanied by a bassline of thumping 808 kick drums. The term "crunk" was also used throughout the 2000s as a blanket term to denote any style of Southern hip hop, a side effect of the genre's breakthrough to the mainstream. The word derives from its African-American Vernacular English past-participle form, "crunk", of the verb "to crank". It refers to being excited or high on drugs.
Blaque is an American girl group that charted from 1999 to 2004. Outside of the United States, they are known as Blaque Ivory. Their self-titled debut album Blaque sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Platinum. The group's debut included the platinum-selling lead single "808", a second single, "I Do", and the international pop hit "Bring It All to Me". In 1999, Billboard named Blaque the 4th Best New Artist of the year, with "Bring It All to Me" landing at number 30 on the 2000 Year End Chart. In 2002 and 2003, the group released three less successful singles, "Can't Get It Back", "Ugly", and "I'm Good", the latter appearing in the film Honey.
Mario Mendell Winans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single "I Don't Wanna Know", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Next is an American R&B musical trio, popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s. They are best known for their Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit single "Too Close". They are also known for "Wifey", "Butta Love" and "I Still Love You", all of which still receive frequent airplay on Urban Adult Contemporary radio stations in the U.S. and internationally.
"Drop It Like It's Hot" is a song by American rapper Snoop Dogg featuring fellow American rapper Pharrell Williams. It was released on September 27, 2004, as the lead single from Snoop Dogg's seventh studio album, R&G : The Masterpiece (2005). The song was produced by the Neptunes. It is regarded as an iconic song, with Snoop performing the chorus and the second and third verses while Pharrell performs the first verse.
Fu-Schnickens were an American hip-hop trio from 1988 to 1995, based in Brooklyn, New York.
Dorothy Smith, better known by her stage name Patra, is a Jamaican reggae/dancehall singer.
The discography of Nas, an American rapper, consists of seventeen studio albums, one collaborative album, one group album, five compilations, four mixtapes, one extended play, and seventy-nine singles. Nas has sold over 20 million records in the United States alone, and 35 million albums worldwide.
"Changes" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring R&B group Talent. It was recorded in 1992 before being remixed and released as a single from Shakur's Greatest Hits compilation on October 13, 1998. The song makes references to the many wars in the Middle East, the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, racism, the reconciliation between the black and white people in America, the perpetuation of poverty and its accompanying vicious-cycle value system in urban African American culture, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto.
American singer Aaliyah has released three studio albums, two compilation albums, and 31 singles. Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn, New York City and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At age 10, she appeared on Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah signed a deal with Jive Records and Blackground Records. During that time, she met R. Kelly through her uncle Barry Hankerson; eventually, he became her mentor, sole lead songwriter, and producer for her debut album. Released in 1994, Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sold three million copies in the United States. Months after the release of her album, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records due to allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly.
"Frontin'" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams featuring fellow American rapper Jay-Z. It was written by the artists alongside Chad Hugo, who produced it with Williams as the Neptunes. At the time of its release, Williams insisted the single was a one-off, and that he was purely a producer and not an artist in his own right. However, he released his own solo studio album, In My Mind, in 2006.
"Walk On By" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for singer Dionne Warwick in 1963. Warwick's recording of the song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Cash Box Rhythm and Blues Chart In June 1964 and was nominated for a 1965 Grammy Award for the Best Rhythm and Blues Recording.
"Slow Jamz" is a song by American rapper Twista featuring fellow American rapper and producer Kanye West and American singer Jamie Foxx. Produced by the latter, it was released in November 2003 through Atlantic and Roc-A-Fella Records, as the lead single from Twista's fourth studio album Kamikaze (2004), and the second single from West's debut studio album The College Dropout (2004). The song was written by Twista and West, with additional writing credits going to Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the sampling of Luther Vandross' cover of Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "A House Is Not a Home". Containing genres of hip hop, pop rap, R&B, and soul, the song's lyrics reference slow jam artists and describes the role of lovermen.
"Baby-Baby-Baby" is a song by American girl group TLC. It was the second single released from their debut studio album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip (1992), and their second consecutive top-10 hit. It was the most successful single from the album, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, giving them their first number-one single on that chart.
"Candy Girl" is the debut single by New Edition from their debut album Candy Girl. It was released as a single in late February 1983 and the song hit number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the 31st-best-selling single of the year. It also peaked at number 1 on the Hot Black Singles chart, passing Michael Jackson’s song "Beat It" on May 14, 1983.
"Gone till November" a song by Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean, released as the third single from debut solo album, The Carnival (1997). The song was released on 25 November 1997 by Columbia and Ruffhouse, and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Jean's highest-charting solo hit in the UK alongside 2000's "It Doesn't Matter". In the United States, the song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reached number four in both Canada and New Zealand
"Shorty (You Keep Playin' with My Mind)" is the debut single from R&B group Imajin and features a rap from Keith Murray. It peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1998. The song contains a sample of "Dance With Me" by Peter Brown.
Prince released several hundred songs both under his own name and under pseudonyms and/or pen names, as well as writing songs which have been recorded by other artists. Estimates of the actual number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000. He has released 117 singles, 41 promotional singles, 24 internet singles, and eight internet downloads.
The discography of the Fugees, an American hip hop trio consisting of rapper/singer Lauryn Hill and rappers Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean, consists of two studio albums, three compilation albums, one remix album and nine singles and nine music videos. After the group formed in the 1980s under the name Tranzlator Crew, they signed to Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records in 1993; they then changed their name to Fugees – an abbreviation of "refugees", also a reference to Haitian immigrants.
