Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, blues, and hip hop. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound.
Dennis David Coles, better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of Enter the Wu-Tang , the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success. Ghostface Killah debuted his solo career with Ironman, which was well-received by music critics, in 1996. He has enjoyed continued success in the years that have followed, releasing critically acclaimed albums such as Supreme Clientele (2000) and Fishscale (2006). His stage name was taken from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film The Mystery of Chess Boxing. He is the founder of his own record label, Starks Enterprises.
Soul Asylum is an American rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
Purple Rain is a 1984 American romantic rock musical drama film scored by and starring Prince in his acting debut. Developed to showcase his talents, it contains several concert sequences, featuring Prince and his band The Revolution. The film is directed by Albert Magnoli, who later became Prince's manager, from a screenplay by Magnoli and William Blinn. The cast also features Apollonia Kotero, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos and Clarence Williams III.
D12 was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1995, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of de facto leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swifty McVay.
Murder Was the Case is a 1994 short film and soundtrack album starring and performed by Snoop Doggy Dogg. The 18 minute film was directed by Dr. Dre and Fab Five Freddy and chronicles the fictional death of Snoop Dogg and his resurrection after making a deal with the Devil. The film's title comes from Snoop's song of the same name from his debut album, Doggystyle, which had been released a year earlier.
Pop Levi is an English singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.
Algernod Lanier Washington, better known by his stage name Plies, is an American rapper. Born in Fort Myers, Florida, Plies was a wide receiver on the Miami Redskins football team of Miami University in Ohio for two years in 1995 before embarking on a musical career. After a brief transfer to University of Central Florida, he dropped out and signed with South Florida-based record label Slip-n-Slide Records in 2004; after four mixtapes, he signed a joint venture with Atlantic Records two years later.
Leon George Thomas III is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. After early roles in Broadway and providing the singing voice of Tyrone on the Nick Jr. animated series The Backyardigans (2006–2008), he played Andre Harris on the Nickelodeon series Victorious (2010–2013), for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination.
Justin Jude Clarke-Samuels, better known by his stage name Ghetts, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter. His music has been played on national radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100, BBC Asian Network, and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Currently, Ghetts is signed to independent record label Disrupt, and released his debut studio album, Rebel with a Cause, on 9 March 2014. Known for his hard hitting lyrics and intricate rhyme schemes, he is associated and has toured internationally with such acts as Kano and was a member of NASTY Crew.
Ronald Rummell Coleman, better known for his stage name OG Ron C, is an American DJ, radio personality, Grammy nominated record producer, and entertainment and management company executive, who is currently signed to OVO Sound and is also an on-air DJ for KQBT 93.7 The Beat. He is the owner of the Houston-based urban music online radio station ChopNotSlop Radio, former DJ of Southern rappers Chamillionaire and Slim Thug. Along with Michael 5000 Watts, he co-founded Swishahouse Records and helped jump-start the careers of Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Paul Wall and Mike Jones. The leader and founder of The Chopstars, he was the first Houston DJ to receive his own day when he got a proclamation from Mayor Sylvester Turner. He is most known for his F-Action Series Mixtape which features R&B songs Chopped and Screwed and to date has over 4,200 mixtapes and albums, both at regular speed and chopped and screwed speed. He has sold over 22,000,000 mixtapes and albums to date. He also is the founder of Chopnotslop Radio a 24-hour "Screwed" Radio station dedicated to DJ Screw.
Malcolm James McCormick, known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's local hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of 15. In 2010, he signed a record deal with independent label Rostrum Records and released his breakthrough mixtapes K.I.D.S. (2010) and Best Day Ever (2011). Miller's debut studio album, Blue Slide Park (2011), became the first independently distributed debut album to top the US Billboard 200 since 1995.
Marijuana Deathsquads is an American music group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group's sound has been described by City Pages as "ear-bending improv/dance grooves that defied listener expectations and spit in the face of easy categorization." NPR described the group as "a thrilling, relentless bombardment of sight and sound."
"A.D.H.D" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar from his debut studio album, Section.80 (2011). The song was produced by frequent collaborator and Top Dawg in-house producer Sounwave, of Digi+Phonics.
John Mark Nelson (born November 23, 1993) is an American songwriter and producer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. John Mark Nelson released his debut album Still Here in 2011. His second release, Waiting and Waiting, was released in August 2012. In June 2014, Nelson released his third album, Sings the Moon, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign that helped him fund the project. His fourth full-length album, I'm Not Afraid, was released in September 2015 on GRNDWIRE Records.
Robert Hedges, better known by his stage name Muja Messiah, is an American rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been a member of the groups Raw Villa and Villa Rosa. Vibe named him in "51 Best MySpace Rappers" and URB named him in "Next 1000." City Pages also named him the best Minneapolis hip hop artist of 2009.
Marques Adams, who goes by the stage name Sevin, is an American Christian hip hop rapper who has officially retired from music in September 2018. He has released 20 studio albums: All or None, Evin Angelz Kry (2004), Holy Mictramony, Feel me..., Father Forgive Me (2005), Sevin presentz : Hog Life : The LP, Work of Art : The R&B EP (2007), B 4 I Wake (2007), We Die (2007), Str8 frum tha Dragonz Mouth (2008), HOG MOB : Tha LP (2008), Faith, Love & Lust (2009), " Unreleased aka Rezin" (2009-10?), Finally Home (2010), "Finally Home Vol. 2" (2011), Purple Reign (2011), Commissary (2013), Pray 4 My Hood (2015), "I'll Wait" (2015), Purple Heart (2016), "Surrender" (2017), "Rather Die Than Deny" (2018), "Tha Mob Chronicles " (2018), and his final album "4eva Mobn" (2018). The album Commissary was his breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine charts. His four mixtapes were Nine 1 Sikk Mixtape volume 2 : City Of Kingz (2006) and 9 1 Sikk Mixtape volume 3 : Hunterz Moon (2007) Nine 1 Sikk Mixtape volume 4 : kakoon. He also released a greatest hits album, Street Legal (2006).
Ryan McMahon, better known by his stage name Iame, is an American rapper, record producer and record executive from Portland, Oregon. He is a member of the hip hop groups Oldominion and Sandpeople. In 2012, he released the album Lame$tream, which was given favorable reviews including Willamette Week, who on said "This is an MC at the very top of his game" and the albums's songs "shines a light on the MC's powerful grasp of storytelling." He has shared stages with Grayskul, Sleep, The Chicharones and Boom Bap Project, among many others.
Jason Jamal Jackson, known by his stage name 03 Greedo, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from the Watts neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California. He began to gain recognition for his Purple Summer mixtape series that started in 2016. He then saw further attention for the release of his mixtape, The Wolf of Grape Street (2018). His debut studio album, God Level, was released on June 26, 2018.
Ed Ackerson was an American musician and producer from Minneapolis. He produced or engineered dozens of records including works by prominent artists such as The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Dave Davies of The Kinks, Wesley Stace, Mason Jennings, Mark Mallman, John Strohm, Brian Setzer, Lizzo, Pete Yorn, The Wallflowers, Rhett Miller of The Old 97s, Jeremy Messersmith, and Juliana Hatfield. He owned a recording studio in Minneapolis, Flowers, and co-founded the Susstones record label. Ackerson led several notable Twin Cities pop/rock bands including Polara and The 27 Various, and released several solo records under his own name. He was also a prolific producer of albums by Twin Cities bands, and was regarded as one of the linchpins of the Minnesota music scene.
