Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino American hip hop recording group to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 20 million albums worldwide. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast rap and hip hop in the early 1990s, being critically acclaimed for their first four albums. The band has also advocated for medical and recreational use of cannabis in the United States.
Andre Romelle Young, better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, record executive, actor, and audio engineer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and was previously co-owner of Death Row Records. Dr. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1985, and later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dr. Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy beats.
Gangsta rap or gangster rap is a style of hip hop music whose themes and lyrics primarily deal with the gangster lifestyle. The genre evolved from hardcore rap into a distinct form, pioneered in the mid-1980s by rappers such as Ice-T and popularized in the later part of the 1980s by rap groups like N.W.A. After the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A attracted in form of hip hop, soon became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. Many gangsta rap artists openly boast of their associations with various active street gangs as part of their artistic image, with the Crips and Bloods being the most commonly represented.
Tracy Lauren Marrow, better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician, rapper, songwriter, actor, record producer, and author. 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 after Slick Rick's La Di Da Di. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records and released another album, Power, which went on to go Platinum. He also released several other albums that went Gold.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, popularly known by his stage name 2Pac, was an American rapper and actor. He is considered by many as one of the most significant rappers of all time. Much of Shakur's work has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of resistance and activism against inequality.
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip-hop group and collective formed in the New York City borough of Staten Island in 1992, originally composed of rapper-producer RZA and rappers GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa. An important act in the East Coast and hardcore hip-hop styles, Wu-Tang Clan are regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time. Their 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang , is considered one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.
Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap traditions, he is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. The Notorious B.I.G. became known for his distinctive laidback lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content and his own intimidating appearance. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.
O'Shea Jackson, called Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor, and filmmaker. His lawless lyrics on N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton led gangsta rap's outbreak. Yet his solo albums of 1990 and 1991 rank high in political rap. In 1991 and 1995, entering film, he starred in Boyz n the Hood and cocreated Friday.
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, and actor. He is regarded by many contemporaries as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. His career began in 1996, at the age of 13, when he was discovered by Birdman and joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label. He joined the southern hip hop group Hot Boys, with Cash Money label-mates Juvenile and Turk, in 1997, who became popular following the release of the album Guerrilla Warfare (1999) and the song "Bling Bling". For many years, Lil Wayne was the flagship artist of Cash Money Records, before ending his long-tenured deal with the company in June 2018.
Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by the rap group N.W.A, formed in Los Angeles county's City of Compton. Released on August 8, 1988, by Ruthless Records, founded by N.W.A leader Eazy-E, the album was produced by N.W.A's Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A's Ice Cube and MC Ren with Ruthless rapper The D.O.C. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety and led to the group calling itself "the world's most dangerous group."
André Lauren Benjamin, better known by his stage name André 3000, is an American rapper and actor best known for being a part of hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. Both Billboard and Showbiz Cheatsheet have listed André 3000 as one of the top 10 rappers of all time. As an actor, Benjamin has made appearances in a number of films and television series, including Families, The Shield, Be Cool, Revolver, Semi-Pro, Four Brothers, and in the lead role of Jimi Hendrix in All Is by My Side. He currently plays Fredwynn on the AMC anthology series, Dispatches from Elsewhere.
Katrina Laverne Taylor, known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper and television personality. She first gained notoriety in 1998 with her appearance on the single "Nann Nigga" from Trick Daddy's second studio album www.thug.com.
Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal- and hardcore punk-oriented influences, respectively.
Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., better known by his stage names T.I. and Tip, is an American rapper, singer, actor, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, record executive, and author. Harris signed his first major-label record deal in 1999 with Arista subsidiary LaFace. In 2001, Harris formed the Southern hip hop group P$C, alongside his longtime friends and fellow Atlanta-based rappers Big Kuntry King, Mac Boney, and C-Rod. Upon being released from Arista, Harris signed to Atlantic and subsequently became the co-chief executive officer (CEO) of his own label imprint, Grand Hustle Records, which he launched in 2003. Harris is also known as one of the artists who popularized the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with Jeezy and Gucci Mane.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Credited for popularizing hip hop to Middle America, Eminem's global success and acclaimed works is widely recognized for breaking racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the early 2000s made him hugely controversial, he became a leading figure for representation of American underclass and reflected the angst of the millennials. He has been influential for many artists of various genres and is cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Hip hop music, also called rap music, is a genre of popular music developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans and Latino Americans in the Bronx borough of New York City in the 1970s. It consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, and rhythmic beatboxing.
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, better known as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born American rapper, singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Born in Saint James and raised in the Queens borough of New York City, she gained public recognition after releasing the mixtapes Playtime Is Over (2007), Sucka Free (2008), and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009).
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer. He is regarded by many critics and contemporaries as one of the most influential artists of his generation, and often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Aside from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his TDE label-mates Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q.
Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, better known by his stage name Future, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he first became involved in music as part of the Dungeon Family collective, where he was nicknamed "the Future". After amassing a series of mixtapes between 2010 and 2011, Future signed a major record label deal with Epic Records and Rocko's A1 Recordings, which helped launch Future's own label imprint, Freebandz. He subsequently released his debut album, Pluto, in April 2012 to positive reviews. Future's second album, Honest, was released in April 2014, surpassing his debut on the album charts.
Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American vocalist and songwriter.
