Christopher Brian Bridges, known professionally as Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age nine, where he first began rapping. Starting out with a brief stint as a DJ, he formed his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s, closing the decade with his debut album Incognegro (1999). The album was re-released as his major label debut, Back for the First Time (2000) upon signing with Def Jam Recordings. Its singles, "Southern Hospitality" and "What's Your Fantasy", became top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Katrina Laverne Taylor, known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s for her collaborations with Trick Daddy on the singles "Nann Nigga", "Shut Up", and "Take It to da House". In 2000, she released her debut album Da Baddest Bitch. Afterwards, she made an appearance on the remix of "One Minute Man" by Missy Elliott and Ludacris. In 2002, she released the Kanye West-produced single "B R Right" featuring Ludacris, from her sophomore album Diamond Princess (2002).
Mario Dewar Barrett, known mononymously as Mario, is an American R&B singer. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, he signed a record deal with J Records at the age of 14 and released his self-titled debut studio album (2002) to commercial success. It contained the Billboard Hot 100-top five single, "Just a Friend 2002." His second album, Turning Point (2004) was supported by the single "Let Me Love You," which peaked atop the chart, won two Billboard Music Awards, received a Grammy Award nomination, and remains his most commercially successful release.
Glennon Ricketts Jr., professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations.
Goodies is the debut studio album by American singer Ciara. It was released on September 28, 2004, via Jazze Pha's Sho'nuff Records and LaFace Records. After writing songs for several established acts, Ciara's talents were noticed by Jazze Pha, and she began to work on what became Goodies. The album's conception came through the title track, produced by Lil Jon and created as a female crunk counterpart to other singles produced by Lil Jon such as Usher's "Yeah!" and Petey Pablo's "Freek-a-Leek". Ciara worked with additional writers and producers on the album, including Jazze Pha, Bangladesh, R. Kelly, Johntá Austin, Sean Garrett, and Keri Hilson, among others.
Tremaine Aldon Neverson, known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and actor. He was discovered by record producer Troy Taylor in 2003, and later signed to his Songbook Entertainment label in a joint venture with Atlantic Records. His debut studio album, I Gotta Make It (2005) entered the Billboard 200 at number 20, while his second album, Trey Day (2007) reached number 11. The latter was supported by the single "Can't Help but Wait", which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. His third album, Ready (2009) reached number three on the Billboard 200, spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top ten single "Say Aah", and earned a nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Case Woodard is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for the 1990s hits "Touch Me, Tease Me", "Happily Ever After" and "The Best Man I Can Be" with Ginuwine, R.L. and Tyrese, as well as the early 2000s hits "Missing You" and "Livin' It Up" with Ja Rule. The latter two earned him two Grammy Award nominations.
Release Therapy is the sixth studio album by American hip hop recording artist Ludacris. It was released on September 26, 2006, under Disturbing tha Peace and Def Jam South. Production for the album was done by The Neptunes, The Trak Starz, Dre & Vidal, DJ Toomp, The Runners and Polow da Don, and features guest contributions from rappers Young Jeezy, Field Mob, Beanie Sigel, Pimp C and C-Murder and R&B singers Pharrell, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly and Bobby Valentino.
Double Up is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter R. Kelly. It was released by Jive Records on May 29, 2007 in the United States, with distribution handled by Zomba Label Group. The album features the contributions with guest appearances and also the productions, which was handled by R. Kelly, along with Swizz Beatz, The Runners, Snoop Dogg, Khao, Nelly, Chamillionaire and Polow da Don.
Battle of the Sexes is the eighth studio album by American rapper Ludacris, released March 9, 2010 on Disturbing tha Peace and Def Jam South. The album was recorded during 2008 to 2010 and its production was handled by several producers, including T-Minus, Bangladesh, Swizz Beatz, The Neptunes, and The Runners.
Khalil Amir Sharieff is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and rapper from Sacramento, California. At the age of 15, he was discovered by record executive Kawan Prather and signed to Island Def Jam in 2010. He released his debut single, "Girlfriend Ringtone", in May of that year and its follow up, "Hey Lil Mama", the following year; the former lingered on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Due to their lack of commercial response, his album Hot Like Summer was shelved indefinitely. Khalil and Def Jam labelmate Justin Bieber were closely associated; Sharieff was an accomplice to Bieber's 2014 legal encounters and public mishaps.
"Gone" is a song by American recording artist Nelly, taken from his sixth studio album, 5.0. Featuring additional lead vocals from American recording artist Kelly Rowland, "Gone" is the sequel to Nelly's 2002 worldwide number one single "Dilemma", also featuring Rowland. It was written by Eric Goudy II, Nelly, Earl Hood and co-written and produced by Rico Love & Jim Jonsin as a continuum to the love story outlined in "Dilemma". "Gone" was initially known as "Dilemma p.2" but the title was changed and Nelly stopped referring to the song as "Dilemma"' sequel for fear that it would not match people's expectations and through his desire for "Gone" to be recognised as a separate recording.
Freebandz is an American record label founded by American rapper Future in 2011. The label's releases are distributed through Epic Records. Freebandz has signed artists including Real Boston Richey, Lil Double O, Doe Boy, Young Scooter, and Future's personal mixtape compiler, DJ Esco.
Side Effects of You is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Fantasia. It was released in the United States on April 23, 2013, by RCA Records after the disbanding of her former label J Records in 2011. Dubbed as a rock soul album, it was primarily produced by Harmony Samuels whom Fantasia called her "Quincy Jones," referring to their creation process. British DJ Naughty Boy contributed the title track, while guest vocals were provided by rappers Big K.R.I.T. and Missy Elliott and singer Kelly Rowland.
"Somebody Else" is a song recorded by American R&B singer-songwriter Mario, featuring guest vocals from Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj. The song was released in the United States as a digital download on May 21, 2013, on RCA Records.
Sail Out is the debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist Jhené Aiko, released on November 12, 2013 through Def Jam Recordings. It was Aiko's first release under the label after leaving her contract with Sony Music in 2003. After leaving Sony Music, Aiko released her first mixtape Sailing Soul(s) (2011), independently; the mixtape featured appearances from well-known artists and was met with generally positive reviews and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. . In 2012, Aiko met with American record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam No I.D., who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint, through Def Jam.
"Back to Sleep", also known by the censored version title "Sex You Back to Sleep", is a song by American recording artist Chris Brown from his seventh studio album Royalty. The song was released as the album's third single and its first urban single on November 5, 2015. Three official remixes of the song were released during the first months of 2016: The first featuring Usher and Zayn, the second featuring Miguel, August Alsina, and Trey Songz, and the final featuring Tank, R. Kelly and Anthony Hamilton.
Montay Desmond Humphrey, known professionally as DJ Montay, is an American disc jockey, record producer and songwriter, who has worked with artists such as Flo Rida, T-Pain, Akon, Future, and Migos. He has a producer credit on Flo Rida's "Low”, which was one of the most successful singles of the 2000s. DJ Montay has had his productions featured in films such as Step Up 3D, Stomp the Yard, and Norbit.
"Crush" is a song by Malaysian artist Yuna featuring American singer Usher. It was released as a single from Yuna's third international studio album, Chapters (2016).
"Make This Song Cry" is a song recorded by American singer K. Michelle for her fourth studio album, Kimberly: The People I Used to Know (2017). It was released on October 6, 2017, by Atlantic Records as the third single from the album. The song's lyrics were written by K. Michelle, Phillip Cornish, Jeremiah "Sick Pen" Bethea and Douglas Gibbs. It was produced by Lil Ronnie. "Make This Song Cry" received positive reviews from music critics, with some praising the singer's vocal range. It contains a sample from Jay-Z's 2001 single "Song Cry". The track was performed during Michelle's The People I Used to Know Tour in 2017.
