Eve Jihan Cooper is an American rapper, singer, and actress from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her debut studio album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady (1999) peaked atop the Billboard 200, received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and spawned the hit singles "What Ya Want", "Love Is Blind", and "Gotta Man". That same year, she guest featured on the Roots' Grammy Award-winning single "You Got Me", as well as Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz", both of which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Jason Terrance Phillips, better known by his stage name Jadakiss, is an American rapper from Yonkers, New York. He began his career in the 1990s and formed the hip hop trio the Lox alongside Styles P and Sheek Louch in 1994. The group signed with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records, an imprint of Arista Records to release their debut studio album, Money, Power & Respect (1998); their second album, We Are the Streets (2000) was released by Ruff Ryders Entertainment, an imprint of Interscope Records. Both peaked within the top five of the Billboard 200 and yielded critical praise; their two subsequent albums, Filthy America... It's Beautiful (2013) and Living Off Xperience (2020) were both released by Jay-Z's Roc Nation and met with continued praise.
Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development deal with Warner Bros. Records, she was asked by veteran producer Quincy Jones to appear on his album Q's Jook Joint (1995), earning her Grammy Award nominations for their collaboration on "You Put a Move on My Heart" and "Slow Jams". Her self-titled debut album was released in 1998 and followed by a series of successful albums with Elektra Records, including A Nu Day (2000) and More (2004). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including "So Into You", "Stranger in My House", and "Imagination", as well as her collaborations "Into You", "Missing You", and "Spend My Life with You".
Clipse, also known as The Clipse, is an American hip hop duo, chiefly active from 1994 to 2010. It consists of brothers Gene "No Malice" and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during the group's early years, while No Malice was originally known as Malicious, then changed his stage name to Malice soon after the group's formation, before changing it again to No Malice in 2012 following a conversion to Christianity. The duo were based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and were heavily affiliated with producer and fellow Virginia Beach native, Pharrell Williams, who convinced the two in 1992 to be a rap duo instead of solo artists. Williams would go on to serve as their label head, main producer and frequent guest artist through most of their career. The duo frequently rapped about the drug dealing they had done in their youth. Clipse was integral in establishing Virginia as one of the East Coast's strongholds in hip hop.
K-Ci & JoJo is an American R&B duo, consisting of brothers Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey and Joel "JoJo" Hailey. Natives of Charlotte, North Carolina, they are also the lead singers of the chart-topping R&B group Jodeci with the DeGrate brothers—Donald and Mr. Dalvin. They are known for the 1998 smash hit "All My Life" which was the No.1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and received multiple Grammy nominations. They were also featured artists on another No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hit single, 2Pac’s 1996 song "How Do U Want It", which also received a Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy nomination in 1997. K-Ci & JoJo also achieved mainstream success with the 1999 hit "Tell Me It's Real", which peaked at No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their 2001 song "Crazy" was included on the Save the Last Dance soundtrack and peaked at No.11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ruff Endz is an American R&B duo, consisting of members David "Davinch" Chance and Dante "Chi" Jordan from Baltimore, Maryland. They are best known for their hit singles "No More" and "Someone to Love You" Originally part of a quartet, the two left the group in 1994 to form the duo.
Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous is the debut studio album by American rapper Big L, and the only to be released during his lifetime. It was released on March 28, 1995, by Columbia Records. The recording sessions took place primarily at Powerplay Studios in Queens, New York, in mid-to-late 1994. The album was produced by Buckwild, Lord Finesse, Showbiz, and Craig Boogie. The album title is a play on the television series, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Donell Jones is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He met record producer Eddie F in the mid-1990s and signed with his record label Untouchables Entertainment, beginning his career as a songwriter for its parent label, LaFace Records. He signed with the label as a recording act to release his debut studio album, My Heart (1996), which was met with lukewarm commercial reception despite yielding his first Billboard Hot 100 entries with its singles "In the Hood", and his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet."
American R&B singer-songwriter R. Kelly has released 18 studio albums, five compilation albums, one soundtrack album, six video albums, one mixtape, two extended play, and 133 singles.
American rapper DMX released eight studio albums, seven compilation albums, three mixtapes, 47 singles and 24 music videos.
"No More" is the title of a number-one R&B single by group Ruff Endz. The song spent one week at number one on the US R&B chart and peaked at number five on the US pop chart. The song is the duo's best-selling and known single to date.
More is the third studio album by Canadian R&B recording artist Tamia. It was released by Elektra Records on April 6, 2004 in North America. Created over a period of three years, in which the singer gave birth to her first child, the album, initially titled Still, was bumped from its original August 2003 schedule after Tamia was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and forced to undergo treatment. With the illness in remission, she resumed work on the album later that year and arranged additional recording sessions with producers Poke & Tone, Spanador and R. Kelly to revamp parts of the album which saw her also reteaming with frequent partners such as Jermaine Dupri, Shep Crawford and Mario Winans.
Tim & Bob, also known as Funktwons, were an American songwriting and production duo from Peoria, Illinois. The duo has been credited on the Billboard Hot 100 top ten-singles "Thong Song" for Sisqó, "Slow Down" for Bobby V, "They Don't Know" for Jon B., and the top 40-singles "So Into You" for Tamia and "Come See Me" for 112. They discovered the latter act in Atlanta during the late 1990s, and worked extensively with artists Bobby V, Boyz II Men, Donell Jones and Monica to produce one or more of their albums, respectively. They disbanded in 2014 to separately pursue solo work.
Ryde or Die Vol. 2 is the second compilation album by American hip hop collective and record label Ruff Ryders. It was originally scheduled for release on March 7, 2000, but was delayed to July 4, 2000 and released via Interscope Records and Ruff Ryders. Recording sessions took place at Chung King Studios, Sony Music Studios, Battery Studios, Powerhouse Studios in New York City, at the Record Plant, the Enterprise, Westlake Audio in Los Angeles, at the Hit Factory Criteria in Miami. Production was handled by Swizz Beatz, Mahogany, Teflon, Icepick, P. Killer Trackz and TJ Beatz, with Darrin Dean, Joaquin Dean, Chivon Dean and Leota Blacknor serving as executive producers. It features guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, Method Man & Redman, Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Trick Daddy, Twista, and Yung Wun.
Someone to Love You is the second studio album by American R&B duo Ruff Endz. It was released on May 14, 2002, via Epic Records. Recording sessions took place from 2001 to 2002 at Lobo Recording Studio, at Sony Music Studios, at the Weight Room Studios, at Right Track Studios and at Big Noise Studios in New York, at KC Productions Recording Studio in Washington, D.C., at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and at Vanguard Studios in Detroit. Production was handled by Nate Clemons, Mike Clemons, Cory Rooney, Troy Oliver, C. Cole, Dan Shea, Frank Johnson, Night & Day, Seven, the Characters and Ruff Endz. It peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and number 8 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
The discography of American rapper Memphis Bleek consists of four studio albums, twelve mixtapes, seventeen singles and fifteen music videos. An early signing to rapper Jay-Z's record label Roc-A-Fella Records, Bleek appeared on several of Jay-Z's early songs, and collaborated with him on the single "It's Alright" from the soundtrack to the film Streets Is Watching, which peaked at number 61 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Bleek went on to release his debut album, Coming of Age, in 1999, which contained the singles "Memphis Bleek Is...", "My Hood to Your Hood" and "What You Think of That".
Tanya Trotter is an American actress, musician and author. She began her career as a teen actress, appearing in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. She went on to release her debut album Natural Thing (1994), which featured the songs "Through the Rain" and "I'm Gonna Make You Mine". Blount is currently one half of the Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty.
Music From the Motion Picture Down to Earth is the soundtrack to Paul and Chris Weitz's 2001 film Down to Earth. It was released on February 13, 2001 through Epic/Sony Music Soundtrax. It consisted of a blend of hip hop and contemporary R&B music. The soundtrack was a minor success, peaking at #71 on the Billboard 200 and #34 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and spawned two promotional singles: Ruff Endz's "Someone to Love You" which peaked at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Monica's "Just Another Girl" which peaked at #64 on the same chart.
The discography of K-Ci & JoJo, an American R&B duo made up of Cedric and Joel Hailey, consists of five studio albums, five compilation albums, fifteen singles, and fifteen music videos. K-Ci & JoJo were originally the lead singers of the R&B group Jodeci before signing a record deal with MCA Records. In 1997, they released their debut album, Love Always. In the United States, Love Always peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, the album reached the top 50 on the Swiss, Canadian, and Australian Charts, and appeared on the UK and Swedish Albums Chart. The album produced four singles, including the multi-national number-one song, "All My Life".
Richard Anthony Jones, better known by his stage name Fiend, is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. His debut studio album, I Won't Be Denied (1995) was released by local record label Big Boy Records, although he signed with its regional competitor, Master P's No Limit Records to release its follow-up, There's One in Every Family (1998). The latter peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and was followed by his third album, Street Life (1999) which peaked at number 15 on the chart and served as his final release with No Limit.
