Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States and the Southeastern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami—five cities which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
Australian hip hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and is largely inspired by hip hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of music which is no longer restricted to the creative underground, with artists such as The Kid LAROI, Manu Crooks, ONEFOUR, Iggy Azalea, Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso and Youngn Lipz, having achieved notable fame. Australian hip-hop is still primarily released through independent record labels, which are often owned and operated by the artists themselves. Despite its genesis as an offshoot of American hip hop, Australian hip hop has developed a distinct personality that reflects its evolution as an Australian musical style.
Wesley "Wes" Williams is a Canadian rapper, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes or Maestro as a musician, and is credited by his birth name as an actor. One of the earliest Canadian rappers to achieve mainstream success, he is credited as the "Godfather of Canadian hip hop". His debut album, Symphony in Effect (1989), was the first certified platinum album by a Black Canadian artist.
1200 Techniques are an Australian hip hop group formed in 1997 in Melbourne, Australia, consisting of DJ Peril as producer, percussionist, DJ; N'fa Forster-Jones as lead vocalist and Kemstar as lead guitarist. Whilst primarily being in the genre of hip hip, they drew influences from other genres including rock, funk, soul, electro, drum and bass, electro jazz and breakbeat. They released their debut studio album, Choose One, in March 2002.
7L & Esoteric (7LES) are an underground hip hop duo from Boston, Massachusetts, known for battle rhymes and boom bap production. 7L is the duo's DJ/producer and Esoteric is the MC. 7L & Esoteric are both prominent members of underground hip-hop collectives Army of the Pharaohs and Demigodz, as well as being 2/3 of Czarface along with Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck.
William Braunstein, known by his stage name Ill Bill, is an American rapper and record producer from Brooklyn, New York. Having gained fame in the underground hip hop group Non Phixion, Ill Bill is known for his diverse lyrics and as the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records. His brother Ron is rapper and producer Necro.
Babygrande Records is an American independent record label based in New York City, founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by The Orchard and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood.
Army of the Pharaohs is an American underground hip hop collective originating from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed by Jedi Mind Tricks founder Vinnie Paz in 1998. The collective has strong links to other underground east coast groups such as Outerspace, Snowgoons, La Coka Nostra, Demigodz, 7L & Esoteric, and JuJu Mob. AOTP's affiliations and member roster has changed several times since its formation.
Seamus Ryan, better known by his stage name Esoteric, is a Boston-based underground hip-hop artist. Esoteric is half of the hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric, a third of Czarface and is a member of underground hip-hop collectives Army of the Pharaohs and Demigodz. He started his solo career in 2007.
Ghetto Concept is a Canadian hip-hop duo from Toronto, Ontario, composed of Kwajo Cinqo and Dolo. Infinite, who is currently a solo artist, is a former member of the group.
Dandelion was a rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania formed in 1989 by vocalist/guitarist Kevin Morpurgo, bassist Mike Morpurgo, guitarist Carl Hinds, and drummer Dante Cimino. Bayen Butler was also a member in 1993-1994. Due to their sound and image, Dandelion is often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s from Seattle.
OuterSpace is an underground hip hop duo from North Philadelphia. Originally a trio consisting of three Puerto Rican friends that then took the artist names Planetary, Jedeye and Crypt the Warchild. The founding member Mario Collazo (Planetary) was then attending 10th grade, while the other two, Richard Cruz (Jedeye) and Marcus Albaladejo, were in 8th grade.
CHOPS is the stage name of Scott Jung, also known as Scott Chops Jung, an Asian American hip hop producer, rapper and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. Jung grew up in Philadelphia and has Chinese ancestry. While with Mountain Brothers, he became known for using a combination of programmed and live instruments in his work, as opposed to sampling the work of others. Since the disbanding of the Mountain Brothers, CHOPS has worked primarily as a producer, with his most high-profile piece being the critically acclaimed 2011 video for Lonely Island entitled "The Creep."
Vincenzo Luvineri, better known as Vinnie Paz, is a Sicilian American rapper and producer behind the Philadelphia underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. He is also the frontman of the hip hop collective Army of the Pharaohs.
Mario Collazo, better known by his stage name Planetary, is an American underground rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is one half of the rap duo OuterSpace and a member of Army of the Pharaohs.
Angel Aguilar, better known by his stage names Agallah, 8-Off, Brad Piff, Swagallah and Agallah Don Bishop, is an American rapper and producer. He was a member of The Diplomats-affiliated group Purple City and he is the CEO of his label Propain Campain. He was formerly known as 8-Off Agallah.
Asian hip hop is a heterogeneous musical genre that covers all hip hop music as recorded and produced by artists of Asian origin.
Desmond Francis, better known by his stage name Infinite, is a Canadian rapper, best known for his contributions to the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike soundtrack, and as a member of hip hop group Ghetto Concept.
Christian Stevens is an American rapper and producer known by the stage name IAMISEE. In 2007, he provided lyrics and performance for Live from Planet B-Boy for the film Planet B-Boy. In 2008, IAMISEE produced Laisse-Nous Croire on the Kery James album À l'ombre du show business. The album reached number 3 on French Music charts in its first week. The record is certified platinum in France and was the biggest selling rap album of 2008 in France. In 2010, Blacksmith Records selected Threes, written, produced and performed by IAMISEE to be included on Talib Kweli & Year of The Blacksmith Present: The Community Mixtape.
The influence and impact of hip hop was originally shaped from African American and Latino communities in the South Bronx. In the last several decades, the movement has become a worldwide phenomenon which transcends different cultural boundaries as it reaches several ethnic groups, including Asian Americans. Asian American hip-hop practitioners include: MC Jin, Lyrics Born, Dumbfoundead, Tokimonsta, and DJ Q-Bert.
