Kurtis Walker, professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper and the first to sign with a major record label. "The Breaks", a single from his 1980 self-titled debut album, is the first certified gold record rap song. Throughout his career he has released 17 albums and is currently an ordained minister.
Trip hop is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound, often incorporating elements of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, R&B, and other forms of electronic music, as well as sampling from movie soundtracks and other eclectic sources.
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises.
The Turtles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965 and best known for their 1967 hit song "Happy Together". They charted several other top 40 hits, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby" (1966), "She'd Rather Be With Me" (1967), "Elenore" (1968) and "You Showed Me" (1969).
Newcleus was an American electro and old school hip hop group that gained popularity in the early 1980s. The group is primarily known for its 12-inch single "Jam-On's Revenge" and "Jam on It" (1984), which began as an anti-rap joke, according to founding member DJ and producer Ben Cenac.
At the time (1981) we were going by the name Positive Messenger and were making music that had a purpose, either messages of love or faith or talking about the conditions of the world. However, we were still doing lots of Hip-Hop jams with our DJ crew Jam-On Productions. So, one of our DJs, Salvador Smooth, kept nagging me to do a Rap song. Having come out of Hip-Hop street battles in Brooklyn in the ’70s, I didn't really think much of the Rap records that were playing on the radio, so I figured as a joke I would make a parody jam ... I threw in an idea from an [event] that actually had happened in the ’70s, when a DJ who we had just blown out in a battle said to me "Yeah, you guys are bad, but you can't do this… wikki wikki wikki wikki," meaning how we didn't scratch on the turntables.
I used to play "Jam-On's Revenge" at our parties and it would fill the dance floor, so even though I had never planned to release it, when I was shopping Positive Messenger for a deal I put it on the tape just to fill out space at the end. Turned out it ended up being the track that drove everybody crazy! So, we went with it and changed our names to Newcleus."
Christopher Edward Martin, known professionally as DJ Premier, is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr—alongside the rapper Guru—and presently forms half of the hip hop duo PRhyme, together with Royce da 5'9".
Rare groove is music that is very hard to source or relatively obscure. Rare groove is primarily associated with funk, R&B and jazz funk, but is also connected to subgenres including jazz rock, reggae, Latin jazz, soul, rock music, northern soul, and disco. Vinyl records that fall into this category generally have high re-sale prices. Rare groove records have been sought by not only collectors and lovers of this type of music, but also by hip hop artists and producers.
Chris Barbosa is an American record producer from New York.
Peter O. Phillips, better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American music producer, DJ and rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, Havoc, The Alchemist, RZA, and Q-Tip as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Early on in his career, he was also famed for his remix work.
Todd Norton Terry is an American DJ, record producer and remixer in the genre of house music. His productions helped define the New York house scene in the 1990s and used extensive samples that blend the sounds of classic disco, the Chicago house sound, and elements of hip-hop. He has remixed a wide variety of artists.
Donald Lamont, professionally known by his stage name Donald-D, is an American rapper and record producer from the Bronx, New York. He is a member of the Universal Zulu Nation, a member of the B-Boys, and is best known as a member of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate.
Nicolas Jean-Pierre Patrick Dresti, better known by his stage name Space Cowboy, is a French-British singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer. Born in France and raised in England, Dresti first recorded in 1992 under the names of Vibes and DJ Apex, releasing breakbeat hardcore tracks. He then changed his stage name to Nicky Fabulous and produced a four track extended play, Pussy Galore in 1995. He has recorded under various pseudonyms including: DJ Supreme, Kings of Rhythm, Loop Da Loop, and DJ Chrome. In 2002, Dresti changed his stage name to Space Cowboy and did a cover of Prince's song, "I Would Die 4 U." In 2003, Space Cowboy debuted his first studio album Across the Sky. On 22 June 2005, he released his second full-length album Big City Nights and his third album, Digital Rock, the next year. Digital Rock Star, a re-release of Digital Rock, debuted as his fourth studio album on 20 October 2009.
Ryan Farish is an American composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentist. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, and based in Los Angeles, California, Ryan is known for his downtempo electronica, chillout, and uplifting dance music. His sound is a combination of anthemic melodies layered with organic downtempo grooves along with a collection of releases that infuse dance rhythms with uplifting themes. Ryan established his self-owned record label in 2008, RYTONE Entertainment, as a home to his own releases as well as those of other collaborative artists.
Frederick Crute, known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and culture. His weekly radio show airs on WBLS 107.5 FM from Monday to Saturday at 6pm EST.
Jesse West, a.k.a.3rd Eye is a producer/rapper. Jesse grew up in the Bronx River Projects, where the Master/Teacher DJ Afrika Bambaataa founded the Universal Zulu Nation.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Charles Turner better known as DJ Chuck Chillout, is an American hip hop DJ and producer.
Strafe is an American electro group that gained popularity in the mid-1980s. The group is primarily known for its single "Set It Off" (1984) which has been extensively sampled by hip-hop, house, techno, and EDM artists.
The Triggerman beat, also known as Triggaman, is a one-bar drum loop that originated from sampling "Drag Rap" by the Showboys and "Brown Beats" by Cameron Paul. The one-bar drum loop and bells was known to be used in bounce music, having been used in hundreds of records. The beat has been influential in recent hip hop music, including T.I. and Lil Wayne's "Ball", Drake's "Nice for What" and "In My Feelings", Juvenile's Back That Thang Up, David Banner's Like a Pimp and also "Go Crazy" by Chris Brown and Young Thug.
The B-Boys were an American old-school hip hop group, consisted of rappers Donald D, Brother-B, and DJ Chuck Chillout. They were signed to Vincent Davis' Vintertainment label in the United States and Morgan Khan's Streetwave label in the United Kingdom. The group has released five singles from 1983 to 1985, including a 12-inch extended play Cuttin' Herbie, which debuted on 28 January 1984 at number 90 on the UK Albums Chart. A few of their songs became very sampled among other rappers and producers.
