Rufus Johnson, better known by his stage name Bizarre, is an American rapper, best known for his work with the Detroit-based hip hop group D12.
Jill Heather Scott is an American singer, songwriter, model, poet, and actress. Her 2000 debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went platinum and the follow-ups Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 (2004) and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 (2007) both achieved gold status.
CunninLynguists is an American hip hop group from Lexington, Kentucky. The group consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti.
Pedro Antonio Rojas, Jr., better known by his stage name Tonedeff, is an American rapper, producer, singer-songwriter and record executive.
Jun Seba, better known by his stage name Nujabes, was a Japanese record producer, audio engineer, DJ, composer and arranger best known for his atmospheric instrumental mixes sampling from hip hop, soul, and jazz, as well as incorporating elements of trip hop, breakbeat, downtempo, and ambient music.
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by Billboard. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 positions but was shortened to 50 positions in October 2012.
Hydeout Productions 1st Collection is a compilation album, the first of two released by Nujabes' Hydeout Productions label. It showcases Nujabes' style of combining the music genres of hip hop and jazz, and features artists Funky DL, Apani B, Substantial, Shing02, L-Universe, Pase Rock, Five Deez, and Cise Starr.
Shingo Annen, better known by his stage name Shing02, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist, record producer, activist and investor. He was described by Patrick Neate as one of the Japanese emcees who "has addressed important issues from Japanese ethnicity to sexual exploitation to the education system."
Daniel Domingo Carrillo, better known by his stage name Termanology, is an American rapper and record producer. He first gained major attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, Politics as Usual, was released in 2008. He has made a number of collaborative albums, such as 1982 and is known also for his prolific mixtape output. He is of Puerto Rican and French descent.
Strange Journey Volume Two is the fourth mixtape by Southern hip-hop group CunninLynguists, released on November 3, 2009. The album features guest appearances from E-40, Sean Price, Witchdoctor, Evidence, Geologic of Blue Scholars and Tonedeff, among others. The production is mostly handled by Kno, with contributions from Blue Sky Black Death and J-Zone. Strange Journey Volume Two followed the July 2009 release of Strange Journey Volume One.
Willis Garnett Polk II, better known by his stage name Deacon the Villain, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer from Versailles, Kentucky. He is a founding member of the hip hop group CunninLynguists. Deacon has produced for the likes of KRS-One, King Tee, and J-Ro from Tha Liks, among others. Deacon the Villain has been featured in notable journalism sources such as XXL, Pop Matters, HipHopDX, and Exclaim!, among others.
Victor Kwesi Mensah, known professionally as Vic Mensa, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, he was a member of the regional hip hop groups Kids These Days and Savemoney prior to releasing his debut solo mixtape, Innanetape (2013). As a solo artist, Mensa has been signed to Virgin EMI Records, Def Jam Recordings, Capitol Records, and Roc Nation.
O'Shea Jackson Jr. (born February 24, 1991), also known by the stage name OMG, is an American actor, rapper and songwriter. He is the oldest son of Ice Cube and, in his feature film debut, portrayed his father in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Hydeout Productions 2nd Collection is a compilation album published by Japanese label Hydeout Productions in 2007. Mainly a Nujabes album, it features numerous other hip hop and downtempo artists including Pase Rock, Uyama Hiroto, and Shing02. It was Nujabes' last album before his death in 2010. The album cover image is a painting by Texas artist, Cheryl D. McClure.
Force of Nature is a hip-hop DJ and production duo from Tokyo, Japan. The group is composed of members Ikuzumi Kitazawa, known by his stage name KZA, and Kento Sasaki, known by his stage name DJ Kent or The Backwoods. Known internationally for their DJ work as well as their production, the duo is also credited as part of the production team that scored the music for the anime series Samurai Champloo.
Playback 808 is an Australia-based independent record label and creative movement founded in 2011 by recording artist, activist and poet Gabriel Akon. The imprint is independently distributed and releases most of its content digitally.
Jersey club is a style of electronic club music that originated in Newark, New Jersey in the early 2000s. It was pioneered by DJ Tameil, Mike V, DJ Tim Dolla and DJ Black Mic of the Brick Bandits crew, who were inspired by Baltimore club's uptempo hybrid of house and hip hop. Other young producers also pushed for the progression of this style of music in the late 2000s.
Lofi hip hop is a form of downtempo music that combines elements of hip hop and chill-out music. It was popularized in the 2010s on YouTube.
Luv(sic) Hexalogy is an album collaboration created and finalized posthumously by the Japanese producer Nujabes and Japanese hip hop artist Shing02. It is a jazz hip hop album that incorporates latin jazz/soul samples and drum beats to create the instrumentals. The scratching was performed by various DJs and the vocals/lyrics were created by Shing02.
The music of the 2004 anime series Samurai Champloo, created by the studio Manglobe, was produced by a team of four composers drawn from the hip hop musical scene. They were Shinji "Tsutchie" Tsuchida of Shakkazombie, Fat Jon, Nujabes and Force of Nature. The musical direction was chosen by series creator and director Shinichirō Watanabe as part of his planned blending of hip hop culture with the anime's setting in the Edo period, additionally incorporating contributions from guest artists. The opening theme "Battlecry" was performed and co-written by Shing02, while the various ending themes were performed by Minmi, Kazami, and Azuma Riki. The final episode's ending theme was "San Francisco", licensed from the rapper band Midicronica.
