Along with fellow Harlem-based player Camron Jim Jones founded the Diplomat label home to the DiplomatsDipset and many of that crews prolific solo activities Though more of a businessman and behind-the-scenes figure than an MC he was also named a dir…

Rapper Lil Boosies hard Southern style comes from growing up in one of Baton Rouge LAs more notorious neighborhoods one that was known for drugs and gunplay Not having his father in his life was another challenge but things began moving in a positive…

Atlanta-based Young Jeezy originally planned on having a background role in the music industry -- as a businessman not as a rapper Years before making his first Def Jam album -- Lets Get It Thug Motivation 101 released in July 2005 -- he set up Corpo…

Atlanta, Georgia-based rapper Ludacris was a local success story. As a former intern on an Atlanta radio station, he became known for his theatrical station IDs. In 2000 he parlayed this notoriety into a successful debut album that he self-marketed t…

Although T.I. was a player on the Atlanta rap scene as early as early as 2001, a less-than-stellar debut and a brief prison stint delayed his rise to fame until 2004 and the release of URBAN LEGEND. Featuring a host of top-shelf producers and guest M…

Born into a Jamaican-American family in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan Shawn Mims grew up influenced by the rappers just south of him in Harlem Despite the fact that he lost both parents by the time he was 13 Mims focused on music h…

b. Aliaune Thiam, St. Louis, USA. The son of jazz percussionist Mor Thiam, Akon spent his early years in the west African country of Senegal before his family returned to the USA and settled in New Jersey. His parents relocated to Atlanta while he wa…

Atlanta rapper and TI protg Young Dro decided to pursue a career in rap music in order to break the cycle of tribulations from hustling and inner-city life Young Dro was born DJuan Hart in Bankhead a particularly rough neighborhood on Atlantas west s…