In the late 1980s, Public Enemy connected the dots between politics, soul music, hard rock, marketing, turntablism, and rhyme, and turned hip-hop into an urban global youth movement. PE's pioneering albums are heralded as avant-garde artworks whose d…

The early-1990s advent of A Tribe Called Quest represented one of the key evolutions in rap music. The New York group signaled a shift from the boisterous braggadocio of the old school to a more laid-back, fun-loving form buoyed by sophisticated prod…

Long Island-born rappers Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith formed the underground hip-hop duo EPMD in the late 1980s. Creating a sound and stance so self-assured as to seem effortless, they were among very few rap artists with the talent to pull it off …

Since releasing his recording debut while still a teenager, LL Cool J has enjoyed one of the most successful and sustained careers in rap history. His aggressive, self-aggrandizing style was one of the form's touchstones in its early incarnation. Aft…

Hailed as a potential savior of the East Coast hardcore sound in an era when West Coast G-funk held a monopoly on the hip-hop audience's attention, Nas garnered no end of critical praise and street credibility with his debut album, 1994's influential…

Until Run-DMC came along in the early 1980s, most hip-hop music wasn't much more than nursery rhymes over disco loops. They popularized the idea of rap as a new kind of rock & roll--the voice of the streets set to the raw sounds of a turntablist one-…

Springing without warning from a late-1980s crack war-torn Los Angeles, N.W.A. made their neighborhood infamous with STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON. The group--which included Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E--was among the first on the West Coast to address str…

Considered one of rap's greatest storytellers, London-born/New York-raised Slick Rick got his start as a member of Doug E. Fresh's Get Fresh Crew. Going solo in 1988 with the hip-hop classic THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF SLICK RICK, he became famous for hi…

Striking the perfect balance between street cred and sophisticated musicality, Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr emerged as hip-hop pioneers in the late 1980s with their sophisticated, jazz-influenced sound. They are among the select few who command …

A founding member of seminal West Coast gangsta rap group NWA, Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson) has managed to acheive longevity in the notoriously short-lived world of rap stardom. His earlier solo albums (LETHAL INJECTION, DEATH CERTIFICATE) are among the…

Bronx, New York-based rap duo Boogie Down Productions (Scott La Rock and KRS-1) actively suggested that young blacks were entitled to use "any means necessary" in order to overcome years of prejudice and discrimination. Their debut album in 1987 sold…

b. USA. One of rap music's most respected producers, Mount Vernon, New York, USA-based Pete Rock was introduced to the world via Marley Marl's WBLS show in 1989. He has since gone on to work with everyone from forerunners Heavy D (his cousin), Slick …

Arriving in the early 1990s, when rap was split between gangstas and bohemian jazz-rappers, Staten Island's Wu-Tang Clan promptly reinvented intelligent hardcore hip-hop. A unique contract deal, allowing the group's individual members--including Ol' …

In the mid-1980s, the idea of white middle-class Jewish rappers may have provoked laughter or outright disdain, but the Beastie Boys' albums and singles have shown that they are anything but a joke. After hip-hop and rock fused into the music of choi…

Considered one of the best lyricists to emerge in the wake of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac's deaths, Jay-Z has since carried the flag of hip-hop narrative skill. His Roc-A-Fella family had already created a solid reputation based on Jay-Z's 1997 de…

From the Bronx, New York, USA and led by Grand Puba (b. Maxwell Dixon, New Rochelle, New York, USA; ex-Masters Of Ceremony), Brand Nubian's 1990 debut, One For All, was as cool, classy and unaffected as hip-hop comes. Joined by Lord Jamar (b. Lorenzo…

Rap duo comprising Andre "Dres" Titus (b. Sanford, North Carolina, USA) and William "Mista Lawnge' McLean (b. 11 December 1970, Sanford, North Carolina, USA), who are based in the Bronx, New York, though they actually met in North Carolina in 1983. T…

Like many rappers, New York underground hip-hop hero Mos Def was first heard on guest appearances with other artists, in this case Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. It was his 1998 collaboration with the like-minded Talib Kweli in the duo Black Star tha…

Hailing from New York City's notorious Queens Bridge projects, Prodigy and Havoc, a.k.a. Mobb Deep, took the hip-hop world by storm with the release of their second album, 1995's THE INFAMOUS. An instant classic, the album was filled with raw beats, …

Brooklyn, New York-based rappers who, from their formation in 1982, pioneered the commercial rap/rock crossover, while many also cite their earliest recordings as precursors to the "New Jack Swing" movement. Whodini are rappers Jalil Hutchins (b. 30 …