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…

Fergie fits in between a diminishing trance scene and the radical advent of UK garage with an uncomplicated take on hard house ethics Beginning his DJ career at the age of 14 and taken through the clubland ranks with the help of Tony De Vit Fergie ma…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Though he first came to fame as a member of the definitive boy band N Sync, Justin Timberlake gained superstar status after stepping out on his own with his first solo album in 2002. JUSTIFIED showed that there was more to the then-21-year-old Timber…