Curated category
20th-century African-American musicians
- Keef CowboyRobert Keith Wiggins stood in a Bronx hallway on the 20th of September 1960. He would later become known as Keef Cowboy, but his name was just a sound to him…
- Spoonie GeeGabriel Jackson arrived in Harlem on the 27th of May 1963. He grew up using a spoon as his only eating utensil during early childhood years.
- Disco King MarioDisco King Mario was born on the 1st of July, 1956, in Edenton, North Carolina, and he died on the 21st of May, 1994 - a man who never released a single…
- Jocko HendersonDouglas Henderson was born on the 8th of March 1918 in Baltimore. He grew up there with both parents working as teachers.
- FabolousFabolous almost wasn't called Fabolous at all. John David Jackson, born in Brooklyn on the 18th of November 1977, intended to name himself simply "Fabulous"…
- Coke La RockCoke La Rock was born on the 24th of April 1955 in The Bronx, New York City. His family roots traced back to North Carolina before he arrived in the city.
- Large ProfessorLarge Professor was born William Paul Mitchell on the 21st of March, 1972, in Harlem, Manhattan, then raised in Flushing, Queens.
- Jeru the DamajaJeru the Damaja was born Kendrick Jeru Davis on the 14th of February, 1971, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the East New York neighborhood, where as a…
- Sha-RockSha-Rock, born Sharon Green on the 25th of October 1962, holds a title no one else can claim: the first female rapper. She did not grow up with hip hop…
- Dr. HepcatAlbert Lavada Durst arrived in Austin, Texas on the 12th of January 1913. He learned to play piano while still a child growing up in that city.
- Hi-C (rapper)Crawford Wilkerson, the rapper known as Hi-C, built his name on the streets of Compton, California, and on the recordings of some of West Coast rap's most…
- Tupac ShakurTupac Amaru Shakur was born on the 16th of June 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, not yet carrying the name the world would know him by.
- Dallas AustinDallas Austin was seven years old when he asked his mother to buy him a keyboard. She hesitated, convinced he would lose interest and move on.
- Bo DiddleyBo Diddley stepped onto The Ed Sullivan Show on the 20th of November, 1955, and promptly ignored every instruction he had been given.
- Gil Scott-HeronGil Scott-Heron was born on the 1st of April, 1949, in Chicago, and by the time he died on the 27th of May, 2011, he had changed American music in ways that…
- Kurtis BlowKurtis Blow stepped into a recording studio in 1979 as a twenty-year-old from Harlem, and walked out as the first rapper ever signed by a major label.
- Lil JonLil Jon was born Jonathan H. Smith on the 17th of January, 1971, in Atlanta, Georgia, and he grew up to reshape American club music from the ground up.
- DMXDMX sold 251,000 copies of his debut album in its very first week. That number alone would be remarkable for any artist.
- Tech N9neTech N9ne, born Aaron Dontez Yates on the 8th of November 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri, built one of the most unlikely empires in American hip-hop entirely…