Curated category
20th-century American rappers
- 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…
- EminemEminem walked onto the stage at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001 alongside Elton John, a gay icon performing with a rapper whose lyrics had drawn protests from…
- Kanye WestKanye Omari West was born on the 8th of June 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia, and by the time he was done reshaping American music, he had become one of the most…
- Jay-ZJay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on the 4th of December 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City, and grew up in the Marcy Houses, a public housing project in the…
- 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.
- Dr. DreAndre Romell Young was born on the 18th of February 1965 in Compton, California, the son of Theodore and Verna Young. His middle name came from the Romells…
- RaekwonRaekwon was accidentally shot four times in a crossfire, and he later called it an "important eye opener." That near-death moment pushed Corey Woods, born on…
- Marley MarlMarley Marl was the first producer who inspired Madlib to make beats. That single fact, drawn from an interview Madlib gave about his own origins, tells you…
- Large ProfessorLarge Professor was born William Paul Mitchell on the 21st of March, 1972, in Harlem, Manhattan, then raised in Flushing, Queens.
- Birdman (rapper)Birdman was born Bryan Christopher Brooks on the 15th of February 1969 at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, without a given first name.
- 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…
- Rick RossRick Ross was born William Leonard Roberts II on the 28th of January 1976 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and grew up in Carol City, Florida.
- TimbalandTimbaland was fourteen years old when a co-worker accidentally shot him at a local Red Lobster restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia, and left him partially…
- Lil WayneLil Wayne left school in tenth grade because his mother found a gun in his school bag. He was fifteen years old, already signed to a major label, already…
- The Notorious B.I.G.The Notorious B.I.G. was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles on the 9th of March 1997. He was twenty-four years old.
- Queen LatifahQueen Latifah chose her name at age eight, pulling it from a book of Arabic names. The word latifah means "delicate" and "very kind", but Dana Elaine Owens…
- Will SmithWill Smith was born on the 25th of September 1968 in Philadelphia, and before he turned thirty, he had already won Grammy Awards as a rapper, anchored a hit…
- Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali walked into the ring on the 25th of February 1964, a 22-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, facing Sonny Liston, the menacing heavyweight…
- MC HammerStanley Kirk Burrell grew up in a three-bedroom housing project apartment in East Oakland, California, with eight siblings and a mother who worked as a…
- Missy ElliottMissy Elliott was born Melissa Arnette Elliott on the 1st of July, 1971, at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia.
- Sean CombsSean Combs was born on the 4th of November 1969, in Harlem, New York City, and by the time he reached his mid-twenties he had reshaped American popular music…
- Kendrick LamarKendrick Lamar Duckworth was five years old when he watched a teenage drug dealer get killed in a drive-by shooting outside his apartment in Compton…
- Snoop DoggCalvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. was born on the 20th of October 1971, in Long Beach, California, to a Vietnam War veteran who walked out on the family just three…
- 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.
- Afrika BambaataaAfrika Bambaataa was born Lance Taylor on the 17th of April, 1957, in the Bronx River Projects of New York City, to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants.
- 50 Cent50 Cent was shot nine times at close range outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica, Queens, on the 24th of May 2000.
- Shaquille O'NealShaquille Rashaun O'Neal was born on the 6th of March, 1972, in Newark, New Jersey, to a mother named Lucille and a biological father, Joe Toney, who would…
- LL Cool JLL Cool J was four years old when he walked in on his father's act of violence. James Todd Smith found his mother and grandfather shot and bleeding inside…
- MadlibMadlib sampled his first song at 11 years old, pulling a record from his father's collection in Oxnard, California. That early act of borrowing and reshaping…
- Sean PriceSean Duval Price entered the world on the 17th of March 1972. He grew up in the borough of Brooklyn during a time when hip hop was transforming from local…
- The Lady of RageThe Lady of Rage was born Robin Yvette Allen on the 6th of February, 1968, and she would go on to appear on two of the most influential rap albums ever made…
- Donald GloverDonald McKinley Glover Jr. was voted "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his high school yearbook at Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
- Ice-TIce-T was born Tracy Lauren Marrow on the 16th of February 1958 in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Solomon and Alice Marrow.
- 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.
- MF DoomMF Doom died on the 31st of October 2020, in a Leeds hospital, from an adverse reaction to blood pressure medication. His wife, Jasmine, was not permitted to…
- 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…