Curated playlist

21st-century American male rappers

Spoonie GeeAfter his mother died, twelve-year-old Spoonie Gee moved in with his uncle, a Harlem record producer.
Jocko HendersonRadio host Jocko Henderson sold his song publishing rights rather than risk the fate of Alan Freed.
FabolousFabolous got his name by misspelling "Fabulous." The Brooklyn rapper freestyled on Hot 97 as a teenager.
Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
Roddy RicchRoddy Ricch spent eighteen weeks atop the Hot 100 in 2020, more than any other artist that year.
Coke La RockCoke La Rock quit hip-hop after DJ Kool Herc was stabbed at a party. He said murder had become part of the game.
Dr. DreDr. Dre's G-funk had live musicians replay funk melodies instead of sampling them. It debuted on The Chronic.
Young ThugYoung Thug was expelled in sixth grade for breaking a teacher's arm.
Marley MarlMarley Marl's studio mistake with a snare drum changed how hip-hop beats were built.
Large ProfessorLarge Professor turned down an executive producer credit on Nas's Illmatic. He still produced three of its ten songs.
Birdman (rapper)Birdman was born without a first name and was called "Baby" for nearly a month. He later built Cash Money Records.
Jeru the DamajaRapper Jeru the Damaja answered a Fugees line on record after his album upset the group.
Lil WayneLil Wayne left school in tenth grade after his mother found a gun in his bag.
Tyler, the CreatorAt the age of seven, Tyler Gregory Okonma, known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, was already making albums that did not exist. He pulled the covers out of CD cases and made new ones for imaginary records, each with a tracklist and…
MC HammerMC Hammer started out as an 11-year-old selling baseballs in a parking lot. The Oakland A's owner hired him on the spot.
Sean CombsSean Combs founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the Notorious B.I.G. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.
Hi-C (rapper)Compton rapper Hi-C kept turning up on DJ Quik, AMG and 2nd II None records. It lasted from 1991 to at least 2004.
Kendrick LamarKendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018, the first for a piece outside classical and jazz.
Stephen Glover (screenwriter)Donald Glover hired his younger brother Stephen to co-write Atlanta with no TV writing experience.
Kid RockKid Rock, born Robert James Ritchie in Romeo, Michigan, was 17 when he signed with Jive Records. Years later, his album Devil Without a Cause sold 14 million copies. Both facts belong to one career, and little else about that career is…
Afrika BambaataaAfrika Bambaataa turned a street gang into a global peace movement. He wanted hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs.
50 Cent50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000, then blacklisted by the music industry. He built his comeback on mixtapes.
NasNas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, and every piece of that name carries a meaning. Nasir is an Arabic name for a helper and protector, and bin means son of. The American rapper, entrepreneur and record producer first recorded in 1989…
LL Cool JLL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
MadlibMadlib sampled his first song at 11 years old, using his father's record.
Travis ScottTravis Scott, born Jacques Bermon Webster II, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Houston, Texas. Within a single twelve-month span, three of his songs entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number one. No artist…
Juice WrldIn 2020, the rapper Juice Wrld was streamed on Spotify more than 5.9 billion times, which made him the fourth most streamed artist in the world. He had died the year before. The name is pronounced "juice world", and it belonged to a young…
Chris BrownChris Brown, born Christopher Maurice Brown, has sold more than 140 million records worldwide. That total places him among the best-selling music artists in the world. Across his career he has collected 219 awards from 566 nominations, and…
Lupe FiascoLupe Fiasco finished an album in 2010, but his record label refused to release it.
Donald GloverDonald Glover was voted most likely to write for The Simpsons. At 23 he landed a writing job on 30 Rock instead.
Ice CubeIce Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, started writing raps in ninth grade because a friend challenged him in typewriting class. The friend, nicknamed Kiddo, lost the contest. The class was at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los…
DJ Kool HercDJ Kool Herc played two copies of one record to stretch a drum break. He debuted the trick at a Bronx party in 1973.
XXXTentacionXXXTentacion, born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, was shot dead on the 18th of June 2018 near a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida. He was 20 years old. At the time, he was a rising and deeply polarizing figure in hip-hop.…
Jake PaulOn the 15th of November 2024, Jake Paul climbed into a boxing ring in Texas and beat Mike Tyson by unanimous decision. Tyson had once been the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. The judges scored the fight 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73…
Nick CannonNick Cannon is an American comedian, actor and rapper who once hosted a stunt in which a human cannonball was fired into slime. It happened at Nickelodeon's 2005 Kids' Choice Awards, and the ceremony called it the slime stunt. The moment…
Kid CudiKid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland on the 30th of January 1984. One day, while he was working at the BAPE store in New York, Kanye West came in and bought a few jackets. Cudi had forgotten to remove a security sensor…
Ice-TIce-T got his stage name when friends heard him recite novels by Iceberg Slim.
Lil JonLil Jon, the yelling voice of crunk, later made two albums of guided meditation.
MF DoomMF Doom died on October 31, 2020, but no one outside his family knew for two months. His wife then announced it.
MGKMGK, born Colson Baker and known for years as Machine Gun Kelly, took his original stage name from a gangster. The nickname belonged to George Kelly Barnes, a criminal of the Prohibition era. The man who borrowed it became a rapper,…
Kurtis BlowIn 1979, Harlem's Kurtis Blow became the first rapper signed by a major label.
Mac MillerBlue Slide Park, an album released on the 8th of November 2011, sold 144,000 copies in its first week and landed at the top of the US Billboard 200. No debut album distributed outside the major label system had done that since Tha Dogg…
ASAP RockyASAP Rocky became a radio name in August 2011, when his single "Peso" leaked online. Within weeks, Hot 97, a high-profile New York station, was playing it. The song helped push cloud rap, a style of hip hop, into mainstream attention. The…
DMXDMX was the first artist to open five straight studio albums at number one on the Billboard 200.
DJ Jazzy JeffDJ Jazzy Jeff went home in tears after winning a Grammy. He had just $500 in his bank account.
Tech N9neTech N9ne rapped the letters of his own name to remember how to spell it.