Curated category
21st-century American male rappers
- Jocko HendersonDouglas Henderson was born on the 8th of March 1918 in Baltimore. He grew up there with both parents working as teachers.
- FabolousJohn David Jackson stood before the microphone on the 18th of November 1977. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Breevort Houses within Bedford-Stuyvesant.
- Jay-ZShawn Corey Carter entered the world on the 4th of December 1969 within Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He grew up inside the Marcy Houses public…
- Roddy RicchRodrick Wayne Moore Jr. arrived in Compton, California on the 22nd of October 1998. He grew up within a Christian household that shaped his early years.
- 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. His parents married in 1964 and divorced four years later.
- Young ThugJeffery Lamar Williams was born on the 16th of August 1991, in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in the Jonesboro South projects near Cleveland Avenue as the…
- Marley MarlMarlon Lu'Ree Williams was born on the 30th of September 1962 inside the Queensbridge housing projects in Queens, New York.
- Large ProfessorWilliam Paul Mitchell was born in Harlem on the 21st of March 1972. He grew up in Flushing, Queens, where he attended IS 237 and John Bowne High School.
- Birdman (rapper)Bryan Christopher Brooks was born on the 15th of February 1969 at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother Gladys Brooks died when he was five…
- Jeru the DamajaKendrick Jeru Davis was born on the 14th of February 1971 in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his early years in the borough's East New York neighborhood where…
- Lil WayneDwayne Michael Carter Jr. arrived in the world on the 27th of September 1982 within the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans.
- MC HammerStanley Kirk Burrell grew up in a three-bedroom housing project apartment in East Oakland, California. He was born on the 30th of March 1962, into a family…
- Sean CombsSean John Combs was born on the 4th of November 1969, in Harlem, New York City. His father Melvin Earl Combs worked at a hair salon and served in the U.S.
- Hi-C (rapper)Crawford Wilkerson grew up in Compton, California. He joined the Tree Top Piru gang during his youth. This affiliation shaped his early life and future…
- Kendrick LamarKendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on the 17th of June 1987, in Compton, California. He grew up in Section 8 housing and relied on welfare and food stamps…
- Afrika BambaataaLance Taylor grew up in the Bronx River Projects during the 1960s and 1970s. He was born on the 17th of April 1957 to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants.
- 50 CentCurtis James Jackson III was born on the 6th of July 1975 in Queens, New York City. He grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood after his mother died in a…
- LL Cool JJames Todd Smith was born on the 14th of January 1968 in Bay Shore, New York. His childhood home became a crime scene when his father shot his mother and…
- MadlibOtis Lee Jackson Jr. arrived in the world on the 24th of October 1973 within Oxnard, California. His father Otis Jackson Sr.
- Lupe FiascoWasalu Muhammad Jaco arrived in Chicago on the 16th of February 1982. He grew up as one of nine children born to Shirley and Gregory Jaco.
- Donald GloverDonald McKinley Glover Jr. arrived at Edwards Air Force Base in California on the 25th of September 1983. His father worked as a postal worker stationed…
- Ice-TTracy Lauren Marrow arrived in the world on the 16th of February 1958. He was born in Newark, New Jersey to Solomon and Alice Marrow.
- Lil JonJonathan H. Smith was born on the 17th of January 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in Southwest Atlanta as the oldest of five children.
- MF DoomDaniel Dumile entered the world in Hounslow, London on the 13th of July 1971. His mother was from Trinidad and his father came from Zimbabwe.
- DMXEarl Simmons was born on the 18th of December 1970, in Mount Vernon, New York. He grew up as the middle child of a family that included two daughters and two…
- DJ Jazzy JeffJeffrey Allen Townes arrived in Philadelphia on the 22nd of January 1965. He grew up watching local block parties from a distance rather than dancing on the…
- Tech N9neAaron Dontez Yates was born on the 8th of November 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri. He began rapping at a very early age to spell out his own name letter by…