Curated playlist

African-American record producers

Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
Kanye WestKanye West recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw still wired shut. A 2002 car accident had shattered it.
Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
Whitney HoustonWhitney Houston sold more than 220 million records and carried a nickname that needed no first name: "the Voice". She was born in 1963 and died in 2012. In between, she became one of the most awarded performers in history. In 2023, Rolling…
Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
BeyoncéOn the 13th of December 2013, Beyoncé released a complete album on the iTunes Store with no warning and no promotion. Within six days it had sold one million digital copies, a record for any album on iTunes at the time. The artist behind…
Dr. DreDr. Dre's G-funk had live musicians replay funk melodies instead of sampling them. It debuted on The Chronic.
Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
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.
London on da TrackThree songs produced by London on da Track charted on the Hot 100 at once in August 2014.
Birdman (rapper)Birdman was born without a first name and was called "Baby" for nearly a month. He later built Cash Money Records.
James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
TimbalandTimbaland taught himself to DJ with his left hand after being shot at 14. A co-worker shot him at a Red Lobster.
Pharrell WilliamsPharrell Williams, the American musician, songwriter, record producer and fashion designer, was once behind a startling share of the songs on the radio. An August 2003 survey cited by The Age found that his production duo, the Neptunes,…
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…
Will SmithWill Smith turned down the lead role in The Matrix to make Wild Wild West. He later called that choice a mistake.
Mariah CareyMariah Carey handed her demo tape to a record boss at a party in December 1988. He turned his car around.
Missy ElliottMissy Elliott and Timbaland wrote and produced nine tracks on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million.
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.
Doja CatIn August 2018, Doja Cat uploaded a homemade music video in which she fantasized about being a cow. Within a week it had passed three million views. The American rapper, singer and producer was born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, and the…
Kendrick LamarKendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018, the first for a piece outside classical and jazz.
Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
Brandy NorwoodBrandy Rayana Norwood, known simply as Brandy, once held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for thirteen weeks in a row. The song was "The Boy Is Mine," a duet with the singer Monica. It is still counted as the most successful song by a…
50 Cent50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000, then blacklisted by the music industry. He built his comeback on mixtapes.
Dallas AustinAfter his brother threw his keyboard, Dallas Austin left Columbus, Georgia. He rode a bus to Atlanta around 1986.
Alicia KeysAlicia Keys was fifteen years old when Columbia Records tried to win her signature with a $26,000 white baby grand piano. She took the deal. It began a long struggle over who would decide what her music sounded like. Years later she summed…
LL Cool JLL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
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…
Halsey (singer)Halsey, the stage name of Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, once looked at a bank account holding nine dollars. She spent it on a four-pack of Red Bull. The caffeine kept her awake for two or three days, because she judged sleeping somewhere…
R. KellyBeneath the Chicago "L" tracks, at the Jackson stop on the Red Line in the Loop, a young school dropout named Robert Kelly sang for passing commuters. Decades later, as R. Kelly, he had sold more than 75 million albums and singles…
Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
Suge KnightSuge Knight posted Tupac Shakur's $1.4 million bail in 1995. In return, the rapper signed with Death Row Records.
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…
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.…
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…
Kurtis BlowIn 1979, Harlem's Kurtis Blow became the first rapper signed by a major label.
Lil JonLil Jon, the yelling voice of crunk, later made two albums of guided meditation.
Sylvia RobinsonSylvia Robinson pushed Grandmaster Flash's group to record "The Message" in 1982.
Quincy JonesQuincy Jones taped a sign to the entrance of a recording studio in 1985, and it read "Check Your Ego at the Door." Behind that door waited most of the major American recording artists of the day. Jones needed every one of them to work as…
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…
Diana RossDiana Ross got her name from a birth certificate mistake. Her mother had planned to name her Diane.
DJ Jazzy JeffDJ Jazzy Jeff went home in tears after winning a Grammy. He had just $500 in his bank account.