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Curated playlist

Hardcore hip-hop artists

  • EminemEminem performed with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards while GLAAD protested outside.
  • 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.
  • RaekwonRaekwon was accidentally shot four times in a crossfire. He later called it an "important eye opener."
  • 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…
  • Cardi BCardi B reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated the 25th of September 2017, with a song called "Bodak Yellow." No solo female rapper had topped that chart since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998. The woman behind…
  • 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…
  • Sean PriceSean Price performed as Ruck in the Brooklyn duo Heltah Skeltah. Their 1996 debut album Nocturnal won acclaim.
  • Nicki MinajNicki Minaj turned down a record deal because it required a ghostwriter.
  • 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.…
  • 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.
  • DMXDMX was the first artist to open five straight studio albums at number one on the Billboard 200.
  • Tech N9neTech N9ne rapped the letters of his own name to remember how to spell it.

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