Curated category
Hardcore hip-hop artists
- 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…
- 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…
- 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.
- 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…
- 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…
- 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…
- 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…
- Nicki MinajNicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj on the 8th of December 1982, in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
- 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.
- Lil JonLil Jon was born Jonathan H. Smith on the 17th of January, 1971, in Atlanta, Georgia, and he grew up to reshape American club music from the ground up.
- 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…