LOX -- an acronym for Living Off Experience -- was a Yonkers, NY-based rap trio who worked their way up through the Bad Boy training camp; writing and rapping on hits by the likes of Puff Daddy, the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Mariah Carey before releasing their debut album in early 1998.

Sheek (Shawn Jacobs), Jadakiss... [+] Read More

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In just a few short years, the Notorious B.I.G. went from a Brooklyn street hustler to the savior of East Coast hip-hop to a tragic victim of the culture of violence he depicted so realistically on his records. His all-too-brief odyssey almost immediately took on mythic proportions, especially since his murder followed the shooting of rival... [+] Read More

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Tattooed with pictures of AK-47s, Miami's six-foot, 300-pound rap figure known as Rick Ross embraced his city's reputation for drug trafficking on his debut single, "Hustlin'," in 2006. While Atlanta and Houston artists were establishing their cities as Southern strongholds, Ross aimed at putting Miami back in rap's national spotlight. Ross,... [+] Read More

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One of the numerous thoughtful, literate gangsta rappers to emerge from New York during the mid-'90s, AZ never garnered the attention of peers like Nas and Jay Z. Instead, he saw his debut album, Doe or Die, become a critical favorite in late 1995 before his career suddenly went downhill after such modest and short-lived success. Critics and... [+] Read More

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Rapper Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. Though his playing earned him scholarship offers from top colleges, Cam'ron was unable to take advantage of them because of his poor academic record, and he... [+] Read More

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Rapper Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. Though his playing earned him scholarship offers from top colleges, Cam'ron was unable to take advantage of them because of his poor academic record, and he... [+] Read More

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After producing hits for the likes of 2Pac, Jay-Z, and E-40, the California-based Rick Rock recruited rappers Doonie Baby, Goldie Gold, and Mr. Stress and formed his own crew, Federation, in 2002. Their debut, simply titled The Album, appeared in 2004 on the Virgin label. Critics and the hip-hop faithful graced the hostile, hard album with... [+] Read More

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Before she had released any material at all, Foxy Brown appeared on several 1995-1996 platinum singles, including her first credit, LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya," as well as Total's "No One Else" remix of Jay-Z's "Ain't No...," Toni Braxton's "You're Makin' Me High" remix, and Case's "Touch Me, Tease Me." The incredible success led to a major-label... [+] Read More

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To the admiration of a generation, Jay-Z led an incredibly storied career in the rap industry, pulling himself up by his bootstraps as a youth to one day become the reigning rapper of New York City and then a major-label executive following his retirement from music-making. More than anyone, Jay-Z embodied the ultimate rags-to-riches rap dream,... [+] Read More

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Junior Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes, or Junior M.A.F.I.A., were able to grab instant notoriety with two hit singles, "Get Money" and "Player's Anthem," thanks to their childhood crony and producer, the Notorious B.I.G. Their gold-certified debut album, Conspiracy (Undeas/Big Beat), was also released on Biggie's Undeas label in 1995.... [+] Read More

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Rapper Memphis Bleek was raised in Brooklyn, NY's Marcy Projects housing community, making his recorded debut in 1996 on Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt. A member of the Roc-A-Fella Records stable, Bleek made his solo debut in 1999 with Coming of Age. While his debut did warrant plenty of attention, he wasn't able to capitalize on the hype surrounding... [+] Read More

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Heralded instantly as one of New York's leading rap voices, Nas expressed an outspoken, self-empowered swagger that rallied the streets of his city and elsewhere. Whether proclaiming himself "Nasty Nas" or "Nas Escobar" or "Nastradamus" or "God's Son," the self-appointed King of New York battled numerous adversaries for his position atop the... [+] Read More

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Jermaine Baxter, known by fans as Nature, went to school with rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones. In fact, it was Nas who first took notice of Baxter's strong rhyming style, a style that seemed to come to the young hip-hop artist effortlessly.

Nature skipped the normal course of demo tapes and moved ahead to intros on recordings for other... [+] Read More

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The all-star hip-hop collective/production team Ruff Ryders included CEOs Chivon, Dee, and Waah Dean, producers Swizz Beatz, DJ Shok, and PK, and gold and platinum-selling rappers DMX, Eve, Drag On, and the LOX (Shawn "Sheek" Jacobs, Jayson Phillips, and David Styles). This incarnation of the Ruff Ryders crafted 1999's Ryde Or Die Vol. 1, which... [+] Read More

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Young Boy Tizzy does it because he loves it! Bursting onto the DMV’s growing hip hop scene in early 2007, Young Boy Tizzy (a.k.a. Dahvae Akers) is no newcomer to music. Penning his first song when he was only nine years old, the young artist started rapping for fun: “I wasn’t serious about rapping at first, but people kept... [+] Read More

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