Jay-Z
Genre: Hip-Hop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
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
T.I.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Decades Active: 00s
Once dubbed "the Jay-Z of the South" by Pharrell Williams, T.I. gradually came into his own and established himself as one of rap's greatest and most successful MCs during the early 2000s. Like Jay-Z, T.I. -- born Clifford Harris in Atlanta, GA -- has always carried a balance of smoothness and toughness, and though 2001's I'm Serious (released... [+] Read More
Eminem
Genre: Hip-Hop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
A protégé of Dr. Dre, rapper Eminem emerged in 1999 as one of the most controversial rappers to ever grace the genre. Using his biting wit and incredible skills to vent on everything from his unhappy childhood to his contempt for the mainstream media, his success became the biggest crossover success the genre had seen since Dre's solo debut... [+] Read More
