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• 
  

• 
  California
  California (pronounced ⁱ/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
  California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
  
  wn.com/California
• 
  Detroit
  Detroit ( /diˈtrɔɪt/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer, adventurer, and nobleman Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
  In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and ranked as the 18th most populous city in the United States. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.
  Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport,The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"), and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit became known as the "great arsenal of democracy" for its support of the U.S. role among the Allied powers during World War II.
  
  wn.com/Detroit
• 
  Detroit, Michigan
  Detroit ( /diˈtrɔɪt/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer, adventurer, and nobleman Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
  In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and ranked as the 18th most populous city in the United States. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.
  Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport,The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"), and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit became known as the "great arsenal of democracy" for its support of the U.S. role among the Allied powers during World War II.
  
  wn.com/Detroit,_Michigan
• 
  Los Angeles
  Los Angeles (ⁱ/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km²), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".
  
  wn.com/Los_Angeles
• 
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom

• 
  ?uestlove
  Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born on January 20, 1971) known professionally as ?uestlove or Questlove (also known as BROther ?uestion, Questo, Brother Question or Qlove), is an American drummer, DJ, music journalist and record producer. He is best known as the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, which is now the in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
  He has produced for artists such as Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa and more recently, Al Green, Amy Winehouse and John Legend. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, The Randy Watson Experience, and The Grand Wizzards.
  Thompson was born in Philadelphia on January 20, 1971. His father was Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews & the Hearts, one of the great 50s doo-wop groups.^{[citation needed]} His parents did not want to leave him with babysitters, so they took him on tour with them. He grew up in backstages of doo-wop shows. By the age of seven, Thompson began drumming on stage at shows, and by 13, had become a musical director.
  
  wn.com/?uestlove
• 
  A Tribe Called Quest
  A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of MC/producer Q-Tip, MC Phife Dawg aka Phife Diggy (Malik Taylor), and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 1991. Along with De La Soul, the group was a central part of the Native Tongues Posse, and enjoyed the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective. Their innovative fusing of hip hop and jazz has had a lasting impact on hip hop music, helping to expand the art of hip hop production. Many of their songs, such as "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It?", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo", "Scenario", "Check the Rhime", "Jazz (We've Got)", "Award Tour" and "Electric Relaxation" are regarded as classics by the hip hop community.
  They released five albums between 1990 and 1998. The first three LPs were highly acclaimed, but the group disbanded in 1998. In 2006, the group reunited and toured the U.S., and planned to release an album after some works in the studio. The group is regarded as iconic pioneers of alternative hip hop music, having helped to pave the way for innovative hip hop artists. John Bush of Allmusic called them "the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s," while the editors of About.com ranked them #4 on their list of the "25 Best Rap Groups of All Time." In 2005, A Tribe Called Quest received a Special Achievement Award at the Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta. In 2007, the group was formally honored at the 4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors.
  
  wn.com/A_Tribe_Called_Quest
• 
  Akrobatik
  Akrobatik is a rapper from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He has collaborated numerous times with many fellow Boston rappers^[who?], and recently formed a hip hop collective named The Perceptionists with Mr. Lif and DJ Fakts One.^{[citation needed]}
  In 1998, Akrobatik released his first single, Ruff Enough, on Boston's Detonator Records label. His second single was released on the Independent New York label Rawkus, Internet MCs, and later released Say Yes Say Word.
  Akrobatik's music has appeared on HBO’s The Wire, ESPN’s Playmakers and in films such as Date Movie and Wholetrail. He is also featured on Snacky Chan's album Part of the Nation, as well as in the games NBA Live ’06, Frequency, Need for Speed Most Wanted and the Playstation 2 game, Amplitude, where he raps in the song, "Out the Box", as well as providing voiceovers for tutorials.
  Akrobatik raps the daily sports news to Boston via the "Sports Wrap-Up", broadcast on the Ramiro and Pebbles Morning Show, on Boston hip-hop radio station JAM'N 94.5.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Akrobatik
• 
  Ali Shaheed Muhammad
  Ali Shaheed Muhammad (born August 11, 1970)^{[citation needed]} is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, producer who enjoyed a great deal of fame as a member of A Tribe Called Quest. With Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, the group released five studio albums from 1990 to 1998.
  Ali Shaheed Muhammad is Muslim. Together with Jay Dee and Q-Tip, he formed the music production collective The Ummah.
  After the group disbanded, Muhammad formed the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson, formerly of En Vogue and Raphael Saadiq, formerly of Tony! Toni! Toné!, releasing one album in 2000. On October 12, 2004 he released his debut solo album, Shaheedullah and Stereotypes.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Ali_Shaheed_Muhammad
• 
  Aloe Blacc
  Aloe Blacc (born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III; January 7, 1979) is an American soul singer, rapper and musician. He is married to Australian rapper Maya Jupiter.
  Blacc was born in Orange County, California to Panamanian parents. He began his music career in 1995 as a rapper in the hip hop duo Emanon with producer Exile.
  By the late 1990s, Blacc was part of the duo Emanon and joined the group Lootpack on tour in Europe. The duo released six albums. This led to Blacc working with the French Jazz group Jazz Liberatorz. He released an album at the end of the 1990s.
  In 2003, Blacc signed with Stones Throw Records and began a solo career. On July 11, 2006, he released his first LP album, Shine Through, on CD, vinyl record and online (on the Stones Throw website).
  He then toured across Europe and the U.S. with Emanon, while working on his second solo album.
  In 2009, Blacc collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer Cradle. They called themselves Bee.
  In 2010, Blacc released his second album, Good Things, on Stones Throw records. The album was produced by Jeff Dynamite and Leon Michels for Truth & Soul Productions.
  
  wn.com/Aloe_Blacc
• Amp Fiddler
  Joseph "Amp" Fiddler is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter and record producer from Detroit, Michigan, U.S.. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the band Enchantment, and as part of George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelic groups from 1985 until 1996. His first solo album Waltz of a Ghetto Fly was released in March 2004. His most recent album, Afro Strut, was released in 2006.
  Fiddler has worked with George Clinton, Moodymann, Stephanie McKay, Jamiroquai, Prince, Was (Not Was), the Brand New Heavies, Fishbone, Corinne Bailey Rae and nu soul artist Maxwell. Working with his brother, Bubz (bass guitarist, producer and songwriter), he released the album With Respect in 1990 on Elektra, recording under the name Mr. Fiddler. Amp Fiddler is credited with introducing hip-hop producer J Dilla to the Akai MPC sampling drum machine and also to A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip, who introduced the young Dilla into the music industry world.
  
  wn.com/Amp_Fiddler
• Baron Zen
  Peanut Butter Wolf, before making his name as a DJ and Producer and before founding Stones Throw Records, was programming drums for one-man punk rock/disco act Baron Zen, known to almost no one, because Baron Zen did not play shows, did not release records, rejected all forms of publicity, and above all, rejected the boundaries separating hip hop, disco, punk rock, and pop.
  Sweet Steve is the man behind Baron Zen. His recording career as Baron Zen started back in 1988, collected in At the Mall. Baron Zen is DIY music that wears its pop influence on its sleeve: covers of Joy Division, Gap Band, Katrina and the Waves, and high-energy disco classic “When I Hear Music” by Debbie Deb play alongside Sweet Steve’s originals.
  At the Mall was followed up by the At the Mall: Remixes album in 2007 featuring remixes by the likes of Peanut Butter Wolf ("At the Mall"), dam-funk ("Burn Rubber"), James Pants ("Gotta Get Ridda Rick"), Madlib, Arabian Prince, Tekblazer, M-80, and J.Rocc, among others.
  Sweet Steve then re-connected with Tekblazer for Baron Zen’s Rhythm Trax Vol. 3 in January 2009, the third installment of Stones Throw’s DJ Friendly Rhythm Trax Series (preceded by James Pants and DJ Romes), and the follow-up to his early '90s four-track post-punk masterpiece, At The Mall. On Vol. 3, Baron Zen departs from his garage band roots summoning the spiritual essence of early '80s electro pioneers such as Alexander Robotnik and Ryuchi Sakamoto. The soundscapes of this Rhythm Trax contribution satisfy the need for synth-drenched funk while maintaining a murky atmosphere intended to move even the haughtiest New Wave revivalist. M-80 co-produced three tracks, as well.
  
  wn.com/Baron_Zen
• 
  Benji B
  Benjamin Benstead, known as Benji B, is a British DJ and radio presenter. He presents a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 in the 2am – 4am slot Wednesday nights / Thursday mornings previously inhabited by Mary Anne Hobbs.
  Benji B is a DJ and broadcaster from London, UK. He has presented an influential radio show on BBC Radio 1Xtra for the past 10 years since the station's launch in 2002. As a DJ he is known for playing music from the entire spectrum of soulful music, primarily hip hop, house, soul, electronic, Detroit techno, dubstep, boogie, disco and more. Benji B has been DJing for fifteen years and plays all over the globe all year round.
  Benji is also the resident at the monthly club night he runs in London called Deviation. The Deviation night regularly showcases famous DJs and producers, such as Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Skream, Mark Pritchard, Moodymann, Mala, Marc Mac, MJ Cole, and was the first night in Europe at which Flying Lotus and Dâm-Funk played. There have been one-off Deviation nights at Fabric featuring Madlib and J-Rocc and in Madrid, Spain. In March 2010 the night moved from its home at Gramaphone to CAMP on Old Street.
  
  wn.com/Benji_B
• 
  Black Milk
  Curtis Cross, (born August 14, 1982) better known as Black Milk, is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit, Michigan.
  In 2004, he formed B.R. Gunna, with Young RJ, and Fat Ray, and together they released Dirty District: Vol. 2, a follow up to a compilation released in 2001 by Slum Village, which he had contributed production to. Black Milk released a solo album, Sound of the City, Vol. 1, the following year and in 2006 he signed a record contract with Fat Beats Records (Fat Beats is currently distributed by Koch Entertainment, the largest independent distributor in the U.S.). In the fall of 2006, he released an EP, entitled Broken Wax. March 13, 2007 he released a second album, Popular Demand.
  In addition to Slum Village, Black Milk has worked with J Dilla,Elzhi, Phat Kat, Frank-N-Dank, Lloyd Banks, Canibus, and Pharoahe Monch, and handled most of the production on T3's Olio mixtape of 2006.
  In the Winter of 2007/2008 Black Milk paired with Aftermath recording artist Bishop Lamont to release a mixtape entitled Caltroit, which was nominated for Best Hip Hop Mixtape at Justo's Mixtape Awards.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Black_Milk
• Brand New Heavies
  The Brand New Heavies are an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing, a suburb of London, England.
  The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental acid jazz group called Brother International.
  The group came up with the Heavies name after signing their first record contract, borrowing from a liner note on a James Brown single declaring the artist "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk". As The Brand New Heavies they gained a cult following in the London club scene and soon signed to Cooltempo as acid jazz replaced rare groove in clubs. The band issued a debut recording for Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz label in 1990 with Jay Ella Ruth as lead singer.
  A single, "Got to Give", came out on Cooltempo before the Brand New Heavies signed to Acid Jazz Records and released Brand New Heavies to critical acclaim. The band signed to a division of Chrysalis Records in the UK, and American distribution was picked up by influential label Delicious Vinyl, and N'Dea Davenport (who had signed an artist development deal with Delicious Vinyl) joined the group. A revamped version of the first album with vocals by N'Dea Davenport was then released, and the singles "Dream Come True", "Never Stop" and "Stay This Way", all with Davenport on lead vocals, became hits on both sides of the Atlantic, with the latter becoming a music video directed by Douglas Gayeton that saw heavy rotation on MTV.
  
  wn.com/Brand_New_Heavies
• 
  Busta Rhymes
  Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., (born May 20, 1972), better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes. Early in his career, he was known for his wild style and fashion, and today is best known for his intricate rapping technique, which involves rapping at a fast rate with lots of internal rhyme and half rhyme, and to date has received eleven Grammy nominations for his musical work. About.com included him on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), while Steve Huey of Allmusic called him one of the best and most prolific rappers of the '90s.
  Busta was born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Jamaican parents Geraldine Green and Trevor Smith, Sr. in 1972. Smith attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, alongside Jay-Z, DMX and The Notorious B.I.G. He went to Uniondale High School on Long Island, graduating in 1990.
  
  wn.com/Busta_Rhymes
• 
  Carl Craig
  Carl Craig is a Detroit-based producer of techno music, and is considered to be one of the most important names in the Detroit second generation of techno producers and DJs. According to an article about Craig, "Of this group, Craig was often recognised as being the most artful and the most willing to engage the rapidly growing shape of techno outside Detroit." Carl Craig has approached techno using inspiration from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz and soul.
  Carl Craig has released many successful albums under a large number of aliases, such as BFC, Psyche, Paperclip People, 69, Designer Music and Innerzone Orchestra. He also had a hugely successful collaboration album with NYDJ Patrick Picasso. Using one alias, Innerzone Orchestra, he released perhaps his best-known track "Bug in The Bassbin" in 1992, a track that many regard as being a key influence in the then evolving sound of drum and bass.
  Carl Craig has also created his own record label called Planet E Communications, which apart from his own work, has released records by well known techno and house artists like Kevin Saunderson, Alton Miller and Moodymann.
  
  wn.com/Carl_Craig
• Charizma
  Charles Hicks (July 6, 1973 – December 16, 1993) a.k.a. Charizma was an MC from San Jose, California, United States. He is most known for his work with Peanut Butter Wolf; the two of them formed a duo together, but their music was cut short when Charizma was murdered in late 1993.
  Charizma was 13 when he got his first taste for hip hop, and he started rapping at high school talent shows. He was only 15 when he met 19-year old Chris Manak, also known as Peanut Butter Wolf, in 1990. They became best friends, recording several demos and performing live in the San Jose area.
  After hearing Charizma on San Jose State's KSJS 90.5 FM, Matt Brown approached Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, offering to become their manager. Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf agreed and began looking for a record label. After entertaining offers from some major record labels, including Columbia Records, they signed with the Disney-owned record label Hollywood Basic, now Hollywood Records.
  While signed to Hollywood Basic, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf recorded several tracks but Hollywood Basic never released an album because of creative differences between the artists and the label. Charizma stated, "The stuff we wanted to do was not what Hollywood wanted. When we first got signed they kept asking us for more and more songs. After we got signed they were turning things down left and right. They were talking about bringing outside producers—but Pete Rock & CL Smooth never had outside producers, Gang Starr never did. It's like they almost liked the image [of us] more."
  
  wn.com/Charizma
• 
  Common (entertainer)
  Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (previously Common Sense), is an American hip-hop artist and actor.
  Common debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? and maintained a significant underground following into the late 1990s, after which he gained notable mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians. His first major-label album, Like Water for Chocolate, received widespread critical acclaim and tremendous commercial success His first Grammy award was in 2003 for Best R&B Song for "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" with Erykah Badu. Its popularity was matched by May 2005's Be, which was nominated in the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. Common was awarded his second Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), from his July 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released on November 27, 2007.
  Common has also initiated a burgeoning acting career, starring significant roles in such films as Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, and New Year's Eve. He also narrated the award-winning documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture. Common currently appears in Hell on Wheels, a dramatic television series on AMC that debuted in November 2011.
  
  wn.com/Common_(entertainer)
• 
  Common (rapper)
  Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (previously Common Sense), is an American hip-hop artist and actor.
  Common debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? and maintained a significant underground following into the late 1990s, after which he gained notable mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians. His first major-label album, Like Water for Chocolate, received widespread critical acclaim and tremendous commercial success His first Grammy award was in 2003 for Best R&B Song for "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" with Erykah Badu. Its popularity was matched by May 2005's Be, which was nominated in the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. Common was awarded his second Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), from his July 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released on November 27, 2007.
  Common has also initiated a burgeoning acting career, starring significant roles in such films as Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, and New Year's Eve. He also narrated the award-winning documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture. Common currently appears in Hell on Wheels, a dramatic television series on AMC that debuted in November 2011.
  
  wn.com/Common_(rapper)
• Dan-e-o
  Daniel Faraldo (born June 10, 1977), professionally known as Dan-e-o, is a Canadian hip hop artist of Jamaican and Spanish descent, from Toronto, Ontario. He is currently a member of the group Perfeck Strangers, based in Scarborough, Ontario.
  In May 1991, Dan-e-o performed live on Electric Circus, a dance show based in Toronto and won a rap-off competition, beginning his journey as a hip hop artist in the music industry.
  While participating and winning in many different rap-off and freestyle contests, his biggest accomplishment at these competitions came when he won the Darknights Freestyle Battle in July 2003 in Markham, Ontario.
  “Dear Hip Hop”, one of Dan-e-o’s most well known songs, was released on Beat Factory’s Rap Essentials Volume One album in 1996. This CD included artists from all over Canada that have at one point toured Canada with Dan-e-o including Wio-K, Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall and Choclair.
  In 1998, on One Rock Records, a label he helped to found the year before, Dan-e-o released an EP entitled The Long Awaited with his group Monolith.
  
  wn.com/Dan-e-o
• 
  Danny!
  Danny!, also known as D. Swain (born August 18, 1983 in Killeen, Texas), is an American rap performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, previously, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records.L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux has signed". Danny! released five self-produced studio albums, three instrumental albums and a greatest hits compilation prior to his affiliation with Def Jux. He often wears an oxford shirt and pinstriped necktie, and has gained notoriety for prank-calling notable celebrities.
  Danny! is most notable for his self-released albums Charm and And I Love H.E.R., the latter named by ABC News as one of the best 50 albums of 2008. 2011's Where Is Danny?, despite internet leakage that hindered sales, has received acclaim for its cartoonish lyrical content and "lo-fi" production; in press coverage prior to its release Spin revealed that the record would be less of a departure from Danny!'s musical direction but more of a return to original form, sounding "[as] over-the-top as The Slim Shady LP a decade ago". Recently revealed by The Roots drummer Questlove as Jay-Z's new favorite artist, Danny! is currently signed to Interscope Records after being upstreamed from a six-month-long development deal.
  
  wn.com/Danny!
• 
  Dave Chappelle
  David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle (/ʃəˈpɛl/; born August 24, 1973) is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His first lead role in a film was in Half Baked in 1998. In 2003, he became widely known for his popular sketch comedy television series, Chappelle's Show, which ran until his abrupt retirement from the show in 2005. Chappelle is ranked forty-third in Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.
  Chappelle was born David Khari Webber Chappelle in Washington, D.C. on August 24, 1973. His father, William David Chappelle III, was a professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. His mother, Yvonne (née Reed), was a professor at Howard University, Prince George's Community College, and the University of Maryland and is also a Unitarian Universalist minister. Chappelle grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Woodlin Elementary School. During young Chappelle's formative years, his comic inspiration came from various comedians, particularly Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.
  
  wn.com/Dave_Chappelle
• Digable Planets
  Digable Planets ( /ˈdɪɡəbəl ˈplænəts/) is an American alternative hip hop trio based in New York City, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler (from Seattle), Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira (from Silver Spring) and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving (from Philadelphia). They released their debut album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) in 1993, and their follow-up album Blowout Comb in 1994. Shortly after this release the trio parted ways, citing "creative differences", though they've re-united to perform shows in more recent years.
  Digable Planets' fusion of jazz and hip hop received excellent reviews and solid sales with the release of their debut album, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), in 1993, which was certified gold by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," in 1994 became a crossover hit, peaking at #15 on Billboard magazine's singles chart, earning gold certification by the RIAA, and winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The track peaked at #67 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1993.
  
  wn.com/Digable_Planets
• 
  DJ Spinna
  DJ Spinna (born Vincent Williams, 1973) is an American hip hop music artist and producer, who, according to Allmusic.com, has "remained strictly an underground artist despite his astonishing talent."
  He began experimenting with turntables at age 11 and is known for combining dance music with hip hop, funk, and soul music. He remixed artists such as De La Soul, Mary J. Blige, and Stevie Wonder. He also collaborated with Eminem on songs such as "Three Six Five," "Watch Deez," and "5-Star Generals," before the latter went on to superstardom. His first group, the Jigmastas, was with the emcee Kriminul. He is also a member of Polyrhythm Addicts, an underground hip-hop 'supergroup' composed of him, Apani B Fly MC, Mr. Complex, and Shabaam Sahdeeq. The group's album Rhyme-Related was released in 1999 on Wreck/Nervous Records and featured a song with Pharaohe Monch. Apani B Fly MC was replaced by Tiye Phoenix when the group reunited and recorded the 2007 release Break Glass, which featured the single “Reachin’,” released on April 24, 2007. He also worked with New York-based live house-music group Tortured Soul as well as being a member of the group Domecrackers with DJ/Producer Joc Max from Kansas City, and Grap Luva, whose brother is legendary hip hop producer Pete Rock.
  
  wn.com/DJ_Spinna
• Dudley Perkins
  Dudley Perkins is an American rapper and singer from Oxnard, California. He has released records on Stones Throw Records under his own name and the alias of Declaime.
  His first two albums under the name of Dudley Perkins, A Lil' Light and Expressions (2012 A.U.) were produced by Madlib. His upcoming album features production from Flying Lotus, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Portformat and Oh No. He has made frequent other collaborations with Georgia Anne Muldrow, releasing a collaborative album with her as G&D in 2007, and as Ms. One.
  
  wn.com/Dudley_Perkins
• 
  Dwele
  Andwele Gardner (born February 14, 1978), better known by his stage name Dwele is a soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Detroit, Michigan.
  Gardner was raised on the west side of Detroit in a musical family. He played piano from the age of six, later taking up trumpet, bass and guitar. He was deeply affected by the fatal shooting of his father outside his home when he was age ten, later stating "I learned to put my emotions into music; it was my therapy." He cites Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Roy Ayers, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard as favorite artists, and took inspiration from hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, becoming an MC, and working with Slum Village. Gardner recorded a demo in his bedroom, called, The Rize, and sold it out of the trunk of his car. He had about 100 copies, which sold out within a week. He caught the ears of local heroes Slum Village and more specifically their world-renowned producer J Dilla.Slum Village invited Dwele to sing the hook of the song "Tainted" for their album Trinity (Past, Present and Future). It became an instant classic and led to more high profile work with female rapper Bahamadia, the all-star group Lucy Pearl and London's New Sector Movement. Dwele signed to Virgin Records in 2003, who released his debut album, Subject, which mixed neo soul and hip hop. In a 2005 review in The Independent, his style was summed up: "Dwele's rooted in vintage soul but isn't stuck in the past, overly reverential or an exercise in pastiche - there's a major hip-hop edge which betrays his original incarnation as a rapper." A second album, Some Kinda..., followed in 2005. He then later signed with RT Music Group and KOCH records in March, 2008 He released his fourth album titled, W.ants W.orld W.omen on June 29, 2010. Dwele was featured on the first single off of Kanye West's fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The song was entitled "Power" and was leaked on May 28, 2010.
  
  wn.com/Dwele
• 
  Dâm-Funk
  DāM-FunK (born Damon G. Riddick) is an American Modern-Funk musician, DJ, keyboardist, vocalist and producer raised in Pasadena, California.
  In 2007, Damon bka DāM-FunK was (after many years of private bedroom cassette tape recording, a brief apprenticeship under S.O.L.A.R. producer Leon Sylvers III, various 'west-coast rap' artist based keyboard session work and a number of character testing 'honest day jobs') signed to the L.A. based record label Stones Throw Records.
  Signing to the respected label came upon DāM being provided a go (by label head Peanut Butter Wolf) at remixing fellow Stones Throw recording artist Baron Zen's: "Burn Rubber" (which appeared on his album "At The Mall: Remixes" and simultaneously released as a 12" on its own, b/w James Pant's remix of Baron Zen's "Gotta Get Ridda Rick") after Wolf heard various compositions produced and created by DāM via MySpace.
  In a short period of time, DāM-FunK's "Burn Rubber" (remix) became an underground 'international' club-circuit favorite among DJ's, tastemakers and progressive listeners, that provided a glimpse into the Modern-Funk style 'on the horizon' from DāM, which he had quietly been cultivating (without compromise) for many years beforehand.
  
  wn.com/Dâm-Funk
• Elzhi
  Jason Powers (1979) (better known as Elzhi – often printed as eLZhi) is a hip-hop artist from Detroit, Michigan. Many Underground fans know him as "Detroit's Best Kept Secret". As a former member of Slum Village he now records as a solo artist. He is known particularly for his complicated rhyme schemes, involving polysyllabic ‘patterns’, internal rhymes and alliteration, as well as evocative imagery, simile and metaphor. On May 10, 2011, Elzhi released his highly anticipated mixtape Elmatic, produced by Will Sessions, as a tribute to Nas’ classic debut Illmatic. The mixtape has received glowing reviews from critics and fans alike. In his youth he would make visits to the Hip-Hop shop in Detroit, where they had Open mic nights in where rapper Proof was the host. He would find himself surrounded by Detroit's most talented MC's such as Obie Trice, Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, Royce da 59, One Be Lo, J Dilla, Baatin, D12, and even Eminem during his battling days.
  In 1998, Elzhi recorded a number of songs with Detroit hip-hop artist DJ House-shoes with DJ Rios. These recording sessions yielded the material that would become the Out of Focus EP. The project was abandoned due to his life getting in the way and no real viable outlet for music as opposed to California and New York. During the mixing process DJ Houseshoes passed the DATs onto Dilla who intended on remixing the whole album before his passing.
  
  wn.com/Elzhi
• 
  Flying Lotus
  Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) is an experimental multi-genre music producer from Winnetka, California. His debut album, 1983, was released on Plug Research Records in 2006. He produced much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, for which he is uncredited, and he also contributed remixes for fellow Plug Research artists including Mia Doi Todd. He is often referred to as FlyLo by fans and critics. His grandmother was songwriter Marilyn McLeod. He is the great-nephew of the late Alice Coltrane, whose husband was John Coltrane. He is also the cousin of musician Ravi Coltrane.
  In 2007, he announced that he signed with Warp Records. Following his Warp debut, the six-track Reset EP, he quickly became one of the label’s cornerstone artists and released his second album, titled Los Angeles, on June 10, 2008. In 2008, Flying Lotus also remixed "Reckoner" from Radiohead's album In Rainbows. His third album, Cosmogramma, was released on May 3, 2010, in the UK and May 4, 2010, in the US. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.
  
  wn.com/Flying_Lotus
• 
  Frank n Dank
  Frank n Dank (real names Frank Bush, and Derrick Harvey) are an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. They also go by the names Frank Nitt previously known as Frank Nitty (a reference to the 1930s crime boss Frank Nitti) and Dankery Harv. They are mainly known for their many collaborations with the late J Dilla. Known for their party-driven, tongue-in-cheek raps, the duo first came to public attention as guests on producer J Dilla's album, Welcome 2 Detroit in 2001. Prior to this, they had been performing in their hometown, Detroit, since the mid-1990s and had released the 12"s "Everybody Get Up!" and "Me and My Man" between "Love (A Thing of the Past)", both produced by J Dilla.
  The group signed a recording deal with MCA Records, but their 2003 album, 48 Hrs, was at first rejected by the label, reworked with new production and resubmitted by the group, and finally shelved by the label altogether. Bootlegs of the reworked version eventually surfaced on the underground. The album was entirely produced by J Dilla, who uses very few samples throughout the album, instead choosing to concoct synth-driven beats for the MCs to rhyme over. It is believed that the original version of 48 Hours was more sample based, and that this may have been a factor in it being rejected by MCA, due to sample clearances.
  
  wn.com/Frank_n_Dank
• 
  Frank-N-Dank
  Frank n Dank (real names Frank Bush, and Derrick Harvey) are an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. They also go by the names Frank Nitt previously known as Frank Nitty (a reference to the 1930s crime boss Frank Nitti) and Dankery Harv. They are mainly known for their many collaborations with the late J Dilla. Known for their party-driven, tongue-in-cheek raps, the duo first came to public attention as guests on producer J Dilla's album, Welcome 2 Detroit in 2001. Prior to this, they had been performing in their hometown, Detroit, since the mid-1990s and had released the 12"s "Everybody Get Up!" and "Me and My Man" between "Love (A Thing of the Past)", both produced by J Dilla.
  The group signed a recording deal with MCA Records, but their 2003 album, 48 Hrs, was at first rejected by the label, reworked with new production and resubmitted by the group, and finally shelved by the label altogether. Bootlegs of the reworked version eventually surfaced on the underground. The album was entirely produced by J Dilla, who uses very few samples throughout the album, instead choosing to concoct synth-driven beats for the MCs to rhyme over. It is believed that the original version of 48 Hours was more sample based, and that this may have been a factor in it being rejected by MCA, due to sample clearances.
  
  wn.com/Frank-N-Dank
• Georgia Anne Muldrow
  Georgia Anne Muldrow is an American singer, musician and producer. She is the first female artist signed to the label and is the girlfriend of fellow label artist Dudley Perkins (aka "Declaime"). Her father is the late jazz guitarist Ronald Muldrow and her mother is Rickie Byars-Beckwith, the musical director of Agape Spiritual Center in Culver City, CA and Stepfather is Rev. Michael Beckwith who is best known for being a teacher in the movie and book "The Secret" . Her early work involved collaborations with the Platinum Pied Pipers, Sa-Ra, Spinz and J*DaVeY. She is known for playing the majority of instruments featured on her recordings. Her vocal style and musical accompaniment often are free-form in nature.^{[citation needed]} Most recently she produced and is featured with Dudley Perkins on an album for Mello Music Group titled SomeOthaShip: Connect Game due out in early 2008.
  
  wn.com/Georgia_Anne_Muldrow
• 
  Guilty Simpson
  Byron Simpson, better known by his stage name Guilty Simpson is a rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He was previously known as Guilt. Over time, he saw that there were more emcees using the alias. In order to set himself apart from the others, he added his last name to become Guilty Simpson. He is signed to Stones Throw Records. He is also known for being a favorite of the late producer J Dilla. His debut album, Ode to the Ghetto includes production from J Dilla, as well as other frequent collaborators Madlib and Black Milk. Along with Sean Price and Black Milk, Guilty Simpson formed the rap trio Random Axe. Simpson is also affiliated with the Detroit hip hop collective Almighty Dreadnaughtz. His major influences were Big Daddy Kane, N.W.A., Scarface, and Kool G Rap.
  2003
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  wn.com/Guilty_Simpson
• Hi-Tek
  Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek, is an American record producer and rapper from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli on his Reflection Eternal album and on Black Star. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band whom Hi-Tek featured on his second release Hi-Teknology 2.
  Hi-Tek started his rap career with hip hop group Mood and had a regional hit with "Hustle on the Side". That song was made for Mood's album Doom, which featured amongst others Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli. Talib and Hi-Tek clicked immediately, and Hi-Tek went on to produce most of Talib Kweli and Mos Def's Black Star (1998). In 2000, Tek and Kweli (under the name Reflection Eternal) released Train of Thought (2000) on Rawkus Records, with raps by Talib Kweli and beats by Hi-Tek. It enjoyed moderate crossover radio success with the singles "The Blast" and "Move Somethin'". Reflection Eternal released a follow-up album titled Revolutions Per Minute on May 18, 2010.
  After signing to Rawkus Records, Hi-Tek produced for a number of the labels projects, including the popular Soundbombing series; a three-record compilation of mostly Rawkus-based artists. In 2001, he released his solo album Hi-Teknology on Rawkus. The album featured appearances by Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Vinia Mojica, Buckshot, and others, with all production handled by Hi-Tek. It received some critical acclaim and spawned a minor hit "Round and Round" with Cincinnati singer Jonell.
  
  wn.com/Hi-Tek
• House Shoes
  Michael "HouseShoes" Buchanan is an American hip hop producer and DJ who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. As Detroit's Hip-Hop Ambassador to the World, Buchanan has been an integral part of the long burgeoning Motown resurgence.
  His production is on I Miss the Hip Hop Shop by Proof and Witness My Growth by Elzhi. His debut album, the House Shoes Collection contained contributions from Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson and King Gordy. He has also worked as a manager for hip-hop record store Fat Beats.
  Buchanan, a resident DJ at the hip-hop staple St. Andrews Hall from 1994-2004 has had personal influence over (at least) a full generation of well respected emcees, producers, and then-future DJs.
  As a DJ, Buchanan has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe with artists Guilty Simpson, Illa J, Exile, Aloe Blacc, Percee P, Phat Kat, Slum Village and Elzhi, to name a few, as well as on his own. But he has garnered the respect of acts far outside the scope of Detroit hip-hop. Most recently, Buchanan performed as tour DJ on Mayer Hawthorne & The County’s Spring 2010 16-city headlining tour.
  
  wn.com/House_Shoes
• 
  Immortal Technique
  Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. The views expressed in his lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as class struggle, poverty, religion, government and institutional racism.
  Immortal Technique has voiced a desire to retain control over his production, and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music. He claimed in an interview to have sold close to 200,000 copies of his three official releases.
  Coronel is African-Peruvian and was born in 1978 in a military hospital in Lima. His family emigrated in 1980 to Harlem. During his teenage years he was arrested multiple times due in part to what he has said was "selfish and childish" behavior. He attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University, he was arrested and charged with assault-related offenses due to his involvement in an altercation between fellow students, the charges stemming from this incident led to him being incarcerated for a year. After being paroled, he took political science classes at Baruch College in New York City for two semesters at the behest of his father, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he go to school. Honing his rapping skills in jail, and unable to find decent wage-paying employment after his release, Coronel began selling his music on the streets of New York while battling with MCs whenever the opportunity arose. This, coupled with his victories in numerous freestyle rap competitions of the New York underground hip hop scene such as Rocksteady Anniversary, Braggin Rites and others, led to his reputation as a ferocious Battle MC.
  
  wn.com/Immortal_Technique
• J Dilla
  James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by the stage names J Dilla, J Mukandila and Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. According to his obituary at NPR.org, he "was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists, working for big-name acts like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common."
  Renowned producer Pete Rock placed J Dilla on his list of the top five producers of all time, while the editors of About.com ranked him #15 on their list of the Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers. Andy Kellman of Allmusic stated that—by 2004, after being active for well over a decade as a producer—J Dilla had accomplished enough to be considered "an all-time great." J Dilla made the "Elite 8" in the search for The Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time by Vibe. Also, The Source placed him on its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazine's twenty-year history.
  Yancey's career began slowly. He has now become highly regarded, most notably for the production of critically acclaimed albums by Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, and Erykah Badu. He was a member of Slum Village and produced their acclaimed debut album Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) and their follow-up Fantastic, Vol. 2.
  
  wn.com/J_Dilla
• 
  J. Cole
  Jermaine Lamar Cole (born January 28, 1985), better known by his stage name J. Cole, is an American rapper and record producer. In 2009, he was the first rap artist signed to Jay-Z's label Roc Nation. His long-awaited debut album titled Cole World: The Sideline Story was released on September 27, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, Top R&B Albums and Top Rap Albums chart, selling more than 217,000 in its first week sales. He received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 54th Grammy Awards
  Cole was born on January 28, 1985. Cole's father served in the United States Army. At the age of 8 months old, he relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina where he was raised by his mother, aunt and his cousin. Cole attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville and graduated in 2003. He decided that he had a better chance of getting signed in New York City, so he chose to attend St. John's University on an academic scholarship where he majored in communication and minored in business, graduating magna cum laude.
  
  wn.com/J._Cole
• J. Rawls
  Jason Rawls (born February 27, 1974, in Columbus, Ohio) is an American hip hop,soul, and neo-soul producer whose work crosses over into jazz. He has worked with Dose One, Beastie Boys, Slum Village, El Da Sensei, Count Bass D, Grand Agent, 9th Wonder, J-Live, Us3, and Moka Only. J Rawls is a graduate from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelors in Business, he is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Alpha Alpha chapter.
  J. Rawls' production is best known for his work with Black Star, a hip hop group formed by Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Rawls contributed production on "Brown Skin Lady" and "Yo, Yeah," which placed him on the map among producers in the hip hop-music genre. The album Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star did very well in the independent hip hop market, was acclaimed as one of the best albums of 1998 and was a major force in the late-1990s underground hip hop explosion.^{[citation needed]}
  J. Rawls' first solo album came in 2001, with The Essence Of... (Groove attack), which featured singles "Great Live Caper" featuring J-Live, "Check the Clock" and "They Can't See Me".
  
  wn.com/J._Rawls
• James Poyser
  James Poyser (born January 31,) in Sheffield, England is a multi-Grammy winning songwriter, musician and multi-platinum producer.
  Poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists including Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, John Legend, Lauryn Hill, Common, Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo, The Roots, and Keyshia Cole.
  During his career, Poyser has toured, and played live with such distinctive artists as Jay-Z, The Roots, Erykah Badu, and Aretha Franklin. An active session musician, he has contributed to the works of Adele, Norah Jones, Eric Clapton, Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley, Macy Gray and Femi Kuti.
  Poyser received a Grammy for Best R&B Song in 2003 for co-writing Erykah Badu and Common's hit "Love Of My Life." James was also the executive producer on Badu's highly celebrated albums, Mama's Gun and Worldwide Underground.
  A longtime collaborator and member of The Roots, James has joined them on stage, performing live as the houseband for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
  
  wn.com/James_Poyser
• 
  Janet Jackson
  Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years. The youngest child of the Jackson family, she began her career with the variety television series The Jacksons in 1976 and went on to appear in other television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including Good Times and Fame.
  After signing a recording contract with A&M in 1982, she came to prominence following the release of her third studio album Control (1986). Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap, and industrial beats, which led to crossover appeal in popular music. In addition to receiving recognition for the innovation in her records, choreography, music videos, and prominence on radio airplay and MTV, she was acknowledged as a role model for her socially conscious lyrics.
  
  wn.com/Janet_Jackson
• Jay Dee (comedian)
  Jay Dee is an American stand-up comedian based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He got his start in 2004 and now performs nationally.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Jay_Dee_(comedian)
• Jay Electronica
  Timothy Elpadaro Thedford (born September 19, 1976), better known by his stage name Jay Electronica, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer, currently based in London, United Kingdom. Jay Electronica first gained significant attention after the release of the musical composition Act I: Eternal Sunshine (the pledge), made available on a MySpace page in 2007. It is fifteen continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In late 2009 he released two songs, both produced by Just Blaze, "Exhibit A (Transformations)" and "Exhibit C" the latter of which won a Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic. On November 12, 2010, it was announced Jay Electronica had become an official member of Jay-Z's Roc Nation record label.
  
  wn.com/Jay_Electronica
• Jaydee
  Jaydee (born Robin Albers) is a Dutch house music producer and DJ. The original name was Jei D, which Robin Albers (the sole original member) changed to JayDee.
  After a degree in commercial studies, Albers played in the Dutch national baseball team and was triple Dutch wrestling champion. Then, he started his career as DJ, and was a radio host on music and sport programs in his country for eleven years (one of them was elected "best Dutch dance show" three times). He organized the annual Dutch Mixing Championship five times.^{[citation needed]}
  In 1992, under the pseudonym JayDee he released the hit, "Plastic Dreams", which reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The song, an instrumental, featured a prominent Hammond organ style synthesizer melody, played in a jazzy, improvised manner. "Plastic Dreams" continues to be remixed and re-released today, mostly on unsolicited white labels. The track has made the UK Singles Chart on two occasions; firstly in September 1997 when it reached number 18, and again in January 2004 when it reached number 35. With this big hit, Albers decided to create his own record label, First Impression.
  
  wn.com/Jaydee
• Joy Orbison
  Joy Orbison (Born Peter O'Grady) is a DJ and producer based in London. His style is generally accepted as a coalescence of dubstep, UK funky, UK garage, and house. O'Grady achieved underground success with his debut single, "Hyph Mngo" released via Hotflush Recordings in October 2009.
  O'Grady credits his uncle Ray Keith with introducing him to jungle and UK garage at a young age. At 13 he took up DJing and eventually moved into production in his 20s, using Fruity Loops to create 8-bar grime loops before developing his sound combining house, disco, and dubstep. He cites influences as diverse as J Dilla, My Bloody Valentine, GG Allin, Josef K, and The Beach Boys.
  His debut single “Hyph Mngo” was called the most forward-thinking dubstep track of 2009 and received airplay, floorplay and foreplay worldwide. This was followed by “BRKLN CLLN” on O’Grady’s own Doldrums label, which he runs in tandem with partner Impey. In 2010, O'Grady released "The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow" on Aus Music, an eclectic record label founded by Will Saul and Fink.
  
  wn.com/Joy_Orbison
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  Kanye West
  Kanye Omari West ( /ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American musician, film director and fashion designer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synthpop, and classical music.
  West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2012, West has won a total of eighteen Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 30 million digital songs in the United States making him one of the best-selling digital artists of all-time.
  
  wn.com/Kanye_West
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  Kardinal Offishall
  Jason D. Harrow (born May 12, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( /kɑrdɨˈnæl oʊfɨˈʃæl/), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. He is often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", and is best known for his distinctive reggae and dancehall-influenced style of hip-hop.
  In 1997, Kardinal released his debut album, Eye & I, on independent label Capitol Hill Music, to critical acclaim. In 2000, he released the EP, Husslin', also independently on Figure IV Entertainment, which helped establish him as one of Canada's best hip-hop producers. The same year, Kardinal signed with major label MCA Records, and released his second album Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1 in 2001. The lead single, "BaKardi Slang", became his first single to appear on a U.S. Billboard chart. After releasing the single "Belly Dancer" in 2003, he left MCA Records after it was absorbed by Geffen Records.
  In 2005, Kardinal released his third album, Fire and Glory, on the Canadian division of Virgin Records. The single "Everyday (Rudebwoy)" became a top twenty hit in Canada. In 2008, his fourth album Not 4 Sale was released on Kon Live Distribution, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. The album was a critical success, spawning the hit single "Dangerous". The single was his first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five. Kardinal will release his fifth album—his second under Kon Live Distribution—Mr. International in 2012.
  
  wn.com/Kardinal_Offishall
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  Karriem Riggins
  Karriem Riggins (born August 25, 1975) is a jazz drummer, hip hop producer, dj, and sometime rapper. He is a former member of the Ray Brown Trio and Mulgrew Miller trio and currently appears in the Diana Krall quartet.
  Riggins was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father, Emmanuel Riggins, is also a musician, and Karriem would often play drums with him as a child. Riggins began producing hip hop in middle school and continued through high school. He studied music at Southfield High School as well, and joined Betty Carter's band Jazz Ahead soon after, at 17. When he was 19 (in 1994), Riggins moved to New York City, and joined the Ray Brown Trio in 1998. Riggins has also recorded and performed with Donald Byrd, Hank Jones, Mulgrew Miller, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Cedar Walton, Roy Hargrove, and Bobby Hutcherson.
  Away from jazz, Riggins has done production work for hip hop artists including Slum Village, Erykah Badu, Common, J Dilla, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Phat Kat, Consequence, and Dwele. He has collaborated with the hip hop multi-instrumentalist Madlib, performing on his 2007 album Yesterdays Universe and in collaborations entitled Supreme Team and The Jahari Massamba Unit. and also produced a portion of the soundtrack for the 2007 film Smokin' Aces.
  
  wn.com/Karriem_Riggins
• Koushik
  Koushik Ghosh (known professionally simply as Koushik) is a Canadian electronic musician from Dundas. Koushik is signed to Stones Throw Records and has released a collection of singles and EPs from 2001–2005 on that label, Be With (2005), and the debut full length, Out my Window (2008). He has worked with Four Tet, Caribou, and remixed Madvillain.
  
  wn.com/Koushik
• Ladybug Mecca
  Digable Planets ( /ˈdɪɡəbəl ˈplænəts/) is an American alternative hip hop trio based in New York City, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler (from Seattle), Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira (from Silver Spring) and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving (from Philadelphia). They released their debut album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) in 1993, and their follow-up album Blowout Comb in 1994. Shortly after this release the trio parted ways, citing "creative differences", though they've re-united to perform shows in more recent years.
  Digable Planets' fusion of jazz and hip hop received excellent reviews and solid sales with the release of their debut album, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), in 1993, which was certified gold by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," in 1994 became a crossover hit, peaking at #15 on Billboard magazine's singles chart, earning gold certification by the RIAA, and winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The track peaked at #67 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1993.
  
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  Mac Miller
  Malcolm McCormick (born January 19, 1992), known by his stage name Mac Miller (previously Easy Mac), is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is signed to Rostrum Records and released his debut album Blue Slide Park on November 8, 2011.
  Malcolm McCormick was born on January 19, 1992, the son of an architect and a photographer, and raised in the Point Breeze part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father is Christian and his mother is Jewish; Miller was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah. Before attending Taylor Allderdice High School, Miller attended Winchester Thurston School. In high school, Miller decided to focus on his hip-hop career, later noting, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely ... I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did." Miller, a self-taught musician, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass.
  Before embarking on a solo career, Miller was part of rap group The Ill Spoken together with fellow Pittsburgh rapper, Beedie. The Ill Spoken released the mixtape How High in 2008. Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller, he was known as EZ Mac and released the mixtape But My Mackin Ain't Easy in 2007 at 15 years old. In 2009 Mac Miller released two mixtapes The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life before getting signed to Rostrum Records.
  
  wn.com/Mac_Miller
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  Madlib
  Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973) in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer. Known under a plethora of pseudonyms, he is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed hip hop producers of the 2000s and has collaborated with a myriad hip hop artists, including The Alkaholiks, Mos Def, De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli, A.G., MF DOOM (as Madvillain), and the late J Dilla (as Jaylib). He is also the one man force behind the ensemble Jazz collective, Yesterdays New Quintet. Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last," and he has done several projects as a DJ, mixer, or remixer.
  Madlib was born in Oxnard, California to musician parents Otis Jackson, Sr. and Dora Sinesca Jackson. He was raised in Oxnard, and currently works in Los Angeles. He began making music with the rap group Lootpack in the early 1990s. After his father started an independent label Crate Diggas Palace (CDP) Records in 1996 to promote Madlib and his CDP crew, including younger sibling Oh No and released an EP "Ill Psyche Move," Lootpack caught the attention of Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of the Stones Throw Records label. They released two singles and a full-length album on the Stones Throw imprint in 1999. Madlib also worked with rap group Tha Alkaholiks for several albums. In early 2000, Madlib released Madlib Invazion, a remix album on vinyl on Stones Throw.
  
  wn.com/Madlib
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  Mayer Hawthorne
  Andrew Mayer Cohen (born February 2, 1979), better known by the stage name Mayer Hawthorne, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, audio engineer, DJ, rapper and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California, USA. The stage name "Mayer Hawthorne" is a combination of Cohen's real middle name (Mayer) and the name of the street he grew up on in Michigan (Hawthorne Rd). "Mayer Hawthorne and The County" is a name Cohen often uses when performing or recording as Mayer Hawthorne with other artists. In Cohen's words, "The County" is basically anyone who plays an instrument or sings on his album. It is also his band when he performs live. Cohen also performs and records hip hop under the stage name Haircut, sometimes as part of the groups Now On and Athletic Mic League.
  Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Hawthorne moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and was eventually signed to Stones Throw Records by label head Peanut Butter Wolf. Originally the Mayer Hawthorne tracks were meant to be just side projects for pleasure, but upon hearing them Peanut Butter Wolf insisted they be made into an album. Hawthorne has had no previous vocal training.
  
  wn.com/Mayer_Hawthorne
• Micachu
  Mica Levi, known by her stage name Micachu (born 1987, Surrey, United Kingdom), is an English singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. She is classically trained and is best known for experimental music in a variety of genres.
  Levi was born and raised in Surrey. The daughter of musicians, she started writing and playing music at the age of four. She studied violin, viola and composition at the Purcell School before being offered a scholarship to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study composition.
  Levi performed as a DJ and MC around the UK garage and grime scene in London, and released a mixtape titled Filthy Friends, which was posted on her Myspace page. For Filthy Friends she enlisted the help of friends and musicians of various backgrounds including MCs Baker Trouble, Brother May, Man Like Me & Ghostpoet, singer-songwriter Jack Peñate, jazz band Troyka, London pop-band Golden Silvers, producers Kwes and Toddla T. Following its release, Filthy Friends became sought after on the London club scene.
  
  wn.com/Micachu
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  Mos Def
  Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973) is an American actor and MC, known by the stage names Mos Def ( /ˌmoʊsˈdɛf/) and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which released the album Black Star in 1998. He was a major force in late 1990s underground hip hop while with Rawkus Records. As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger in 2004, True Magic in 2006, and The Ecstatic in 2009.
  Although he was initially recognized for his musical output, since the early 2000s, Mos Def's screen work has established him as one of only a handful of rappers who has garnered critical acclaim for his acting work. He is well known for his portrayal of Brother Sam in the American drama series Dexter. Mos Def has also been active in several social and political causes.
  He was born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman. He was raised by his mother in Brooklyn; his father lived in New Jersey. While his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later an active member in the community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. He is friends with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.
  
  wn.com/Mos_Def
• Nottz
  Dominick Lamb better known by his stage name, Nottz is a music producer, writer and rapper from Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. He sometimes extends his executive name to Nottz Raw.
  Nottz has produced for some of the biggest names in hip hop including Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, The Game, Notorious B.I.G., Pusha T, Scarface, J Dilla, and Asher Roth. Some of his earliest production work was on the Rawkus Records compilation Lyricist Lounge, Volume One, in 1998. From there he landed three tracks on Busta Rhymes' Extinction level Event LP, after Rhymes stumbled across one of his beat tapes.
  Like many other hip hop producers to emerge before the 2000s, Nottz samples from old (primarily soul) records and film soundtracks to reconstruct new beats. West Coast hip hop icon, Dr. Dre, has named Nottz as one of his favourite producers, and has selected him as one of the few guest producers on his much delayed, yet anticipated Detox album.
  Nottz also has a group called D.M.P., which stands for "Durte Muzik Prahdukshun". They released an EP in 2004 and a full length album on Koch Records, titled Nottz Presents D.M.P., in 2005.
  
  wn.com/Nottz
• Oh No (rapper)
  Michael Jackson (born November 6, 1979), better known by his stage name Oh No, is a rapper/producer from Oxnard, California who has released several albums on Stones Throw Records. He is also the half part of the hip hop duo Gangrene along with The Alchemist.
  Oh No grew up in a musical family, the younger brother of hip hop artist Madlib, son of singer Otis Jackson, and nephew of jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis. He started performing with his group Kali Wild and was featured on his brother's group Lootpack's album Soundpieces: Da Antidote. Oh No was signed to Los Angeles-based Stones Throw Records who released his debut album, The Disrupt, in 2004. Around this time he also performed on numerous singles by other artists, and began doing freelance production work for labelmates Wildchild, MED (Nickolas Rodriguez) and others. He has gone on to produce for Juggaknots, De La Soul, Murs and various other artists.
  In August 2006, Oh No released the album Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms, exclusively sampling the music of Galt MacDermot and featuring appearances from numerous other rap artists, mostly in the Stones Throw family. The album was well received by critics and established Oh No as one of the leading underground producers in hip-hop. In 2007 he released Dr. No's Oxperiment to rave reviews. The album was entirely constructed using samples of Turkish, Lebanese, Greek and Italian music.
  
  wn.com/Oh_No_(rapper)
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  Omar Rodríguez-López
  Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López (born September 1, 1975) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, writer, actor and film director who was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He is the composer, guitarist and producer for the progressive rock group The Mars Volta, and the former bassist and guitarist for the dub reggae band De Facto and the post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In, respectively. He has also embarked on a solo career, both in studio and in concert, frequently described as experimental, avant-garde and/or progressive. He has collaborated with numerous artists spanning from John Frusciante to El-P.
  Rodríguez-López was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in El Paso, Texas, but spent some of his childhood in South Carolina. He began playing the bass at age 12, but then switched to guitar at 15 because he "needed more strings". It was during this time that Rodríguez-López met Cedric Bixler-Zavala while practicing with friend Paul Hinojos. Since then Rodríguez-López has spent most of his career living and working with his close friend Bixler-Zavala. During this time he frequently collaborated with his friends and future bandmates from El Paso, which included people such as Paul Hinojos, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Julio Venegas and the late Jeremy Michael Ward. He attended Coronado High School in El Paso. He says enjoys the company of his close friends and family when not fulfilling obligations to his many bands and projects.
  
  wn.com/Omar_Rodríguez-López
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  Pay Jay
  The article Pay Jay has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:
  While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.
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  Pay Jay is the unofficial name given to an unfinished and unreleased album by was an American record producer J Dilla. Originally meant to be his second solo effort following Welcome 2 Detroit, the album was recorded in 2002 and 2003 during his time on MCA Records. However, due to internal changes at the label and MCA folding into Geffen Records, the album was shelved. The title, track listing, name of tracks and proper credits are unknown.
  
  wn.com/Pay_Jay
• Percee P
  Percee P (born John Percy Simon) is a hip hop artist from the Patterson Projects in The South Bronx, New York City, United States. Percee P has been writing and performing since 1979, yet his debut album Perseverance was not released until September 18, 2007, produced entirely by Madlib.
  He is known in the underground for selling his mixtapes himself in front of the Fat Beats store in New York, a practice he continues today by selling his Stones Throw album and his other mixtapes at his shows.
  A rare video exists showing Percee P trading freestyle verses with Fat Joe and Eminem.
  
  wn.com/Percee_P
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  Pete Rock
  Peter Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. After the duo went their separate ways, Rock continued with a solo career that has garnered him worldwide respect, though little in the way of mainstream success. Along with groups such as Stetsasonic, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Gang Starr, Rock played a major role in the merging of elements from jazz into hip hop music (also known as jazz rap). He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, the RZA, and J Dilla as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. Pete Rock is also the older brother and younger cousin, respectively, of rappers Grap Luva and the late Heavy D.
  Pete Rock was born in The Bronx, New York, the sixth of seven children of Jamaican immigrant parents. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York when he was seven years old. During high school, he met his future recording partner CL Smooth. According to Rock, his father was also a part-time DJ who had an impressive record collection. Rock would often accompany his father to a cricket club called Wembley in The Bronx and watch as he spun records for the guests. His first job was as a paperboy, in his neighborhood.
  
  wn.com/Pete_Rock
• Phat Kat
  Phat Kat (a.k.a. Ronnie Cash a.k.a. Ronnie Euro), (b. Ronnie Watts) is a rapper from the east side of Detroit, Michigan. His career began in the mid 90's as part of 1st Down, which consisted of Phat Kat on vocals and Jay Dee on production. The group was short lived however, possibly because of insufficient support/promotion from their label, Payday, but the two continued to collaborate on many occasions afterwards, starting with an appearance on "Fat Cat Song" and its remix, from Slum Village's Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1).
  In an interview, he spoke in regards to his time and music creations alongside Dilla, as well as the producer's work ethic:
  His first full-length album, The Undeniable LP was released on June 22, 2004, on Barak Records. It featured appearances from Slum Village, Dwele, Big Tone of 87 Wasted Youth, and Obie Trice. Kat released a 12-inch single in late 2006 for the song Cold Steel produced by J Dilla, he then followed it with his latest LP, Carte Blanche, on April 24 on Look Records. The album has proved to be Kat's most universally acknowledged effort yet.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Phat_Kat
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  Phonte
  Phonte Coleman, better known as Phonte, is a Grammy nominated American rapper, formerly of the now defunct North Carolina trio Little Brother and one-half of the duo The Foreign Exchange. He has also recorded R&B-flavored output as a singer (often under the pseudonym Percy Miracles). His rhymes tend to be no-frills perspectives on working-class life.
  Phonte first met the other members of Little Brother, Rapper Big Pooh and 9th Wonder, in 1998 while attending North Carolina Central University, as an English major. The three shared common musical interests and decided to form a group. "Speed", the group's first song recorded together, led to them signing a deal with the independent ABB Records, and recording their debut album, The Listening. The album's success led to the group signing a non-exclusive deal with major label Atlantic Records.
  The group's 2005 album, The Minstrel Show, was a concept album dealing with the current state of hip hop music. The album received a positive critical reaction but very little commercial success. During the recording of their third album, the group announced the departure of producer 9th Wonder on amicable terms, as well as a parting of ways with their label. Through a contractual clause they landed back on ABB Records and released Getback in late 2007.
  
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  Pino Palladino
  Pino Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh bass guitarist who gained fame playing primarily rock and roll, blues rock, and rhythm and blues music, although he has been lauded for his ability to play most genres of popular music, including jazz, neo soul, and funk. His career has spanned several ensembles, including the John Mayer Trio and The RH Factor, a band mixing elements of soul, jazz and R&B, which he formed with jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. He was also Pete Townshend's and Roger Daltrey's first choice to fill the position left by John Entwistle as the bassist for The Who. Adding to an eclectic grasp and melodic approach on his instrument, he has become one of the most sought-after session players on the bass and has played on a large number of recordings by some of the world's most successful entertainers, in part, by mastering a variety of techniques on both his late 1970s fretless Music Man StingRay bass guitar and, later in his career, adding fretted Fender Precision and Jaguar basses. His playing has earned him custom instruments bearing his name.
  
  wn.com/Pino_Palladino
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  Posdnous
  Kelvin Mercer (born August 17, 1969,The Bronx, New York) is a rapper, producer, and one-third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. He is known more famously by his alias Posdnuos, or simply Pos. He was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in East Massapequa, New York.
  Mercer and David Jude Jolicoeur were childhood friends. They met Vincent Mason in the early 1980s while attending Amityville High School in Long Island, New York. Mercer's father was a jazz fan.
  As a member of De La Soul, Mercer is generally regarded as one of the most consistent and underrated MCs of all time . He has imparted some of his hard-earned experiences in songs such as "Held Down", and "Trying People", from AOI: Bionix. On the latter, he raps: "We were supposed to rid the world of danger / These days we nod heads and small talk like polite strangers / It's natural to fall off, just land close to the tree / I'll be there if they need me to be".
  Mercer is also known for his witty, double entendre-laden battle rhymes. "Fuck bein' hard, Posdnuos is complicated" from Buhloone Mindstate's "In the Woods". For example in "Down Syndrome" from 1996's Stakes Is High, he states: "I be a piece of the East Coast, so give a toast to Plug Wonder Why / Back in the day who soaked his words in ginger / So when I ran a phrase in June, you didn't catch it 'til December".
  
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  Prefuse 73
  Guillermo Scott Herren is a music producer, who has been based in Atlanta, Barcelona and New York. Herren releases music under the aliases Prefuse 73, Delarosa & Asora, Amhmad Szabo, and Piano Overlord, and is also part of the groups Savath y Savalas, Risil, and Diamond Watch Wrists.
  Guillermo Scott Herren was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. His father is Catalan and his mother is Irish and Cuban. At an early age his parents encouraged him to play piano and other instruments; his mother "forced" Herren to play a wide variety of instruments, even going so far as to teach him the Suzuki Method in order to "keep him out of trouble". Growing up, Herren's musical tastes branched out and he became interested in hip-hop, punk rock, and electronic music.
  He began his career DJing at MJQ, a small night club in Atlanta, and then began working in commercial studios producing hip-hop tracks for Dirty South rappers. However, Herren wanted to create his own music and started collecting second-hand instruments and drum machines during this part of his career. He eventually moved to New York City to go to college; there he began recording his first major release, Sleep Method Suite, under the name of "Delarosa and Asora". The album was released in 1997.
  
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  Proof (rapper)
  DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006), better known by his stage name, Proof, was an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. During his career, he was a member of the groups Goon Squad, 5 Elementz, Promatic, and most notably, D12. He was a close childhood friend of rapper Eminem who lived on the same block. In 2006, Proof was shot and killed during an altercation at the CCC nightclub in Detroit.
  Holton was born to Pepper Holton, a single mother. His father, Mckinley Jackson, was a music producer who left to pursue his career prior to Holton's birth. Holton grew up in Warren, Michigan where he met childhood friend and future musical collaborator Marshall Mathers (Eminem).
  
  wn.com/Proof_(rapper)
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  Q-Tip (rapper)
  Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born Jonathan Davis on April 10, 1970), better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American entertainer from St. Albans, Queens, New York, part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest. John Bush of Allmusic called him "the best rapper/producer in hip-hop history," while editors of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers, as well as placing him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), making him the only rapper/producer on the list.
  Born Jonathan Davis on April 10, 1970 in Harlem, he converted to Islam in the mid-1990s, and changed his name to Kamaal Ibn John Fareed. He moved to St. Albans, Queens as a child. As referenced in the song "Check the Rhime", he mostly resided at Linden Boulevard. His father was from Montserrat, a British territory in the eastern Caribbean. His mother is an African-American from Alabama. His sister, Gwen, is eight years older than he is. He attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, New York. According to Fareed, he was given his stage name by Afrika Baby Bam of Jungle Brothers, which he used as a replacement for his prior name, MC Love Child. He has also said that the Q in Q-Tip stands for Queens and he is often referred to as Tip, which later caused problems when a Southern rapper, now known as T.I., signed to Arista Records and attempted to use the stage name Tip, which was later shortened to T.I. to avoid confusion with his then-labelmate Q-Tip. Throughout his career, he also called himself "The Abstract". He said that one of the main people in his life that inspired him was his childhood friend, Mohammed Sead.
  
  wn.com/Q-Tip_(rapper)
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  Questlove
  Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born on January 20, 1971) known professionally as ?uestlove or Questlove (also known as BROther ?uestion, Questo, Brother Question or Qlove), is an American drummer, DJ, music journalist and record producer. He is best known as the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, which is now the in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
  He has produced for artists such as Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa and more recently, Al Green, Amy Winehouse and John Legend. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, The Randy Watson Experience, and The Grand Wizzards.
  Thompson was born in Philadelphia on January 20, 1971. His father was Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews & the Hearts, one of the great 50s doo-wop groups.^{[citation needed]} His parents did not want to leave him with babysitters, so they took him on tour with them. He grew up in backstages of doo-wop shows. By the age of seven, Thompson began drumming on stage at shows, and by 13, had become a musical director.
  
  wn.com/Questlove
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  Raekwon
  Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded numerous solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with other hip hop artists.
  Raekwon is often cited as one of the pioneers of the Mafioso rap sub-genre. In 2007, The editors of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007). The Miami New Times described Raekwon's music as being "street epics" that are "straightforward yet linguistically rich universes not unlike a gangsta Iliad."
  Corey Woods joined the Wu-Tang Clan, a nine-member hip hop group based in the Staten Island borough of New York City, in 1992. He went under the stage name Raekwon the Chef and aliases Raekwon, Shallah Raekwon, and Lex Diamonds. Wu-Tang Clan debuted one year later with Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers. Singles from the album included "Protect Ya Neck" and "C.R.E.A.M.", the latter of which reached #8 on the Billboard rap chart.Wu-Tang Forever followed in 1997 and was certified four times platinum by the RIAA, quadruple the certification given Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Alongside other solo albums by its members, Wu-Tang continued recording as a group, releasing The W in 2000, Iron Flag in 2001, and 8 Diagrams in 2007.
  
  wn.com/Raekwon
• 
  Raphael Saadiq
  Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins, May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, and John Legend.
  He and D'Angelo were occasional members of The Ummah, a music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and J Dilla of the Detroit-based group Slum Village.
  Saadiq's critically acclaimed album, The Way I See It, released on September 16, 2008, featuring artists Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and Jay-Z, received three Grammy Award Nominations and was voted Best Album on iTunes of 2008. His fourth studio album, Stone Rollin', was released on March 25, 2011. For the album, Saadiq worked with steel guitarist Robert Randolph; former Earth, Wind & Fire keyboardist Larry Dunn; Swedish/Japanese indie rock songstress Yukimi Nagano (of Little Dragon fame); Funk legend Larry Graham (on the bonus cut Perfect Storm) plus soul newcomer Taura 'Aura Jackson' Stinson.
  
  wn.com/Raphael_Saadiq
• 
  Robert Glasper
  Robert Glasper (born April 5, 1978 in Houston, Texas) is an American jazz pianist and record producer.
  Glasper’s earliest musical influence was his mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who sang jazz and blues professionally. She would bring him with her to club dates rather than leave her son with babysitters. She also performed in church where the young Glasper began playing piano, and performed during services at three separate churches: Baptist, Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist. Glasper has said that he first developed his sound in church, where he learned his own way to hear harmony, and was inspired to mix church and gospel harmonies with jazz harmonies.
  Glasper attended Elkins High School in Houston, TX and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. At the New School, Glasper met neo-soul singer Bilal Oliver. They began performing and recording together, which led to associations with a variety of hip-hop and R&B artists parallel to Glasper’s emerging jazz career. He has worked with Bilal and Mos Def as musical director, Q-Tip (The Renaissance), Kanye West (Late Registration), Meshell Ndegeocello (The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams), J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Common, Slum Village and Maxwell, with whom he toured extensively on 2009’s BLACKsummers'night tour.
  
  wn.com/Robert_Glasper
• 
  Royce Da 5'9"
  Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), better known by his stage name Royce da 5'9", is an American rapper. He is known for his longtime association with Eminem and for his solo career, recording primarily with Carlos "6 July" Broady and DJ Premier, as well as ghostwriting for the likes of Diddy and Dr. Dre. Royce is one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with Eminem and also a member of hip hop group Slaughterhouse. The editors of About.com ranked him #33 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007).
  Ryan Montgomery was born and raised on the West side of Detroit, Michigan on W. McNichols & Wyoming Ave. He moved to Oak Park, Michigan when he was 10 years old, later acquiring the nickname "Royce" during high school after wearing a Turkish link chain with an R pendant resembling the Rolls Royce symbol. He started rapping at age 18, influenced mainly by Ras Kass and Redman. He signed his first deal in 1998 with Tommy Boy Records, after the label shut down, he signed a deal with Columbia where he started recording an album called Rock City, referring to Detroit's former status as home to Motown Records. When the project was heavily bootlegged, Royce left the label for Koch to re-record some of the album, eventually releasing it in 2002 as Rock City (Version 2.0). While the album did not sell very well, the DJ Premier-produced single "Boom" gained Royce some underground recognition and eventually resulted in the two working together more closely.
  
  wn.com/Royce_Da_5'9"
• Show & A.G.
  Showbiz and A.G. (also known as Show and A.G.) are an American hip hop duo from The Bronx, New York City. Showbiz is a producer and A.G. (short for André the Giant) is a rapper. The two debuted on Lord Finesse's Funky Technician album in 1990. Show and A.G. are members of the Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) along with Lord Finesse, Diamond D, Fat Joe, O.C., Buckwild and the late Big L.
  The duo's first release was an EP titled Soul Clap, released in 1992, also known as Showbiz & A.G. They released their debut album, Runaway Slave, the same year. A short version of their track "Soul Clap" was included on the album, as well as past recordings such as "Catchin' Wreck" and "Party Groove". The posse cut "Represent" featured the first album appearance of rapper Big L. Other album guests included Black Sheep's Dres, Diamond D, Lord Finesse and Deshawn. In 1993, Showbiz became popular for producing KRS-One's single Sound of da Police.
  In 1994, Showbiz & A.G. made a guest appearance on Black Sheep's second album Non-Fiction, on the track "E.F.F.E.C.T.". Showbiz soon shortened his name to Show, changing the group name to Show & A.G. Their 1995 album, Goodfellas, featured a darker sound than their debut. Guest artists on the LP included D-Flow, Lord Finesse, DJ Premier, Roc Raida, Dres, Method Man and Diamond D. The most successful song from the album was DJ Premier's Nyte Time Remix to the track "Next Level".
  
  wn.com/Show_&_A.G.
• Skillz
  ' Shaquan Lewis, also known as Mad Skillz, Skillz, is an American rapper known for his acclaimed 1996 album From Where???, a reference to his origins in Virginia, not the stereotypical New York City or Los Angeles rapper, and he's also known for his yearly "Rap Ups", which he has done since 2002.
  Skillz was born in Detroit, Michigan, but at a young age moved to Richmond, Virginia. He first made a name for himself by finishing in second place (Losing to MC Supernatural) in a national freestyle competition, which eventually resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records. At this time he went by the stage name Mad Skillz rather than just Skillz. Mad Skillz' Atlantic debut album, From Where???, and its single, "The Nod Factor", were released in 1996, but neither received much commercial or critical attention. The album's title was a reference to the regionalism in hip-hop, and at the time the state of Virginia did not have a large hip-hop scene. In the late-1990s more of a Virginia scene emerged, and he allied himself with fellow Virginia natives Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and The Neptunes. He made appearances on Timbaland's albums Tim's Bio in 1998, and Indecent Proposal in 2001; Timbaland made plans to sign Skillz to the Blackhand label he was developing; however, this label failed to materialize. He along with Danja Mowf, Lonnie B, and Kalonji The Immortal, members of Skillz' Supafriendz collective, also appeared on a remix of Aaliyah's hit single "Are You That Somebody" in 1998.
  
  wn.com/Skillz
• Stalley
  Stalley is a rapper from Massillon, Ohio and is a member of Maybach Music Group.
  Stalley was born and raised in Massillon, Ohio and is a devout Muslim. He was raised by a single mother, Montez Myricks, who he mentions along with sister Patience in his music. Stalley attended Washington High School in Massillon and played basketball freshman through senior year. After graduation, he left home to play Division 1 basketball at Michigan, but was injured shortly after. That setback brought him to New York to play for Long Island University, but a second injury derailed his athletic plans. He changed his focus to music.
  In 2008, he connected with Ohio DJ, Terry Urban on the mixtape release “Goin Ape”, catching the attention of rapper Mos Def who he eventually opened for with his music. His 2nd project, MadStalley: The Autobiography, highlighted his transition from small town griot to rap star. He’s since worked with brands like Nike, ESPN, 10Deep and Mishka. Stalley then linked with Creative Control, the media collective associated with Dame Dash, DD172, and fellow rap artist Curren$y for his first viral music video. With Stalley's third independent effort, "Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music)", he carefully illustrates a typical night out on his popular hometown strip. As an Indie artist, Stalley appeared on BET's 106 and Park, with music videos on MTV networks. Stalley is currently signed with Maybach Music Group, founded by Rick Ross, accompanied by artists Wale and Meek Mill. He dropped his fourth mixtape Savage Journey To The American Dream with Maybach Music Group.
  
  wn.com/Stalley
• 
  Termanology
  Daniel Carrillo (born in October 8, 1982), better known as Termanology is a rapper from Lawrence, Massachusetts. He first came to wide attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, Politics As Usual, was released in 2008. He has made a number of collaborative albums, such as 1982 (released in 2010) and is known also for his prolific mixtape output.
  In collaboration with the New Hampshire producer DC the MIDI Alien, Carrillo independently released the album Out the Gate in 2005. The single "This Is Hip Hop" attracted the attention of The Source, which featured the rapper in its much-coveted "Unsigned Hype" column. A friendship with the Gang Starr Foundation member Krumbsnatcha led to a meeting with DJ Premier, who was a fan of "This Is Hip Hop". Termanology's DJ Premier-produced 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down" generated considerable national and international interest, including an appearance in XXL's "Show & Prove" column.
  The debut solo album release Politics As Usual on Nature Sounds in 2008 gathered together many of hip hop's most revered producers as DJ Premier was joined by names like Pete Rock, Large Professor, Easy Mo Bee, and Buckwild. It was well-received by critics, though many reviewers noted it lacked the focused aggression throughout that "Watch How It Go Down" had promised.
  
  wn.com/Termanology
• 
  The Notorious B.I.G.
  Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls (after a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again).
  Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. When Wallace released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York's visibility at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud, dominating the scene at the time.
  On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His double-disc set Life After Death, released 15 days later, hit #1 on the U.S. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000 (one of the few hip hop albums to receive this certification). Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow", dark semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling abilities. Since his death, a further two albums have been released. MTV ranked him at #3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States.
  
  wn.com/The_Notorious_B.I.G.
• The Turntablist
  DJ Babu (born Melvin Babu) is a Filipino-American DJ. One-third of the hip hop group Dilated Peoples (alongside Rakaa Iriscience and Evidence), Babu is also a member of the Beat Junkies DJ crew, and together with rapper Defari forms the duo the Likwit Junkies. DJ Babu, Evidence and Pharoahe Monch also feature in the song H! Vltg3 on Linkin Park's Reanimation album. He lived in Oxnard, California for 1 year, and later moved to the neighbor city of Camarillo.
  Babu has won multiple competition titles Including the Vestax World Championships and multiple ITF titles. As a revered battle DJ he has appeared in and hosted numerable videos. Babu is famous for redefining the art of Beat juggling during the 1997 ITF/Beat juggling category competition, when he first performed his "Blind Alley" routine. Under the name "The Turntablist", produced perhaps the genre's most popular battle record, 1996's Super Duck Breaks, which sold over 10,000 copies.
  DJ Babu has also featured on numerous acts alongside groups such as Jurassic 5, Swollen Members and The Visionaries. Individually Babu has featured in many other groups.
  
  wn.com/The_Turntablist
• The Ummah
  The Ummah was a music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and the late Jay Dee (now known as J Dilla) of the Detroit-based group Slum Village. Occasional members included Raphael Saadiq, and D'Angelo. In addition to producing nearly the entirety of A Tribe Called Quest's fourth and fifth album, the Ummah provided backing tracks for a notable array of hip hop and contemporary R&B artists, including Busta Rhymes, Whitney Houston, Keith Murray, the Brand New Heavies, Janet Jackson, and Jon B. The group was so named because two of its members (Tip and Ali) are devout Muslims. The word "ummah" is Arabic for "community", "nation", or "brotherhood".
  The collective took shape around 1995, when veteran keyboardist Amp Fiddler introduced Jay Dee (who at the time was shopping for a deal for his group) to Q-Tip. Tip was impressed enough by Jay Dee's soulful productions to invite him as an addition to Tribe's music-production team, which until then consisted of Tip and Ali Shaheed.
  
  wn.com/The_Ummah
• Tony! Toni! Toné!
  Tony! Toni! Toné! is an American Soul/R&B group from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of Dwayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins) on lead vocals and bass, and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums and keyboards. Other members were Elijah Baker, Carl Wheeler, Randall Wiggins, and Amar Khalil, who is the current lead singer of the group, and Antron Haile.
  Originally, the band went by "Tony, Toni, Tone" as a joke, until they realized it had a nice ring to it.
  Their first album, Who?,produced and co written by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, was released in 1988. The album went gold and had several hit singles. The first of these, "Little Walter" went to #1 on the R&B charts. While none of the singles went gold, the next three singles, "Born Not To Know", "For The Love Of You" and "Baby Doll" were all Top 10 R&B singles.
  The group's second album The Revival was released in 1990 and reached platinum status. The album spawned several #1 R&B hits with "It Never Rains In Southern California", "Feels Good", "The Blues", and "Whatever You Want" all topping the R&B charts. "Feels Good" was the group's first single to breach the Top 10 of the Hot 100 and managed to go gold.
  
  wn.com/Tony!_Toni!_Toné!
• 
  Usain Bolt
  The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. ( /ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.
  Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time (since surpassed by Jacko Gill). In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he broke Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.
  
  wn.com/Usain_Bolt
• 
  Waajeed
  Waajeed (born Robert O'Bryant) is a Detroit-born music producer, and one half of the hip hop and R&B group Platinum Pied Pipers. He formed the Bling47 record label in 2002,which has released his work and projects by J Dilla and the vocalist Tiombe Lockhart. The name "Waajeed" means "finder" or "seeker" in Arabic.
  Before producing records, Waajeed was studying art and DJing in and around the Detroit music circuit. He designed the cover for Slum Village's Fantastic, Vol. 2. As a producer, Waajeed began comparatively late (2000), but before long had landed a handful of tracks on the group's Trinity (Past, Present and Future) album. According to Waajeed, his first MPC had previously belonged to J Dilla.^{[citation needed]} After the hardware was broken by Questlove, J Dilla said that Waajeed could keep it if he could fix it. His first beats were made on that very same MPC after managing to correct the problem.
  Waajeed was an executive producer on Dwele's pre-debut project, Rize, which ultimately led to Dwele getting signed to Virgin Records shortly thereafter. He has been a close friend of Slum Village since its earliest days, DJ'ing for them on their earliest tours, convincing the group to release their first album/demo, Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1), choosing the group's name, and introducing them to fourth member Elzhi.
  
  wn.com/Waajeed
• Wildchild (rapper)
  Jack Brown, better known by his stage name Wildchild, is a rapper and member of the Lootpack. He has released two solo albums. The first, Secondary Protocol, released on Stones Throw Records, featured contributions from Oh NO, Percee P, Medaphoar, Planet Asia, Aceyalone, and Phil da Agony, and was produced mainly by Madlib. His second album Jack of All Trades, on Fat Beats, features Prince Po, Special Ed, Souls of Mischief, Georgia Anne Muldrow and production by Madlib and Black Milk.
  He has collaborated with Spanish MCs, for example Tr3s Monos or El puto D.
  He appeared on Dabrye's album Two/Three, Jazz Liberatorz' Fruit of the Past, and MF DOOM and Madlib's Madvillainy.
  His son Miles Brown, aka Baby Boogaloo achieved widespread fame as a hip hop dancer after appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show aged four, and then on America's Got Talent in 2011 as part of the duo Future Funk.
  The song Hands Up appeared as the music on one of the Adult Swim promos of Fullmetal Alchemist.
  
  wn.com/Wildchild_(rapper)
• 
  Wu-Tang Clan
  The Wu-Tang Clan /ˈwuːtæŋ/ is an American rap group from Staten Island, New York that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi-member of the group. They were formed in (and are associated with) the New York City borough of Staten Island (U-God, Method Man, RZA, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon) (referred to by members as "Shaolin"), though some of their members are from Brooklyn (Ol Dirty Bastard, GZA and Masta Killa) and one is from The Bronx (Inspectah Deck).
  They have introduced and launched the careers of affiliated artists and groups, often collectively known as the Wu-Tang Killa Bees, and in 2008, About.com ranked them the No. 1 greatest hip hop group of all time, and stated "No weapon in hip-hop history can rival the chaotic cohesion of the Wu-Tang Clan. The Clan had so many characters, each with his own eccentricities. They were fearless in their approach. There's a good reason no group has been able to successfully recreate their sound. The crew spawned countless loosely associated acts. Their classic albums spawned classic albums." Kris Ex of Rolling Stone called Wu-Tang Clan "the best rap group ever." In 2004, NME hailed them as one of the most influential groups of the last ten years.
  
  wn.com/Wu-Tang_Clan

• The New Installment
• Detroit Madness (feat. Phat Kat)
• Big Thangs (feat. Esham)
• Ride With It (feat. Tha Almighty Dreadnaughtz)
• Say My Name (feat. LaPeace, Moe Dirdee and Seven The General)
• Detroit Game (feat. Chuck Inglish and Boldy James)
• Feel This Shit (feat. KetchPhraze)
• City of Boom (feat. Loe Louis and Beej)
• Let’s Pray Together (feat. Amp Fiddler)
• Requiem (feat. Allan Barnes)
• Do It Right (feat. Fat Ray, VStylez and Soul Man)
• My Victory (feat. Boldy James
• Rebirth Is Necessary (feat. Tone Plummer and Mr. Wrong)
• DILLATROIT (feat. Supa Emcee, Nick Speed and Guilty Simpson)
• Center of the Movement (feat. 5ELA and Pierre Anthony)
• Pitfalls (feat. Fat Ray, LaPeace and Loe Louis)
• Do It for Dilla Dawg (feat. Illa J and Frank Nitt)
• Jay Dee’s Revenge (feat. Danny Brown and DJ Dez)
• Motor City Sparks (feat. Corey Sparks and Beej)
• House Shoes Was Spinnin (feat. Quelle Chris)
• The Best That Ever Did It (feat. Jon C and Allan Barnes)

• The Rulers Back
• Takeover
• Izzo
• Girls Girls Girls
• Jigga That Nigga
• U Don’t Know
• Hola Hovito
• Heart of the City
• Never Change
• Song Cry
• Never Lie
• Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)

• Workinonit
• Pause
• Raw Shit
• Nothin Like This
• Anti-American Graffiti
• Glamour Sho75 (09)
• Won't Do
• Baby (feat. Madlib & Guilty Simpson)
• It's Like That
• Off Ya Chest (feat. Frank-N-Dank)
• Crushin'
• Reality Check (feat. Black Thought)
• Featuring Phat Kat (feat. Phat Kat)
• So Far to Go (feat. Common & D'Angelo)

• Stakes Is High (remix)
• Y? (Be Like That) (Jay Dee remix)
• Sitting on Chrome (Ummah remix)
• Fall in Love (Jaydee remix)
• As Serious as Your Life (Jay Dee remix)
• Whoo Ha!!! Got You All in Check (Jay Dee Bounce remix)
• The Ultimate (Unreleased Jay Dee remix)
• Secret of the Sand (Jay Dee remix)
• Eve (Jay Dee remix)
• Love Junkie (Jay Dee remix)
• Oblighetto (Jay Dee remix)
• Sometimes (Jay Dee remix)

• KJay FM Dedication
• King
• I Told Yall
• Lazer Gunne Funke
• In the Night / While You Slept (I Crept)
• Smoke (feat. Blu)
• Blood Sport (feat. Lil Fame)
• CaDILLAc
• Expensive Whip
• Kaklow (Jump on It)
• Digi Dirt (feat. Phat Kat)
• Dilla Bot vs. The Hybrid (feat. Danny Brown)
• Milk Money
• Spacecowboy vs. Bobble Head
• Reality TV (feat. Black Thought)
• On Stilts
• Fire Wood Drumstix (feat. DOOM)
• Glamour Sho75 (09)
• 10,000 Watts
• 9th Caller
• Make It Fast (Unadulterated mix) (feat. Diz Gibran)
• 24K Rap (feat. Havoc & Raekwon)
• Big City
• Pay Day (feat. Frank Nitty)
• See That Boy Fly (feat. Illa J & Cue D)
• Coming Back
• Mythsysizer
• KJay and We Out

• Runnin'
• Fall in Love
• The Light
• Didn't Cha Know
• Stakes Is High
• Show Me What You Got
• Dynamite
• Hip Hop Quotable (feat. Aloe Blacc)
• Drop
• You Play Me
• Dollar
• Don't Say a Word
• Okay

• Diamonds
• We F'Ed Up
• Fuck the Police
• Remember
• Fight Club
• Creepin' You
• Trucks
• No One Knows
• Drive Me Wild
• Diary
• Remember (remix)

• Believe in God
• Say It (interlude)
• Say It
• Fantasy
• Red Light
• Lucy
• Ghetto Love
• Can't You See
• In the Streets
• Sun in My Face

• Intro
• Let's Take It Back
• Reckless Driving
• Nothing Like This
• The $
• Interlude
• Make'em NV
• Interlude
• Crushin' (Yeeeeaah!)
• Shouts
• Intro (Alt)
• Wild
• Take Notice
• Shouts (Alt)

• Donuts (outro)
• Workinonit
• Waves
• Light My Fire
• The New
• Stop
• People
• The Diff'rence
• Mash
• Time: The Donut of the Heart
• Glazed
• Airworks
• Lightworks
• Stepson of the Clapper
• The Twister (Huh, What)
• One Eleven
• Two Can Win
• Don't Cry
• Anti-American Graffiti
• Geek Down
• Thunder
• Gobstopper
• One for Ghost
• Dilla Says Go
• Walkinonit
• The Factory
• U-Love
• Hi.
• Bye.
• Last Donut of the Night
• Donuts (intro)

• Geek Down
• E=MC2
• Love Jones
• Love
• Baby
• So Far to Go
• Jungle Love
• Over the Breaks
• Body Movin'
• Dime Piece (remix)
• Love Movin'
• Won't Do

• Humbum
• Dedication
• Y’all Ready for It
• Electronic Hum
• Marvin & The Fam
• 1 for the Treble & 2 for the Bass
• Bass & Keys Duet
• Sum Epic Shit
• Code of the Streets
• Rock 'n' Roll
• Phantom of the Synths
• Pledge the Beat
• Zelda
• Zelda 2
• Answering Machine
• Brand New Shit With the Blend
• Sleeping Like a Dog
• The King Swirling
• Chipmunk Gets Down
• Hey Hey Hey Heyyyy
• Sum Spooky Shit
• Bup Ba Bup Bup Ba Ba Ba
• Guitar & Buggin Violin
• Blowin Into Coke Bottles
• And I Wanna Escape
• Track 26
• Watchin Smurfs on Shrooms
• The Future
• Back With the Claps
• Smokey in the Pigeon Coop
• Do You
• Allright
• Dig It
• Have You Forgotten Who I Am
• Zen Guitar

• Fantastic
• I Try
• Put It Down
• Front Street
• Hoc n Pucky
• Crypto Bonus Beats
• Climax (Girl Sh**)
• The Look of Love

Born: 1974-02-07

Died: 2006-02-10