Name	Busta Rhymes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr.
Name	Busta Rhymes
Alternative names	Smith, Trevor Taheim, Jr.
Short description	Rapper, hip hop musician
Date of birth	5/20/1972
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York, United States

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American film actors Category:African American rappers Category:Aftermath Entertainment artists Category:American people convicted of assault Category:American rappers of Jamaican descent Category:People convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Rappers from Long Island Category:Rappers from New York City

Name	Ron Browz
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Rondell Turner
Born	December 06, 1982
Instrument	Keyboards, Sampler, Vocals, Auto-Tune
Occupation	Record producer, Singer, Rapper
Years active	1998-present
Genre	Hip hop, R&B;
Label	Ether Boy Records (CEO)Universal Motown (2008-2009)
Associated acts	Jim Jones, Busta Rhymes, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, 50 Cent, G-unit, Juelz Santana, Jae Millz, The Diplomats, N.O.R.E., Nas, D-Block, Papoose, Big L, Ghostface Killah
Url	www.ronbrowz.com

Rondell Turner, better known by his stage name Ron Browz, is an American record producer and rapper. He has his own record label called Ether Boy Records.

Biography/career

Turner first worked in the studio with rapper Big L and later produced Nas's song "Ether," which dissed rapper Jay-Z. In late 2008 Ron Browz started working on a solo album, Etherboy. The first single was "Pop Champagne" a collaboration with fellow Harlem rapper Jim Jones featuring Juelz Santana. "Pop Champagne" was included in Jones's 2009 album Pray IV Reign. The second single was "Jumping (Out the Window)" the music video was released on January 27, 2009. He was also featured on Busta Rhymes' first single "Arab Money" off his album Back on My B.S. and Capone-N-Noreaga's comeback single "Rotate" off their album Channel 10 . His Etherboy album was never released and Browz parted ways with Universal in 2009. Ron Browz released his debut album, Etherlibrium, on July 20, 2010.

Discography

Official studio albums

Etherboy (2009) (Shelved)

New Rules (2011)

Independent albums

Etherlibrium (2010)

EP albums

Timeless EP (2009)

Collaboration albums

EtherBoy Allstars (2011) (with EtherBoy Allstars)

Awards

Urban Music Awards

2009, Best Collaboration ft. Jim Jones & Juelz Santana ‘Pop Champagne’ (Won)

References

Category:African American record producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:People from Harlem Category:1982 births Category:Living people

Name	Lil Wayne
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
Born	September 27, 1982New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Instrument	Vocals, Guitars

Obama also mentioned listening to Lil Wayne on his iPod:

Discography

; Studio albums

1999: Tha Block Is Hot

2000: Lights Out

2002: 500 Degreez

2004: Tha Carter

2005: Tha Carter II

2008: Tha Carter III

2010: Rebirth

2010: I Am Not a Human Being

2011: Tha Carter IV

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

Lil Wayne at MTV

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:1990s rappers Category:2000s rappers Category:2010s rappers Category:21st-century American criminals Category:African-American Catholics Category:African American rappers Category:American dance musicians Category:American shooting survivors Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop singers Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:Rappers from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:University of Houston alumni Category:World Music Awards winners

Name	The Narcicyst
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Yassin Alsalman
Alias	The Narcicyst, Narcy, Jamal Abdul, Illuminarcy, Illiam Sheiksbeard, Narcy of the Euphrates
Born	May 26, 1982Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Origin	Basra, Iraq
Genre	Hip hop, political hip hop, conscious hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	2000–present
Associated acts	Sandhill, Euphrates, Nomadic Massive
Url	www.narcy.net

Yassin Alsalman, better known by his stage name The Narcicyst (or Narcy), is an Iraqi journalist and Hip Hop MC[1][2]. Originally from Basra, he was born and raised in Dubai.[2] Now settled in Montreal, Canada.

He began his career as part of a Hip Hop trio called Euphrates, along with Nawar and Nawaf Al-Rufaie. The two brothers had been Yassin’s childhood friends and worked together as a production team called Sandhill, providing the musical backrdrop for the group’s two LPs (A Bend in the River and Stereotypes Incorporated). The group also contributed to the soundtrack of Voices of Iraq, a documentary featured in The Georgia Straight and Time.[4] Euphrates disbanded after Nawaf’s unexpected passing on November 26th, 2004. Yassin has since pursued a solo career, recording 4 mixtapes and a studio album.

Rapping in English and occasionally in Iraqi Arabic, Yassin’s lyrics address some of the social, political and cultural issues of our time, including the 9/11 attacks, the US-led invasion of Iraq, Islamophobia and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He has performed in live shows across Canada, Europe, the United States and the Middle East, often backed by a live band and vocalists. He has also opened for a number of high profile acts like Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Non Phixion, Madlib, A-Trak, Brother Ali, DJ Vadim[5], Dead Prez and Afu Ra[6] to name a few.

A graduate in political science and communication studies, Yassin completed a Masters’ degree in media studies, focusing on the identity politics in Hip hop poetics, specifically looking at the lived experiences of Arabs in North America. As part of his thesis, he recorded Fear of An Arab Planet, along with fellow Arab American MCs and producers Omar Offendum, Ragtop and Eccentric.

Discography

Albums

With Euphrates

A Bend in the River (album) (2003)

Stereotypes Incorporated (2004)

The Euphrates Collection (2006)

Solo and Collaborative LPs

Stuck Between Iraq and a Hard Place (2006)

The Arab Summit's Fear Of An Arab Planet (2007)

Stuck Between Iraq and a Hard Place Vol. 2 (2008)

The Narcicyst (2009)

Stuck Between Iraq and a Hard Place Vol. 3 (2009)

Mr. Asthmatic (2010)

Singles

With Euphrates

Commodore 64 (2005 Expertism Records)

Videography

Phatwa (2009)

Hamdulilah (2010)

Filmography

"City of Life" (2009)

See also

Arabic hip hop

References

External links

Official website

The Narcicyst at MySpace

Article by Rupert Bottenberg, Montreal Mirror

Euphrates Keeps it Positive by Tara Henley

Stereotypes Incorporated review

For The Narcicyst, Iraq is the Bomb article by Mandy Van Deven in Bitch (magazine) published May 21, 2009

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Iraqi expatriates in Canada Category:Iraqi expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Category:Iraqi hip hop musicians Category:Iraqi rappers Category:People from Dubai

Name	Swizz Beatz|Img = Swizz beatz at hot 97 summer jam 2007.jpg
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kasseem Dean
Born	August 30, 1978 The Bronx, New York, United States
Instrument	Keyboard, sampler
Occupation	Record producer, rapper, record executive, painter, artist
Years active	1998–present
Genre	Hip hop
Label	Full Surface, Ruff Ryders, Atlantic
Associated acts	DMX, Alicia Keys, Eve, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Drag-On, Cassidy, T.I., G-Unit
Url	http://swizzbeatzonline.com

Kasseem Daoud Dean (born August 30, 1978), better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, and rapper. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records.

Early life

Kasseem Daoud Dean was born to an African American Muslim father and a Puerto Rican Christian mother. Dean didn't see much of his father, a postal worker, due to his parents being separated, and was raised by his mother. He was born and raised in the southwestern area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. It was there where he spent most of his childhood, first encountered Hip hop and began deejaying. He began deejaying after he got some equipment from his stepfather and his uncles. He later relocated to Atlanta as a teenager due to having too many fights at Harry S. Truman High School; there he started to work for his uncles, Joaquin and Darrin Dean, who were co-CEOs of the Ruff Ryders label. Forgoing the practice of using samples, he mostly used the Korg Trinity and Triton Keyboards and tried to accentuate the performance aspect of his music. The next five years would find him landing hit after hit and becoming more in demand with each production.

Career

1998-2002: Ruff Ryders and Full Surface

With his uncles (Chivon, Dee, and Waah Dean) involved with the Ruff Ryders label, he began to produce tracks at the age of 16. He sold his first beat at 17 which became DMX's hit single "Ruff Ryders' Anthem". In 2001 at the age of 23 he established his own record label, Full Surface, in a joint venture with Clive Davis of J Records.

On October 19, 2007, Swizz Beatz launched a contest called "Share the Studio," presented by Music Video 2.0 and The Source magazine. The contest was intended to be a continuation of the work from his debut album. On February 12, 2010, he and 81 other artists including Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jamie Foxx, Will.i.am, and Usher, debuted "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Undaunted by the disappointing sales of his last album, One Man Band Man, Swizz Beatz is already hard at work on his second album (his second as an artist, however, it will be the third album he has released). In late 2007 Swizz Beatz confirmed it will be called Life After the Party in an interview with Format Magazine saying

Although in 2010 on his twitter Swizz Beatz renamed his album three times. He first announced he was calling it King Issues but later on that day settled on The Perception of Greatness, and on August 23 while in a studio session with Mary J. Blige in New York City, Swizz unveiled his new album title Haute Living, stating that it's the perfect phrase to represent what he's all about. The album will be released under his actual contract with Everest Entertainment/Atlantic/Warner, who signed the rapper in August 2010. Confirmed guest appearances include Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and John Legend.

Swizz Beatz also was named the first "Producer in Residence" at New York University. This will last from the 2010-2011 academic year.

In 2010, inspired by Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Fridays series, Swizz Beatz launched his own series of free weekly mp3s titled Monster Monday. The first song, "DJ Play that Beat" featuring Estelle, was released on October 25. Other Monster Monday tracks include features from Rakim, Pusha T, DMX, Busta Rhymes and Pharrell.

On twitter in 2010, Swizz Beatz revealed his new sneaker line with Reebok.

Personal life

In 2004, he married R&B; singer Mashonda Tifrere, together they have two children, Prince Nasir Dean (born 2000), Kassem Dean Jr. (born 2007). In April 2008, they announced their plans to divorce after four years of marriage. Rumors have since surfaced online suggesting singer Alicia Keys was involved in the break-up, but Swizz has since then stated this is not true. In May 2009, Swizz Beatz admitted to having a relationship with Alicia Keys. He explained that he's kept their relationship under wraps because he didn't want to upset Mashonda and says that what he and Keys have is "so precious." Beatz' divorce from Mashonda was finalized on May 7, 2010.

In May 2008, singer and producer Jahna Sebastian gave birth to a daughter, Nicole, whom Swizz Beatz had fathered. In May 2010 Beatz confirmed he was engaged to singer Alicia Keys, and that Keys was pregnant with Beatz' fourth, and her first child. During the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the couple took part of a union and had the unborn child blessed in a Zulu ceremony, which took place in the Illovo suburb of South Africa. Keys and Swizz Beatz held a wedding celebration on the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010. Alicia Keys gave birth to their son, Egypt Daoud Ibarr Dean, on October 14, 2010.

Swizz Beatz not only collects paintings but also paints on his own free time. He donates the money he earns from his paintings to the Children's Cancer & Blood Foundation.

Awards and nominations

2009: Urban Music Awards Best Producer (won)

Grammy Awards

*2010, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group "On to the Next One" [Nominated]

*2010, Best Rap Song "On to the Next One" [Nominated]

*2010, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group "Fancy" [Nominated]

Discography

; Studio Albums

One Man Band Man (2007)

Haute Living (TBA)

; Compilation Albums

G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories (2002)

Ryde or Die Vol. 1 (1999)

References

External links

Official website

Interview, HitQuarters Jun 02

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Engaged? PopEater, January 27, 2010

Meet Alicia Keys' secret boyfriend, Swizz Beats NY Daily News, May 17, 2009

Category:1978 births Category:African American rappers Category:African American Muslims Category:American record producers Category:African American record producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American Muslims Category:Living people Category:People from the Bronx Category:Ruff Ryders artists Category:2000s rappers Category:2010s rappers