Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American Grammy Award winning hip hop artist, entrepreneur and occasional actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album Country Grammar, the title track of which was a top ten hit. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to peak at number one. Country Grammar is Nelly's best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States. His following album, Nellyville, produced the number-one hits "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma" featuring Kelly Rowland. Other singles included "Work It" featuring Justin Timberlake, "Air Force Ones" featuring Murphy Lee and the St. Lunatics, "Pimp Juice" and "#1".
With the same-day dual release Sweat and Suit (2004) and the compilation Sweatsuit (2006), Nelly continued to generate many chart-topping hits. Sweat debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies in its first week. On the same week of release, Suit debuted at number one selling around 396,000 copies in its first week on the same chart. Nelly's fifth studio album, Brass Knuckles, was released on September 16, 2008 after several delays. It produced the singles "Party People" featuring Fergie, "Stepped on My J'z" featuring Jermaine Dupri and Ciara and "Body on Me" featuring Akon and Ashanti. In 2010, Nelly released the album 5.0. The lead single, "Just a Dream", has appeared in the top ten of several singles charts and were certified platinum in the United States. The second single is "Move That Body" featuring T-Pain and Akon. "Gone" is the sequel to Nelly's 2002 worldwide number one single "Dilemma", also with Rowland, and serves as third single from Nelly's album.
Kelly Rowland (born Kelendria Trene Rowland on February 11, 1981) is an American recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality. Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Houston, Texas, Rowland rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time.
During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Rowland released her debut solo album Simply Deep in 2002, which contained influences of alternative-R&B and rock music. It included her joint worldwide number-one single "Dilemma" with rapper Nelly, and the international top-ten hit "Stole". Following the group's disbandment in 2005, Rowland released her second solo effort Ms. Kelly in 2007 and despite being less successful than its predecessor, it included the international hit singles "Like This" and "Work". In 2009, Rowland scored her second worldwide number-one hit with French DJ David Guetta, on his single "When Love Takes Over". Her third solo album Here I Am was released in 2011 and included the UK top-ten hits "Commander" and "Down for Whatever", as well as the US R&B number-one "Motivation".
Paul Michael Slayton (born March 11, 1981), better known by his stage name Paul Wall, is an American rapper. He is currently affiliated with Swishahouse Records, having released several albums under the label as well as collaborating with other rappers signed to the label. He was formerly musical partners with rapper Chamillionaire releasing several collaborative albums including the independently released Get Ya Mind Correct. In 2005, he was signed to Atlantic Records and became successful with his major-label debut The Peoples Champ. Get Money, Stay True followed in 2007.
Wall attended Jersey Village High School and studied mass communications at the University of Houston for three years. After proposing to do promotions for Michael "5000" Watts' company, Swishahouse, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall came to Watts' studio, KBXX. Paul & Chamillionaire convinced Watts to let them rap on his radio show and put the verses on one of his mixtapes. That mixtape was titled Choppin Em Up Part 2, which was released in mid 1999. The freestyle became so popular in the streets that Chamillionaire and Paul Wall became regular staples on Houston's mixtape circuit, appeared on several of Watts' mixtapes and became permanent members of Swishahouse.
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the Soundscan era. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw.
McGraw had 11 consecutive albums debut at Number One on the Billboard albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He has won 3 Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and 3 People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music.
McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in The Blind Side (with Sandra Bullock), Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, and Four Christmases (with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon), and lead roles in Flicka (2006) and Country Strong (2010). He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats. Taylor Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", refers to him and his song, "Can't Tell Me Nothin'".
Onika Tanya Maraj (born December 8, 1982), known by her stage name Nicki Minaj ( /mɪˈnɑːʒ/), is a Trinidadian-born American rapper and singer-songwriter. She was born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and when she was 5 years of age she moved to the New York City borough of Queens, where she grew up.
After releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009 and being signed to Young Money Entertainment in August 2009, Minaj released her debut album, Pink Friday, in November 2010. It quickly became a commercial success, peaking at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and being certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month after its release. She became the first female solo artist to have seven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. Her second single, "Your Love", reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, making Minaj the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. She also became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List. Minaj was named the 2011 Rising Star by Billboard. Her second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was released on April 3, 2012.