Famous American rappers. The coolest black rappers: In childhood and now

A boy named Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in Missouri in 1972, as they say, into a dysfunctional family. The parents of the future king of hip-hop got married when Marshall's mother was only 15 years old. He was born two years later. And after some time, his father abandoned the family. Moving from place to place, mother and son settled in. The guy has a love for music since childhood. For several years, Marshall and his friends tried to do something worthwhile. Once upon a time the great Dr. Dre heard the track The Slim Shady - and away we go... Eminem has 15 Grammy and Oscar awards for the song Lose yourself, which he wrote in one sitting. The track was written for the autobiography Eight Mile, in which the singer played a rapper named Rabbit. In 2010, the singer recorded several popular duets - with Rihanna, Pink, Nicki Minaj and Kob. Today, Eminem firmly occupies a leading position in the hip-hop industry. In his personal life, Marshall repeated the fate of his mother: at the age of 15, he met 13-year-old Kimberly Scott at school. The young people got married, but the marriage did not last long. The attempt to improve relations failed miserably. The exes have secured joint custody of their only daughter, Hayley.

Interesting fact: Eminem writes all his lyrics in a notebook, by hand. No computer!

Quote:“I say most of the nasty things from the heart, but a lot of my rhymes are just meant to make people laugh. This is a great comedy. Anyone who has even a drop of humor will understand when I’m joking and when I’m serious.”

Tupac Shakur

The rapper was born in New York City in the Harlem neighborhood on June 16, 1971. Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, was a member of the Black Panther group and actively fought for the rights of blacks. Tupac didn't know his father. In 1992, the guy moved to Los Angeles, but despite his creativity, he was involved in illegal things. In 1993, a girl accused him of rape. Tupac received a sentence and went to prison, where he recorded the album Me Against The World, which became multi-platinum. While in prison, the rapper married Keisha Morris, but after his release he filed for divorce. In February 1996, Tupac's main creation was released - the double album All Eyez On Me, which became nine times platinum. In September of the same year, Tupac was shot dead under unclear circumstances. His car was shot at 12 times. Tupac is recognized as one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time. He is the first rapper to receive a monument.

Interesting fact: Before becoming a rapper, Tupac studied ballet.

Quote:“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is that which dies in us while we are still alive. Never give up".

Jay Z

Shawn Cole Carter was born in Brooklyn on December 4, 1969. His father left the family when he was very young (again!). As a teenager, Sean worked in a grocery store. Like all cool rappers, Mr. Carter had problems with the law: he was even shot 6 times. Sean attended the High School of Vocal Performance in Brooklyn and graduated with honors. Started recording in the early 1990s. Jay Z, along with his friends Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs Burke, founded the music company Roc-a-Fella Records. The musician's second album was released in 1997. Literally a year later, the compositions of Beyonce's future husband gained popularity and began to sound from every iron. In September 2001, the singer released his third album entitled The Blueprint. Already in the first week, about 450,000 copies were sold. This album was later recognized as one of the best hip-hop releases in history. 13 Jay Z albums have reached the top of Billboard. This is a record among all solo performers. In addition, the rapper is an excellent businessman and the owner of a multimillion-dollar fortune. By the way, his wife, the beautiful Beyoncé, greatly contributed to this. The couple is considered one of the most influential in show business.

Interesting fact: the singer invested his money in Carol's Daughter cosmetics line.

Quote:“We change people through communication, not through censorship.”

Snoop Dog

The incredible Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. was born on October 20, 1971. The musician’s father left his family (what is that?!) almost immediately after his birth. From an early age, Dog sang in the church choir, and also played the piano and composed music. From his mother, the guy received the nickname Snoopy - in honor of the dog from the cartoon. After graduating from school, Kelvin entered California Polytechnic College. However, he ended up in prison for six months. Upon his release, he decided to take up music. After some time, the records reached the table of the famous producer Dr. Dre (yes, we have deja vu too). In 1993, Snoop's first solo album, Doggystyle, was released. It is considered a true rap classic. But not only music is interesting to Snoopy: he loves to flash on the big screen. He has roles in the films “Bones”, “Training Day”, “Black Business” and others. Twelve successful albums and many compositions recorded in duets with other musicians have made Snoop Dogg one of the most popular performers of our time. He also proved himself in business: successful collections of shoes, clothes, cigars and headphones. In Snoopy’s personal life, everything is okay: he is married to his high school girlfriend, with whom he has three children.

Interesting fact: Snoop Dogg is a fan of the vampire series True Blood. He even dreamed of starring in it. But the creator - Alan Ball - refused him this. Out of grief, the musician recorded the song Oh Sookie, dedicated to the main character of the series.

Quote:“I can only say two things about my past: I always remember it and I never regret it.”

Dr. Dre

God-given producer and simply cool musician Andre Romell Young was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1965. At the time of the birth of the baby, the mother was only 16 and the father was only 17. The parents soon divorced. The future tycoon studied very poorly, and his work somehow didn’t work out. That's when he started DJing in California clubs. At the age of 17, Andre founded World Class Wreckin’ Cru, and a little later the NWA group Niggaz With Attitude appeared. NWA's first album, Straight Outta Compton, with the track Fuck Tha Police, caused a lot of controversy. In addition, the group began to be pursued by the FBI, which brought them even more authority among fans. Through Warren G, his half-brother, Dre met aspiring rapper Snoop Dogg and began working with him. Dr. Dre's resounding success as a producer came in 1998, when he “discovered” Eminem. Since 2001, Dre has been primarily involved in producing albums for other musicians. Andre’s personal life was difficult: his eldest son was born when the producer was 16 years old, he had not seen him for more than 20 years. The second son died of an overdose. The third son from the singer Miguel became a bone of contention. The singer demanded huge alimony through the court. And only in 1996, Dre seemed to have found happiness: he married a girl named Nicole Tret. The couple has two children.

Interesting fact: Dr. Dre never used steroids: he achieved such an athletic physique only through training. He started training after the death of his second son; he threw all the negativity into sports.

Quote:“No matter how hard you work to get up, there will always be a stubborn person willing to take you down.”

Drake

Canadian handsome man and Rihanna's on-off boyfriend Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 29, 1986 in Toronto. His father is a musician and his mother is a teacher. His parents divorced when the boy was five. Aubrey began his career in the TV series Degrassi. The Next Generation,” but soon switched to music. The musician released his first hit, Best I Ever Had, in 2009, and just a year later he presented his debut album, Thank Me Later, which gained enormous popularity. Drake has sold more than 5 million copies of his albums worldwide. Today, Drake continues to write music and perform concerts. He also works as a producer under the pseudonym C. Papi and writes songs for other musicians: Alicia Keys, Rita Ora and Jamie Foxx. Lately, Drake has often appeared behind the scenes, voicing characters in popular cartoons.

Interesting fact: in one interview, Drake admitted that, but she always perceived him as a younger brother.

Quote:"I'm cheerful, but calculating."

Kanye West

The husband of the most famous pop... excuse me, reality star Kim Kardashian, singer Kanye Omari West, was born in Atlanta on June 8, 1977. His parents separated when he was three years old, and the boy moved with his mother to Chicago. The parents of the future hooligan are bright representatives of the middle class, his father is a photographer, and his mother is an English teacher. Kanye, influenced by his mother, went to the University of Chicago, but his love for music won out. At first, the young musician composed compositions for famous Chicago artists. Over the years, his songs have been performed by Jay Z, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Janet Jackson and many others. In the fall of 2002, West was in a car accident while returning home from a recording studio. He suffered a broken jaw and miraculously survived. He described all his experiences in songs, which he dedicated to God and his incredible salvation. He didn’t want to give them to another singer; they contained his story. And Kanye released his debut disc, The College Dropout. The album received platinum status three times. After this, records and new singles began to be released literally one after another. Today, the rapper is considered one of the most famous and popular musicians in his genre. As for personal life, then

Interesting fact: West was once arrested on suspicion of stealing several printers from his office.

Quote:“I’m the type of rock star who needs a girl, you know?”

The hip-hop business is growing so rapidly that you don’t always have time to remember the names of the rising stars. The West is exploding with new faces such as Lil B, Gucci Mane and Chance The Rapper. Russian stars of the new school, in turn, like to announce the next “revolution of the game,” but is this really so? The term soundcloud-rap has recently taken root in the foreign press. The new tag was needed to designate a wave of young American rap artists who have not yet hit the radar of old media and are generally not well known to a wide audience, but are already leading the charts of SoundCloud, which is more geared towards searching for new music. Russian hip-hop today is also actively developing. With the change in the importance of hip-hop in the music market, with the acquisition of significant influence by hip-hop, the type of performers has also changed, some of whom will eventually become new classics. We have compiled our list of young but famous rappers of our generation.

1. LSP - Oleg Savchenko (28 years old/Vitebsk, Belarus)

A Belarusian rap group that captured the summer of 2015 with the track “Madness” and the incredibly successful album “Tragic City”. LSP fell in love with the listener not only with its atypical presentation for Russian hip-hop music, electronic beats and sound, but also with excellent storytelling skills about difficult life circumstances. LSP is a romantic intellectual who constantly vacillates between cynicism and vulnerability. Last summer, one of the group members, Roma the Englishman, died, after which Oleg LSP announced that he would continue to work with the group and dedicated the video for the song “Body” to Roma, which amazed all listeners with its sincerity and message.

Albums:

- “YOP” (2014)

- “The Gallows” (2014)

- “Magic city” (2015)

- “Tragic city” (2017)

2. Scriptonite - Adil Zhalelov (27 years old/Leninsky village/Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)

Adil Zhalelov, who fell ill with hip-hop in his early childhood, already at the age of 11 began writing poetry, texts, and at 15 already beats that were used by Klava Gidroponka during her participation in the “Battle for Respect.” A little later, these beats began to sell out, but the tracks, of which a lot were written, were not posted anywhere. In 2014, a locally famous Kazakh rapper posted on the network a video VBVVCTND (stands for “Choice without options - all you gave us”), which was filmed for six months, and received an unimaginable resonance. 2 major labels immediately offered Skryptonite a contract, but the choice fell on TO “Gazgolder”.

Scryptonite’s full-fledged debut took place in 2015, after the release of the album “House with Normal Phenomena,” which was unanimously named by critics and music lovers as the best Russian-language record of 2015. The main feature of all tracks is not only the originality of the music, but also the predisposition to repeated listening, and each time new details are discovered in the music, complementing or completely changing the overall picture. The latest double album “Ouroboros” once again proved that Skryptonite is one of the brightest and most influential figures in Russian hip-hop, an artist whose tracks have been heard from every speaker throughout Russia and the CIS countries for the last couple of years.

Albums:

- “House with Normal Phenomena” (2015)

- “Holiday on 36 Street” (2017)

- “Ouroboros” (2017)

3. ATL - Sergey Kruppov (29 years old / Novocheboksarsk, Russia)

An intriguing and talented artist from Novocheboksarsk, ex-member of the Aztecs group, which broke up in 2012 after the release of the album “Music will be above us,” writing tracks under the name ATL. His pseudonym has two interpretations at once - the first letters of the city of Atlanta and an allusion to the Aztec god of water Atlu. The musician's creative inspiration was Eminem. After he came across a tape from a “white rapper,” he decided to move in the same direction and become famous at any cost.

The rapper gained widespread popularity when he defeated a serious opponent, Andy Cartwright, in the Versus battle. His style most of all gravitates towards trip-hop (a mixture of experimental hop, jazz, soul, rock), although the performer himself prefers not to force himself into the framework of one stylistic direction. ATL loves to use complex metaphors and allusions in his songs, the leitmotif of his works is anxiety, the end of utopia, the threat of war and complete surrender of peace on earth.

Albums:

- “Cyclone Center” (2014)

- “Limbo” (2017)

4. Max Korzh - Maxim Korzh (29 years old / Luninets, Belarus)

Max Korzh is a young promising performer from Belarus. In one of the courtyards of the Belarusian city of Luninets, Max Korzh began making music in the mid-2000s. But all this was more like school fun, until the time came to enroll: the whole company moved to Minsk - and Max Korzh felt the spirit of the big city.

Shortly before joining the army, he recorded the song “Heaven will help us,” which, one might say, brought real fame to the musicians. The studio recording cost him $300, which he borrowed from his mother. Then Max posted his debut composition on the Internet and went to fulfill his military duty. “Heaven will help us” received a lot of likes, the composition was played on the air by some local radio stations, and was widely distributed on VKontakte - at the moment it exists there in the amount of almost 100 thousand copies. The guy found out about this when he returned home, and received a powerful incentive for further creativity. The songs he wrote quickly became popular. The singer has already released several albums. He is known not only in Belarus, Korzh performs in Russia, Ukraine and European countries. Max is the winner of several music awards.

Albums:

- “Animal World” (2012)

- “Home” (2014)

- “The little one has grown up. Part 1” (2016)

5. Oxxxymiron - Miron Fedorov (33 years old / St. Petersburg, Russia)

Oksimiron (Oxxxymiron) is a well-known and revered rapper in Russia and abroad, who emigrated to Germany at a young age. He became famous for his extraordinary polysyllabic rhymes, rather witty metaphors and high vocabulary. He is considered an innovator of the grime genre in Russia. Miron “appeared” on the radar of the general public around 2008 - at this time he began posting his demo recordings on the Internet. By this time, he had taken the pseudonym Oxxxymiron, which was a reference, firstly, to his real name, secondly, to the literary term “oxymoron”, and the triple “x” referred to the generous use of obscene language in his tracks. Oxy’s debut video, “I’m a Hater,” caused a lot of noise in Russian rap.

Miron creates mostly battle rap, but some tracks, such as “Last Call,” have proven that he is also great at lyrics. Released suddenly, without any promotions, singles or videos, the album “Gorgorod” broke more than one record; it is one of the most recognizable hip-hop releases of recent years. It was after Gorgorod that they began to talk about “turning the game around.”

Albums:

- “The Eternal Jew” (2011)

- “miXXXtape II” (2013)

- “Gorgorod” (2015)

6. T-fest - Kirill Nezboretsky (21 years old / Chernivtsi, Ukraine)

As it turned out, Ukraine is the main exporter of not only young pop stars, but also rap artists. Kirill is a young popular Russian rapper who has already achieved so much. Kirill began his activity with covers of famous artists, and he began rapping back in 2009. He released one mixtape in his hometown, after which he wrote several more albums over the course of several years. And only in 2017 he released his first official release, the album “0372”. Its name is the telephone code of Chernivtsi.

Later, Schokk drew attention to the guy, taking him under his patronage. Melodic and musical tracks about difficult childhood years, discussions about girls, money and blunts, in particular, the video “One thing I knew” interested the rapper Skryptonite, who represents the interests of the Gazgolder label. But then Kirill did not know about this, he was going to Moscow to perform at the concert of his friend Schokk, and already in early March T-Fest and Scryptonite will present a joint video “Lambada”. A little later it becomes known that “Gazgolder” signed T-Fest to their label. It is worth noting that Kirill performs together with his brother Maxim Nezboretsky (MacRae). In October 2017, Kirill presented his second studio solo album, called T-Fest - “Youth ‘97”, which blew up the Russian charts.

Albums:

- “0372” (2017)

- “Youth’97” (2017)

7. Pharaoh - Gleb Golubin (22 years old / Moscow, Russia)

Former member of the group Grindhouse, now the leader of the Dead Dynasty team - PHARAOH - rapper from Moscow. From the age of 6 to 13, Gleb worked hard at football and dreamed of a professional career as an athlete. He played for the football clubs Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo, but eventually left football on the orders of his parents, who considered the footballer’s career unpromising. For the first time, people started talking about the rapper Pharaoh at the end of 2014, thanks to the video for the song “Nothing Has Changed” and the subsequent mixtape “Wadget”. In a short time, the composition of “Dead Dynasty”, which was created by the rapper from Ufa BOULEVARD DEPO and headed by Gleb, was replenished with a number of talented and promising beatmakers of all sorts and stripes, some of whom worked with representatives of the Western rap scene.

In his tracks, Pharaoh uses terminology, the understanding of which comes only with time, with long and thoughtful listening. His original natural metaphors and the sound of his voice have made hundreds of people fall in love with him. The voice often sounds like part of the beat, making most of the tracks feel like a DJ set. Within a week, his video “Wildly, for example” collected 5 million views on YouTube, and at the same time almost 150 thousand views on Genius.

Albums:

- “PHLORA” (2014)

- “Dolor” (2015)

- “Pink Phloyd” (2017)

8. Jah Khalib - Bakhtiyar Mamedov (24 years old / Almaty, Kazakhstan)

Jah Khalib is not only a talented Kazakh singer, but also a beatmaker and hip-hop producer. He became interested in rap in early childhood at the age of six under the influence of his older brother. He brought him records of black rappers and Bakhtiyar was very interested in them. These were released by the famous American record label “Def Jam Recordings” - “DMX”, “Onyx”, “Swizz Beatz”. And my mother, who played the piano professionally, instilled a love for jazz and symphonic music. This significantly influenced the formation of his musical tastes in the future. Unlike many rap artists, Bakhtiyar has a musical education: a music school in the saxophone class and the Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy. Due to the fact that as a child he had to face problems of a national nature, from the age of thirteen he worked in a studio, mixing vocals, and at sixteen he worked in six studios at the same time, tried to study, wrote his own music and posted it on the Internet. This was necessary for the family to have money.

His first widespread popularity was brought to him by the songs “All we love is sex, drugs”, “Your sleepy eyes”, “Burning to the ground”, “Let’s fly far”, posted on the Internet, which became the main hits of 2013. At the end of 2015, according to “The Flow”, Bakhtiyar Mamedov’s album “Khalibaniya of the soul” was included in the list of thirty-three best albums of the year (took the thirtieth place); in 2017, his album “If anything, I am Bach” became the most popular album of the year among users Apple Music, and the new video “Medina” gained 5 million views in 2 days. “I will never compete under the flag of another country. I will not perform under the flag of “Gazgolder” or “Black Star”. I do not need it. As for labels, one label is enough for me - this is my Kazakhstan,” says Jah Khalib.

Albums:

- “Khalibaniya of the soul” (2015)

- “Everything We Love” (2016)

- “If anything, I am Bach” (2016)

- "E.G.O" (2018)

Markul’s journey to London was the longest: until the 7th grade he lived in Khabarovsk. When Mark was a twelve-year-old teenager, the family decided to move to the capital of the United Kingdom. The guy studied at a local educational institution, which was not famous for its prestige and good reputation, and at the same time worked as a loader and at a construction site. Under the influence of a dysfunctional environment, Markul dabbled in soft drugs, got his first tattoo at the age of 13, and later became interested in rap.

At the age of 13, Markul started trying to write, accidentally found out on some forum that a rap scene was beginning to form in London, and ended up in Green Park, forming the group “Tribe”, which included two more Russian-speaking guys - Den Bro and Chiff . "Tribe" existed for a couple of years, and then everyone gradually went free. Markul released a solo video and disappeared for two years. And only in 2014 he posted a new work, “Dry Out of Water,” in which the artist talked about the risky ways of making money that he had to cross paths with in London, the video became a hit in Russian rap. On November 10, 2016, a video was published for our hero’s track with POSSESSES. This collaboration has become one of the most successful in the Russian hip-hop segment. In September, the premiere of Mark and Oxxxymiron’s single with an impressive cyberpunk adaptation called “FATA MORGANA” premiered, which still tops the music charts.

10. 104 and Truwer - Yuri Drobitko and Sayan Zhimbaev (25 years old, 23 years old / Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)

Yuche is a hip-hop artist from Kazakhstan, formerly known as Yurik Thursday, a former member of the Jillzay team, a permanent collaborator of Skryptonite, and now an artist on his new label Zorski. Back in 2008, 104 started trying to write beats, and only 2 years later he started rapping. In 2016, the group Jillzay released the album “718 Jungle,” a street and powerful album that shot like lightning and made the band members famous. And before all this, 104 lived in China and studied languages, but, as he himself claims, he got tired of all this and he returned to his hometown of Pavlodar to study music. In 2017, he, together with his friend and label member Zorski Truwer, released the album “Safari”, which immediately took first place on Apple Music! By the end of the year, Yura pleased his fans with two tracks “Money and Power” and “Queen”.

Sayan Zhimbaev is a young and talented artist of the Scryptonite Zorski music label. Sayan was born and raised in Pavlodar, at the age of six he began training in Kyokushinkai karate, becoming the champion of Kazakhstan several times. In 2013, he suffered a serious chest injury, thereby putting an end to his sports career. In parallel with sports, Sayan was interested in music, in particular rap, listening to 50 Cent. He fruitfully began to engage in hip choir after a chance acquaintance with Scriptonite, who, a couple of years after this acquaintance, offered to work together. Thus began a new chapter in life called “Jillzay”, which blew up all sorts of charts. In 2017, he, together with his friend and member of the Zorski 104 label, released the album “Safari”, which immediately took first place on Apple Music! And already in April 2018 their first solo concert will take place in Moscow.

11. Feduk - Fedor Insarov (26 years old / Moscow, Russia)

Fyodor Insarov, aka Feduk, is a popular Russian musician whose compositions invariably become hits among fans of music of this genre. Fedor’s style in music is quite versatile, not confined to one genre. From early childhood, Fedor was lucky enough to travel around distant countries - when the boy was five years old, the Insarov family moved to China, and at the age of 11, Fedor ended up in Hungary, where he lived for another four years. There, fate brought him together with rapper Rodnique, with whom they later began recording joint tracks. Along with 2012, Feduk received an offer that would later bring him significant fame - he was called to record an OST (soundtrack) and a video for the movie “Okolofutbola”.

Over the next years, Fedor released new albums, but in the summer of 2017 he presented his most successful work to date - the album “F&Q”. The album received an unusual sound, because it was produced by the famous electronic engineer Qoss. Many tracks from “F&Q” broke into trends. Later, Feduk shot a video for the track “WATER COLOR”. The peak of the young artist’s popularity was the track “Pink Wine,” recorded together with Novosibirsk rapper Eldzhey. It became a real musical event of 2017, took pride of place in the top ten of Russian iTunes and collected a huge number of views on YouTube.

Albums:

- “Ghetto Space” (2014)

- “Our Island” (2015)

- “Free” (2016)

- “F&Q” (2017)

12. Husky - Dmitry Kuznetsov (25 years old / Ulan-Ude, Russia)

A rapper who quickly conquered the musical Olympus, Husky is considered a typical hero of modern times. He started writing rap at the age of 15 under the influence of “Caste” and “Ellipsis”. He also says that he has always been attracted to black musical culture. Husky's images and metaphors are complex; he spent many sleepless nights fiddling with them, but he presents them to us as if we had known them for just as long and intimately. He first gained fame in 2011 thanks to the music video for the song “Seventh of October”. The video was published on YouTube. The composition had a highly social overtone and was dedicated to the birthday of Vladimir Putin.

Over the course of several years, the rapper has been gaining increased interest in himself both from colleagues and from ordinary listeners and netizens. In particular, Dmitry received positive reviews from such rappers as: ATL, Oxxxymiron, Karandash. In 2016, Dmitry released a video for the song “Black-Black”. Next came the video clips “Panelka”, “Bullet-Fool” and “Ai”. And on April 1, 2017, Husky’s first full-length studio album was released - "(Imaginary) People's Favorite Songs", which reached the top five on iTunes.

Albums:

- “Sbch life” (2013)

- “Favorite songs of (imaginary) people” (2017)

13. Eldzhey - Alexey Uzenyuk (23 years old / Novosibirsk, Russia)

Eljay is a young rap artist from Novosibirsk, who this year blew up the charts with his tracks. By the way, Alexey’s appearance and image are etched in the memory just as much as the lyrics of his songs. Eldzhey's creative path began in 2009. Eljay records his first tracks and posts them on VKontakte. In 2013, Alexey began working with rapper Malaya. The duo released the album “Gundezh”, in which Alexey shared with listeners his beliefs about the world order.

After that, he released several more albums, but the turning point in Eldzhey’s work can be noted in September 2016, it was then that the joint track with Kravets “Disconnect” was released, which instantly “shots”, takes first place in all charts and becomes a hit at all parties. After this, Eljay’s career took off rapidly; he released the album “Sayonara Boy”, which for a long time remained in the first positions in “iTunes” and “PlayMusic”. In 2017, Eljay released another solo album, “Sayonara Boy ろ”. With the release of which, one’s own style is formed, namely appearance, tattoos, and of course the recognizable white eyes. The peak of popularity is August 2017, because it was then that the joint composition with Feduk, “Pink Wine,” and the solo track “Torn Jeans” were released, which, without any doubt, became the main hit of the summer of 2017.

Albums:

- “Bosses are smoking” (2014)

- “Cannon” (EP) (2015)

- “Catacombs” (2016)

- "Sayonara Boy" (2016)

- "Sayonara Boyろ" (2017)

14. Face – Ivan Dremin (20 years old / Ufa, Russia)

Face is a rap artist whose work, full of parodic humor and references to youth Internet culture, is classified as “meme-rap.” The original version of the current nickname was “PunkFace”, but my brother dissuaded me from removing the first part of it and leaving only “Face”. The artist explains that he is the face of youth.

The young artist burst into the game in 2015, releasing the mini-album “Cursed Seal.” Ivan himself does not consider this work to be indicative, because the compositions from the release were not very serious, and if I describe the entire EP in a few words, then these are some “thoughts of a teenager.” However, the song “Gosha Rubchinsky”, which brought Ivan a lot of hype, was released on this release.

In 2016, the performer released an EP "VLONE" and EP "PlayBoy" , and already on these releases the compositions sounded modern and stylish, and the themes of the lyrics were wildly relevant, therefore these works can be called high-quality. But in the same year, Face released the unusual track “Payback” and the EP “Mayhem,” where the themes of all the works sharply contradicted the previous ones, and the sound became completely different. In April, Face released the album “Hate Love” and went on a tour of 23 cities. Face is an extremely controversial figure, but he knows how to catch trends, thanks to this he gathers huge halls all over Russia. His tracks are full of obscene language, so not every listener may like it. However, Face does not believe that there is anything bad in his tracks. On the contrary, he is convinced that there are serious social themes there; they are simply not seen or understood yet.

Albums:

- “Hate Love” (2017)

- “No Love” (2017)

15. Obladaet - Nazar Votyakov (26 years old / Irkutsk, Russia)

Young grime rapper Obladaet was born and raised in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. As a teenager, Nazar left his hometown and moved to live in St. Petersburg, where his development as a rapper began. Nazar went to the masses after he won the Grime Music Group grime battle, where he showed only good results throughout the entire battle. Undeterred, on the wave of hype, he releases a remix of Drake’s track “0 to 100,” which only reinforced the hype from the won battle. But, of course, you shouldn’t perceive him only as a grime artist, because he is quite versatile. Participant of the first Russian-language Grime Clash, where his opponent was Redo. Nazar also participated in the “Beats & Vibes” rap contest, from which, unfortunately, he was eliminated.

At the moment, OBLADAET is one of the strongest, most productive and promising “new school” rappers. With enviable frequency, he releases compositions, videos and goes on city tours with concerts.

Albums:

- “Home run” (2016)

- “Double tap” (2016)

- “Files” (2017)

- “Friends & Family” (2017)

16. Yanix - Yanis Badurov (24 years old / Krasnogorsk, Russia)

Yanix is ​​a rap artist, about whom, as well as about many other rappers, it can be said that the musician achieved everything on his own. Yanix has been creatively active since 2010. In his work he always strives for the southern sound, even before such a direction aroused interest and found its audience. In 2011, Yanix’s first release, “Finish Him,” was released. The mixtape, which is a collection of tracks recorded to Western instrumentals, did not bear any fruit and went unnoticed. The next segment of Yanix’s biography can be called a small creative crisis. In 2013, he appeared on 4EU3’s mixtape, after which he presented his own record called “Ghetto Streets Show”.

2014 was a turning point for the artist - it was then that the artist presented the release “Ghetto Street Show II”, in which such rappers as Decl (Le Truk), ATL, Obe 1 Kanobe, Hiro and others appeared. Two years later, in 2016, Janis’s next album was released - “ Gianni." The songs from this record “Don't tell them”, “Night Life” (a duet with the Belarusian performer LSP) and “Chain” were loved most by fans of rap music.

- “Street Show 2” (2014)

- “Block star” (2015)

- “Gianni” (2016)

- “Bla bla land” (2017)

- “Till Trap Do Us Part” (2018)

17. Jacques Anthony - Jacques-Anthony Menshikov (25 years old / Vologda, Russia)

Jacques-Anthony (formerly Dxn Bnlvdn) is a rap artist who is an artist on the Reigun Records label. His first release was the 2014 mixtape “Molly Cyrus,” which was officially re-released in 2015. However, wide fame came to the artist a little later - after the release of a video called “Old Testament”, which blew up all Russian rap, and the composition itself was included in the release “Live and Do”. On the wave of fame, the performer releases the mixtape “#NONAME” (2015). In the fall of the same year, his debut album “Breathless” was released. In 2016, Jacques released Dorian Gray, and almost immediately announced its sequel, which the performer is still busy writing to this day.

In 2017, the singer released several new songs, one of them, “Our District,” became the soundtrack to Fyodor Bondarchuk’s fantasy film “Attraction.” This is a real breakthrough. The famous director liked the song, so he decided to make it the soundtrack. Even more people learned about Jacques Anthony. The singer did not stop there; he continues to work on music and create new songs. He travels around Russia and neighboring countries on tour.

- “Breathless” (2015)

- "Dorian Gray. Volume 1" (2016)

- “DoroGo” ​​(2017)

18.Garry Topor - Garry Alexandrov (29 years old / St. Petersburg, Russia)

Harry Topor is a rap artist and battle MC distinguished by his dark, compelling underground rap. The rap artist positions himself in his work as “Angry Rap,” combining aggression and humor at the same time. In a relatively short period of his biography, the rap artist managed to work with performers from Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Turkey, Germany, France, Canada and Israel. Now he is recording at the Berlin Records studio, like many other famous St. Petersburg rappers.

Harry Topor takes a position in life that despises alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, this is reflected in many of his tracks. Most likely this is because of what he saw as a child on Piterskaya Street « Dybenko." However, he found company with people like Tony Routh, with whom he remains to this day. To date, Igor has 5 releases behind him. This « Postulates of rage » , « My enemy » , « Echoes of War » , « Echo of war. Reissue » , « Autopsy will show » and in 2013 « Anatomical Theater » , and « Guatemala Coffee Trip » . At the same time, Harry Ax is a very strong battle MC, which he proved at Versus Battle. Four rivals and three Ax victories!

- “Anatomical Theater” (2012)

- “Our people” (2013)

- “Wasp Country” (2015)

- "Makintosh Bootleg" (2010)

- “The Man with an Iron Glove” (2017)

19. Dirty Molly - Kirill Bledny (20 years old / Zmiev, Kharkov, Ukraine)

Kirill Bledny, better known as the lead singer of the band “Vulgar Molly”, is a musician of Ukrainian origin, who gained great popularity after the release of the album “Vulgar Molly” - “8 Ways to Quit Jerkoff”. In a short period of time, the no-name band Vulgar Molly became very popular, releasing just one album, something not every musician can achieve. The group begins touring, concert tours, both in Ukraine and Russia.

A year after the release of the first album, the group released its second studio album on January 30, entitled “SAD GIRL WITH EYES LIKE A DOG.” The album includes 6 compositions, which are significantly different in sound from the first record, but the themes of the tracks, close to modern youth, remained unchanged.

- “8 ways to stop jerking off” (2017)

- “Sad girl with eyes like a dog” (2018)

20. Bumble Beezy - Anton Vatlin (23 years old / Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)

Bumble Beezy is one of the most technical and incredibly productive performers of the new school. Flow, rhythm, technique and delivery - Bumblebee’s work has all this in abundance. At the beginning of 2014, Anthony released his debut album - Wasabi. The album turns out to be of high quality, but due to the fact that Busy was not yet known to anyone at that time, there were few people who listened to Wasabi. But it so happened that Big Russian Boss and Young PH appreciated one of the tracks “No Hook” by Bumble Beezy, as a result of which the rappers’ joint track “Black Snow” was released in the fall of 2014.
In 2016, Bumble Busy's new album, Wasabi 2, was released, which really took off. Thanks to the release of Wassabi 2, Busy’s flow even tagged Oksimiron on his Twitter.

After many months of anticipation, in the spring of 2017, Bumble Beezy finally presented the album to the public, called “BeezyNOVA: Main Effect”. The album included 10 tracks, and the only guest on the release was Steam. Later, the artist presents his new release “BeezyNOVA: Side Effects” and is a full-fledged addition to the “BeezyNOVA: Main Effect” released less than a month ago. In October 2017, a record called “Wasabi III” was released, which aims to be the best release in the entire trilogy.

- “Wasabi” (2013)

- “Wasabi-2” (2016)

- “BeezyNOVA: Main Effects” (2017)

- “BeezyNOVA: Side Effects” (2017)

- “Wasabi-III” (2017)

10.Eminem/Marshall Bruce Mathers

Apart from occasional appearances on screen, Eminem's film career is limited to one film. But it was the leading role in the almost autobiographical biopic 8 Mile, and Eminem not only won an Oscar for the song Lose Youself, but also impressed many viewers and critics with his soulful performance. Marshall Mathers began his life in art by participating in teenage rap battles, where he was often the only white participant. Despite constant attacks from those who believed that a guy of his color had no place in Detroit's underground rap scene, Eminem stood his ground, and in 1997, the 25-year-old rapper was able to release The Slim Shady EP. He was not very successful, but attracted the attention of the popular rapper and producer Dr. Dre. Two years later, published with the support of Dr. Dre's The Slim Shady LP made Eminem a superstar, and the musician went on to be recognized as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

9. Common/Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.

Lonnie Lynn became interested in rap when he was a boy and created a rap group when he was in high school. He recorded his first album at the age of 20, but 1992's Can I Borrow a Dollar? was barely noticed by the public. Subsequently, Common gained fame as an underground rapper, which, however, was not associated with the “radicality” of his compositions. On the contrary, Common was among those rappers who protested against the dominance of gangsta rap. He became a superstar of the genre in 2000, when his fourth album Like Water for Chocolate was released. By that time, Common was already a darling of critics and interested listeners. Three years later, he appeared in a cameo role on TV, and in 2007 he began his film career with the thriller “Smokin’ Aces.” Since then, he has starred in such hits as Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Now You See Me and Selma, as well as the television series Hell on Wheels.

8. Ice-T/Tracy Lauren Marrow

In the famous Los Angeles neighborhood "South Central" it is often said that its inhabitants have two paths in life - either into a gang or into the army. Tracy Marrow chose the army, although he also committed petty crimes. For example, he sold weed after graduating from school to support his girlfriend and daughter. For the same reason, he served four years in the army, where he became interested in rap. Then for some time he simultaneously worked as a DJ and robbed jewelry stores. When one of his accomplices took the blame for Marrow's robbery and went to prison, Tracy focused on music. In the early 1980s, Ice-T rose to fame as a "hard" underground rapper and achieved mainstream success in 1987 with Rhyme Pays, now considered a seminal gangsta rap classic. His 1992 composition Cop Killer caused a national scandal - even President Bush Sr. spoke out about it. Ice-T began acting in films in the 1980s, but the 1991 crime thriller New Jack City is considered the full-fledged beginning of his acting career. In the 1990s, he starred in such films as “Ricochet”, “Tank Girl”, “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Cool Guns”, and since 2000 he has firmly established himself on the television screen thanks to the detective series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” .

7. Ludacris/Christopher Brian Bridges

A distant relative of the famous comedian Richard Pryor, Chris Bridges was born in the northern United States, but spent his teenage years in the south, which is why he is considered one of the so-called “southern” rappers. He wrote his first rap at age nine and began performing music as a teenager, but professional success “only” came to him at age 23, when he released his major label debut album Back for the First Time in 2000. Three years later, Ludacris landed a second starring role in the vehicular action film The Fast and the Furious, and this largely defined his future film career. Because The Fasts and the Furious are still being released and Bridges is still starring in them. He also played in the acclaimed Oscar-winning drama Crash.

6. Mos Def/Dante Terrell Smith

An actor turned rapper or a rapper turned actor? Mos Def's career can be interpreted either way, since he first appeared on television before the start of his music career, but became famous as an actor after he became a popular rapper. His screen life began at age 15, with the 1988 TV movie God Bless the Child, and after that Dante starred in several unsuccessful sitcoms. At the same time, he studied music, and in 1998, Mos Def became a rap star as part of the group Black Star, which collapsed after the release of their debut album. Subsequently, the musician performed solo. He was noticed as an actor in the early 2000s, after appearing in the drama “Monster’s Ball” and the thriller “The Italian Job.” He is also known to moviegoers for the films “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “16 Blocks,” “Ricky Bobby: King of the Road,” “Rewind,” “Cadillac Records,” and “Steal My Wife.”

5. LL Cool J/James Todd Smith

Rap gained mainstream popularity in the 1980s, but it began two decades earlier, and little James Todd Smith began dreaming of a career as a rapper long before his white peers began to dream of it. His dreams came true in 1984, when the 16-year-old boy released his debut single “I Need a Beat” and it sold 100,000 copies. Smith's artistic name, LL Cool J, stood for "Girls Love Cool James." His most popular rap song, Mama Said Knock You Out, was released in 1990. She revived the career of a performer who, in the late 1980s, was considered to be fading from the scene under the pressure of gangsta rap. LL Cool J's film career began in the mid-1980s, but at that time he played himself. So he became a real actor only in the early 1990s, after appearing in the comedies “Ahead” and “Toys.” Among the films with his participation are “Halloween: 20 Years Later,” “Deep Blue Sea,” “Any Given Sunday,” “Rollerball,” “S.W.A.T.: City of Angels Special Forces.” He currently stars in the popular detective television series NCIS: Los Angeles.

4. Ice Cube/O'Shea Jackson

When we say “gangsta rap,” we specifically mean O’Shea Jackson, a member of N.W.A and a solo artist. Ice Cube was the main writer and co-performer of N.W.A's "F*ck the Police," which became the 1988 anthem and cornerstone of gangsta rap. His film career began in 1991 with the “black” drama “The Boys Next Door,” which in our country is known for its parody in the satirical film “Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Juice on Your Block.” In the 1990s, Ice Cube played in such famous and very different films as “Higher Learning,” “Friday,” “Anaconda” and “Three Kings,” and in the new century he continued his film career in the action film “Xxx: The Next Level.” and in the comedies “Barbershop”, “Well, are we there?” and "Macho and Nerd". It's funny to note that, despite all his youthful hatred of the police, Jackson has regularly portrayed cops in recent years. Details of his early biography can be found in “Voice of the Streets.”

3. Quinn Latifah/Dana Owens

“There must be many good women!” – you just want to say when you read the biography of this tall and corpulent star of stage and screen. At school, Dana Owens played basketball well, but she also sang in amateur musicals, and her passion for singing turned out to be stronger than her passion for sports. Taking the name "Quinn Latifah" ("gentle queen" in English and Arabic), she began her solo career after just a year of performing professionally in two hip-hop groups. Her first album, All Hail the Queen, released in 1989, made the 19-year-old girl a genre star. In the 2000s, Latifah switched to soul and jazz, but returned to hip-hop at the end of the decade. Her film career began in 1991 with a small role in Spike Lee's romantic drama Rain Fever. After a string of appearances in mostly black films, Latifah achieved mainstream success by acting and singing in the 2002 hit Chicago, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Now she is known not only as a comedy star (“New York Taxi,” “Beauty Salon,” “Easy Money”), but also as a voice actress for the animated series “Ice Age.” Latifah also achieved success on TV - the sitcom with her participation “The Single Life” was one of the most popular shows among black Americans in the 1990s.

2. Mark Wahlberg

Two Oscar nominations (acting and producing), starring in “mindless” blockbusters like “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “The Third Wheel”, active participation in independent cinema, producing television series... Mark Wahlberg has been so busy in the last two decades Hollywood, that he has no time left for music, and those of his fans who have not read his biography may not know that in his youth the actor was known as Marky Mark, a member of the groups New Kids on the Block and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and also a solo hip-hop artist. His main hit was the 1991 song Good Vibrations, well known to viewers of MTV and other music channels. It's worth noting that while Wahlberg is not black, he has the "street cred" of several rappers. In his youth he was a drug addict and a gang member, and at 16 he was sentenced to two years for attempted murder (he brutally beat a Vietnamese man while shouting racist slurs). True, Wahlberg served only a month and a half and after that he came to his senses.

1. Will Smith

The most successful black actor of recent decades, Will Smith is well known to audiences around the world for such blockbusters as “Independence Day”, “Men in Black”, “I, Robot”, “I Am Legend”, “Hancock”... And also for his attempt make his son Jaden a movie star in the semi-successful film After Earth. Since becoming a Hollywood superstar, Smith has rarely recorded music, but you've probably heard at least his hit Men in Black, which played over the closing credits of the hit movie of the same name. Smith's first fame came from the 1988 rap hit Parents Just Don't Understand, notable for the fact that it was an “innocent” teenage composition, completely devoid of “bad” words and, unlike gangsta rap, freely broadcast by most American radio stations At that time, the rapper was part of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. His acting career began two years later, when NBC built the hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” around the lively and handsome guy. Well, and the famous film actor Smith became after the release of Michael Bay's 1995 action film Bad Boys.

Rap music is distinguished by its diversity. The presentation of the 10 best rappers becomes direct proof that every representative of the music world deserves fame and is ready to distinguish himself with special creativity and regularly delight his fans with impeccable music. So, who are already called the greatest rappers of the 21st century?

From the very beginning, the artist has been conducting his musical activities under the pseudonym The Notorious B.I.G.

The first album became the basis for the artist’s successful development in the music world. It is the collection ReadytoDie allowed us to show potential and lay the foundation for further advancement to fame and recognition. From the very beginning, one could have guessed how rapid and surprising the rapper’s development would be, and what a stunning success it would be.

Unfortunately, my musical career did not develop as long as I would have liked. Already in 1997, the rapper was killed during a street shooting. 2 weeks after the tragic event, the music album Life After Death was presented. Ten million copies sold earned it a diamond certificate.

Jay Z

Jay Z has been very active in the music world for a couple of decades. During this time, 13 albums managed to be in the leading places in the ratings compiled with the help of Billboard.

The rapper first announced himself at the end of the 20th century and immediately entered the TOP of artists. Many listeners are fascinated by the manner of performance, which is based only on impromptu, thanks to which it is always possible to surprise admirers.

Jay Z is successful not only in music, but also in business. Despite this fact, rap-related activities still remain a priority.

In Rolling Stone magazine, Eminem is ranked 83rd among the 100 greatest artists in the world. This position indicates amazing glory. Moreover, Eminem has successfully sold more than one hundred million copies of albums in various countries around the world.

Eminem is successfully engaged not only in rap music, but also in other types of active activities:

• Development of the radio station.
• Music label management.
• Filming.

Eminem's activities contribute to successful progress in the right direction and achieving special heights.

Rakim

Rakim's musical creativity reflects the ideology that he has been passionate about since childhood. The rapper has internalized a disdain for white people, which is why he is a racist. Despite this circumstance, many appreciated the work of the artist, who is different from many rap artists.

The lyrics of Rakim's songs are related to Islamism and are of a religious nature. Moreover, the artist is confident that thanks to the help of Allah, he was able to avoid fights and theft, which could have led to serious consequences.

In his work, Rakim moves away from improvisational performance. At the same time, the rapper has a unique style, which is based on jazz notes, slowness and smoothness, and rhymes. Rakim delights his fans with compositions that have a hypnotic effect.

Rakim presented seven records, four of them written together with Eic B. Many albums were included in the TOP 500 of the best.

Nas

Nas has successfully found a surprising number of admirers, all of whom are willing to attest to the artist's special potential. In addition, his music album Illmatic is the greatest in the musical history of hip-hop, with total sales exceeding twenty-five million copies. Such a successful career began to develop thanks to Columbia Records.

Nas had been in conflict for a long time with Jay Z, who claimed that Nas's work was fake and did not deserve any attention. However, in 2005, the feud between the two reputable artists was ended. After this, Nas began collaborating with the music label Def Jam Records, which is owned by Jay Z.

Andre is actively involved in creative life. He represents the famous rap group OutKast, which has existed since the early 1990s. In addition, Andre is an actor, a representative of his personal clothing line, and a music producer.

The greatest popularity was achieved thanks to the composition Ms. Jackson, included on the million-selling Stankonia compilation.

Snoop Dogg is one of the greatest rappers of the 21st century. The musician reached the best heights thanks to his friend Dr. Dre. The main difference is the calm performance of the songs, characterized by lyrical notes.

In 1993, Snoop Dogg's first solo album, or more precisely DoggyStyle, premiered. This album is a true rap classic.

2Pac

2Pac became famous throughout the world thanks to his unique creativity. He was a West Coast guy. Unfortunately, 2Pac's life ended tragically. The artist lived only 25 years. According to rumors, the murder was ordered by Notorious B.I.G, who represented East Coast rap. Despite this fact, 2Pac entered not only the TOP 100, but also the TOP 10 best singers and rap performers.

During his lifetime, the rapper sold 75 million albums, which continue to amaze people.

Curtis Jackson is a prominent figure in the rap world. Moreover, 50 cent became famous as a writer, actor, and producer.

Curtis was born in South Jamaica and grew up poor. At the age of 12, Curtis began selling cocaine, but the sale of drugs was suspended for the sake of his musical activities. The heyday of popularity came in 2002. After this, Curtis found his permanent admirers.

The artist was interested in musical activities from early childhood, and at the age of 9 he was already a representative of the famous Cash Money label. Lil Wayne later created his own label, Young Money. Such stages of development contributed to the achievement of the set goal and the opening of amazing opportunities for further development in the world of rap.

The first music collection is called Tha Block Is Hot. It was certified platinum. The next two albums, released under the names Lights Out and 500 Degreez, went gold. Thanks to the sixth album, Tha Carter III, it was possible to strengthen its position in the arena and sell a million copies of the collection in just a week of sales. It is important to note that Tha Carter III was recognized as the best at the 51st Grammy Awards.

Every famous rapper has significant achievements, thanks to which he opens up excellent facets of the music world. The presented rappers are only the basis of immense rap, which can be incendiary and melodic. Modern trends in music allow us to expect that the TOP artists will change over time, but the best representatives have already made their names in history.

Top 10 best-selling rappers in the world.
Eminem, Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage names Eminem and Slim Shady, is a Grammy Award winner. A native of St. Joseph, Missouri, he spent his youth in Detroit. His albums have sold over 75 million copies worldwide, making Eminem one of the best-selling musicians of the early 2000s and one of the most popular rappers of all time.

Jay-Z (Jay Z), Jay-Z is the stage name of rapper Shawn Corey Carter, one of the most influential and wealthy figures in modern hip-hop music. As of 2007, eight of his albums have reached the top of the Billboard Top 200.

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper. Fame came to him with the release of the albums Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre. 50 Cent achieved multi-platinum success with both albums, selling over 21 million copies worldwide.

Nelly (Nelly) Nelly Cornell Haynes (born November 2, 1976), better known as Nelly, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career with the rap group St.lunatics in 1996 and signed a contract with Universal Records in 2000. He has released five successful solo studio albums and several mega-singles.

Outkast, OutKast is a duo of American rappers Andre Benjamin (under the pseudonyms Dr? and Andr? 3000) and Antwan Patton (under the pseudonym Big Boi), who represent the Atlanta school of hip-hop, mixed with G-funk and classic southern soul. Winners of six Grammy Awards, Outkast pivoted the Southern hip-hop movement from aggressive, angry shouting to melodic arrangements, carefully crafted lyrics and an overall optimistic and humorous attitude.

Snoop Dogg (Snoop Dogg) Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Broadus) is an American rapper, producer and actor. Snoop is best known as an MC in the West Coast hip-hop scene and one of Dr.'s most talented protégés. Dre.

Earl Simmons (known by his stage name DMX) is a hip-hop artist born on December 18, 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father abandoned the family when Earl was young, and he was raised in a boarding school in Yonkers, New York. He spent most of his youth in prison. DMX began his career in Yonkers, where he MCed alongside his friends Lox and DJ Clue. His nickname was taken from the name of the drum machine "Oberheim DMX", which he later deciphered as "Dark Man X".

Notorious B.I.G., The Notorious B.I.G. - (May 21, 1972, Brooklyn, New York - March 9, 1997, Los Angeles, California) the most famous pseudonym of American rapper Christopher George Latore Wallace. He also performed under the pseudonyms Biggie Smalls and Frank White.

Kanye West, Kanye Omari West is an American music producer and rapper and multiple Grammy Award winner. He released his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004, his second album, Late Registration, in 2005, his third album, Graduation, in 2007, and his fourth, 808s & Heartbreak, in 2008.

Ludacris (Ludacris), Ludacris began his music career as a DJ at a radio station in Atlanta under the name Chris Lova Lova. Thanks to his work on the radio, the famous hip-hop producer Timbaland found out about him and offered to collaborate. The first recording featuring Ludacris was the track "Phat Rabbit" from Timbaland's 1998 album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment. Soon after, Ludacris released his first album, Incognegro.