Artist Index How to use Artist INDEX

Will I Am　

The work of rapper and producer will.i.am helped make Black Eyed Peas one of the most intriguing acts in hip-hop, and later made them one of the most popular acts on the charts when the albums { ..more

Pitbull　

When the Southern-flavored party rap called crunk took over urban radio in 2004, Miami rapper Pitbull decided it was time to seek stardom. The way Pitbull sees it, crunk ain’t nothin’ but ..more

Nujabes　

DJ KAORI　

Frank Ocean　

An R＆B vocalist affiliated with the outlandish hip-hop crew Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, Frank Ocean (Christopher Lonny Breaux) was born and raised in New Orleans. The aspiring songw ..more

Flo Rida　

Flo Rida, unsurprisingly a native Floridian, is an MC who toured as a teenager with 2 Live Crew’s Fresh Kid Ice and began popping up on high-profile mixtapes by 2006, most notably DJ Khaled ..more

Kendrick Lamar　

Compton, California’s Kendrick Lamar initially rapped as K. Dot and released a series of mixtapes under that name. Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (2003), Training Day (2005), and C4 (200 ..more

Lil Wayne　

A game-changing artist and an impervious celebrity, Lil Wayne began as his career as a near-novelty -- a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop -- but through years of maturation and reinventing the m ..more

Kanye West　

In the span of three short years, Kanye West went from hip-hop beatmaker to worldwide hitmaker, as his stellar production work for Jay-Z led to a major-label recording contract and, ultimatel ..more

Macklemore / Ryan Lewis　

Nicki Minaj　

Influenced by the unpredictable rhymes of Missy Elliot along with the sexually charged attitudes of Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown, Queens native Nicki Minaj was discovered thanks to her MySpace ..more

A$AP Rocky　

A Tribe Called Quest　

Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to hardcore and gangsta rap. In essen ..more

Wiz Khalifa　

With a series of hits that bundled gangster rhymes, weed talk, pop hooks, and slick production, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper Wiz Khalifa went from breakthrough single (Black and Yellow) to fea ..more

T.I.　

Once dubbed the Jay-Z of the South by Pharrell Williams, T.I. gradually came into his own and established himself as one of rap’s most successful MCs during the early 2000s. Like Jay-Z ..more

Snoop Lion (Snoop Dogg)　

Eminem　

He is not just a controversial rapper anymore, but one of the world’s top entertainers. Eminem will be coming next month to Japan for the first headlining concert with D12 and his Slim Shady Records’ ..more

TYGA　

With a rangy set of friends from Fall Out Boy to Lil Wayne, it was obvious from the start that Tyga was not your everyday rapper from Compton. After recording a mixtape and promoting it aroun ..more

Tyler The Creator　

The RZA -- and maybe even GZA -- of Odd Future (short for Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), Tyler, the Creator is the alternative hip-hop crew’s main rapper, producer, and source of ..more

NAS　

Beginning with his classic debut, Illmatic (1994), Nas stood tall for years as one of New York City’s leading rap voices, outspokenly expressing a righteous, self-empowered swagger that endeared ..more