The teen born Inga Marchand came out the box name-dropping Gucci, Armani, and Versace labels and wouldn't stop. The Afro-Trinidadian...

Born Kimberly Jones in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, the petite MC came up with a coterie of Biggie Smalls' associates known as Junior M.A.F.I.A....

Raekwon and Ghostface were Wu-Gambinos channeling Scorsese through their warped Staten Island vocabulary and intricate, existential...

DMX embodied an aggressive and formulated raw delivery that tapped into the roots of the Golden Era. DMX came into the ether of Hip Hop...

The emerging profile of the producer in the '90s shoved aside their status as sidekicks or guns-for-hire. The most powerful producers...

A protégé of Marley Marl for whom he used to memorably destroy the decks on the In Control radio show on WBLS Pete Rock more than any...

You already know the bio: Long before the Glaceau Vitamin Water partnership, before the Reebok G Unit sneaker deal, before the video...

No rapper has articulated ethical conflict between Hip Hop as art and Hip Hop as commerce as concisely as Jay-Z on "Moment Of Clarity":...

They were demiurges disguised as ninjas, clutching swords and scrolls with the intent to bring ruckus. A nine-man scholar system suffused...

I'm Not a Businessman. I'M A BUSINESS... MAN. If you ask ten people today for one word to associate Jay-Z, nine of them would probably...

Hip-Hop, the greatest story ever told, was beginning another chapter. After a long and glorious reign, rap music in New York City hit a...

Spend any time with Russell Simmons and you'll see why early on he was nicknamed "Rush." He talks faster than most Web sites take to...

He could make the move at any moment unpredictable unrehearsed Sometimes the cue would be visual. A sudden shuffle in the club's V.I.P....

Ready to Die, but the album itself was a much darker, semi-autobiographical masterpiece about his struggle to go from the corner to...

During the late '90s, when Underground rap was at the zenith of its "keepin' it real" phase, Kool Keith became Black Elvis. His wardrobe...

"News from the east, Sire. Rick the Ruler has returned..." You heard about the song before you ever actually heard it. On the back of the...

He was MC 2.0 in an age of rapping roman numerals. Lyrically, next level when his peers couldn't find the stairs (much less an elevator)....

No other MC would do more to define New York's version of gangsta-isms than Kool G Rap. Known as much for his machine-gunned delivery as...

As the sun was setting in the '80s, it was about to rise on a cultural awakening. Lyte was an undisputed master, but there was a teenager...

17-year-old Brooklyn girl named Lana Moorer, aka MC Lyte, who in 1988, broke out with her debut album, Lyte As A Rock. Suddenly, all bets...