Jay- Z

Shawn Corey Carter, 4 December 1969, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Raised in Brooklyn, Carter was a school friend of the Notorious B.I.G. He first started releasing records in the late 80s, part-financing his music by hustling. In 1990, he appeared on records by his close friend Jaz ("The Originators") and Original Flavor ("Can I Get Open'), and later scored an underground hit single with 1995"s "In My Lifetime". Drawing on Jaz's dealings with mercenary labels, Jay-Z set-up his own Roc-A-Fella imprint in 1996 with entrepreneur Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. His debut set, Reasonable Doubt, went on to achieve gold sales and produced the US number 50 pop single "Ain't No Nigga"/"Dead Presidents", featuring future rap star Foxy Brown. The album, which reached US number 23 in July, attracted fans with a mixture of hard-hitting street lyrics and rhymes, epitomized by the collaboration with Notorious B.I.G. on "Brooklyn's Finest'. The follow-up In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 was released in the aftermath of Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, and debuted at US number 3 in November 1997. Featuring guest appearances from Puff Daddy, Lil" Kim, Too Short, BLACKstreet and DJ Premier, this sombre and intensely personal album included the stand-out tracks "You Must Love Me" and "Where I'm From".

Although in demand as a guest artist, Jay-Z found the time to write, produce, and direct the semi-autobiographical short Streets Is Watching. The gold-selling soundtrack introduced several of Roc-A-Fella's rising stars, including Memphis Bleek, Rell and Diamonds In The Rough, and featured the hit single "It's Alright". Jay-Z then became a major star with the hit singles, "Can I Get A ... " and "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)", the latter built around a line from the musical Annie. One of the more bizarre samples to be used on a hip-hop track, the single nevertheless became an international hit (UK number 2, December 1998/US number 15, March 1999). The album of the same name featured hotshot producer Timbaland, in addition to the usual team of Ski and DJ Premier. Guest rappers included DMX, Foxy Brown and Too Short, on a package that diluted Jay-Z's hard-hitting lyrical edge in an attempt to corner the crossover market. Vol. 2 " Hard Knock Life easily succeeded in its aim, staying at US number 1 for five weeks before finally being deposed by Alanis Morissette's new album. Despite a hectic schedule as a guest producer/writer and rapper, Jay-Z still found the time to enter the studio and record tracks for his new album. Released in December 1999, Vol. 3. Life And Times Of S. Carter confirmed his status as one of hip-hop's most popular artists when it topped the album charts the following month. The following year's The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000, another US chart-topper, was originally planned as a supergroup collaboration with fellow Roc-A-Fella rappers Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek and Amil. Jay-Z's remarkable roll continued with 2001's The Blueprint, another stellar work putting him out front as the current leader of the genre. The same December he was sentenced to three years probation for stabbing record producer Lance "Un" Rivera at a New York nightclub two years previously.

Hip hop music

Hip hop music

is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans.The term rap music is often used synonymously with hip hop music.

Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the performer speaks rhythmically and in rhyme, generally to a beat, recently, however, a difference has developed between "rapping" and "MCing". "MCing" has been used to describe those artists who possess and exercise superior lyrical ability and prowess. Beats are traditionally generated from portions of other songs by a DJ, or sampled from portions of other songs by a producer, though synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands are also used, especially in newer music. Rappers may perform poetry which they have written ahead of time, or improvise rhymes on the spot with or without a beat. Though rap is usually an integral component of hip hop music, DJs sometimes perform and record alone, and many instrumental acts are also defined as hip hop.

Origin of the term

Coinage of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, a rapper with Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Though Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap, it is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.^[3] Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly copied by other artists; for example the opening of the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang.^[3] Former Black Spades gang member Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to, although it is also suggested that the term was originally derisively used against the new type of music. The first use of the term in print was in the Village Voice by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop.

Characteristics of hip hop music

Hip hop music may be based around either live or produced music, with a clearly defined drum beat (almost always in 4/4 time signature), presented either with or without vocal accompaniment. Production may add looped musical segments on top, from either sampled or originally sequenced music.

1970s

Roots of hip hop

Main article: Origins of hip hop

The roots of hip hop are found in African American and West African music. The griots of West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets, whose musical style is reminiscent of hip-hop and who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Within New York City, griot-like performances of poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a great impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became common in New York City, especially the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk and soul music. The early DJs at block parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most dance-able and entertaining parts; this technique was then common in Jamaica and had spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the "godfather" of hip hop, Jamaican, DJ Kool Herc.

Dub music had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing R&B. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the parties that evolved around them). Herc was one of the most popular DJs in early 70s New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. (The same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes.) Such looping, sampling and remixing of another's music, sometimes without the original artist's knowledge or consent, can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican dub music, and would become a hallmark of the hip hop style.

DJs and "MCs" would often add call and response chants, often comprising of a basic chorus, to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one, two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all").

Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture, such as the dozens. While Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip hoppers to gain major fame in New York, more MC teams quickly sprouted up. Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large, international organization). Melle Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC."^[8] During the early 1970s, breakdancing arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in documentaries and movies such as Style Wars, Wild Style, and Beat Street.

Although there were many early MCs that recorded solo projects of note, such as DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow and Spoonie Gee, real notoriety didn't appear until later with the rise of soloists with really big stage presence and drama, such as LL Cool J. Most early hip hop was dominated by groups where collaboration among the members was integral to the show.^[9]

Stylistic diversification

Pete DJ Jones, Eddie Cheeba, DJ Hollywood and Love Bug Starski were disco-flavored early hip hop DJs. Others hip hop musicians focused on rapid-fire rhymes and more complex rhythmic schemes. Afrika Bambaataa, Paul Winley, Grandmaster Flash and Bobby Robinson were members of this group. During the transition into the early 1980s, many felt that hip hop was a novelty fad that would soon die out. This was to become a constant accusation for at least the next fifteen years.

The first hip hop recording was probably the New Jersey-based Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight in 1979.^[10] By the 1980s, all the major elements and techniques of the genre were in place. Though not yet mainstream, hip hop was by now well known among African Americans, even outside of New York City; it could be found in cities as diverse as Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, San Antonio, TX, Miami, Seattle, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Houston.

Despite the genre's spreading popularity, Philadelphia was, for many years, the only city whose contributions to hip hop were valued as greatly as New York City's by fans and critics. Hip hop music was popular there at least as far back as the late 1970s (the first Philadelphia hip hop record was "Rhythm Talk", by Jocko Henderson in 1979), and the New York Times dubbed Philadelphia the "Graffiti Capital of the World" in 1971. A Philadelphia-area radio DJ, Lady B, was the first female solo hip hop artist to record music ("To the Beat Y'All", 1980). Later Schoolly D, another Philadelphia-based artist, helped invent what became known as gangsta rap.

1980s

Main articles: Old school hip hop and New school hip hop

The 1980s saw intense diversification of hip hop which developed into a more complex form. As technology evolved so did the practice of looping break into breakbeats; the emergence of samplers and sequencers allowed the beats to be manipulated with greater precision and granularity and recombined in more complex new ways than was possible with vinyl alone. In 1984, Marley Marl accidentally caught a drum machine snare hit in the sampler; this innovation was vital in the development of electro and other later types of hip hop. In 1989, DJ Mark James under the moniker "45 King", released "The 900 Number", a breakbeat track created by synchronizing samplers and vinyl.^[9]

The content evolved as well. The tales of 1970s MCs were replaced by highly metaphoric lyrics rapping over complex, multi-layered beats. Some rappers even became mainstream pop performers, including Kurtis Blow, whose appearance in a Sprite commercial^[11] made him the first hip hop musician to be considered mainstream enough to represent a major product. Another popular performer among mainstream audiences was LL Cool J, who was a success from the release of his first LP, Radio^[12]

Hip hop was almost entirely unknown outside of the United States prior to the early 1980s. During that decade, it began its spread to every inhabited continent and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the early part of the decade, breakdancing became the first aspect of hip hop culture to reach Germany, Japan and South Africa, where the crew Black Noise established the practice before beginning to rap later in the decade. Meanwhile, recorded hip hop was released in France (Dee Nasty's 1984 Paname City Rappin') and the Philippines (Dyords Javier's "Na Onseng Delight" and Vincent Dafalong's "Nunal"). In Puerto Rico, Vico C became the first Spanish rapper, and his recorded work was the beginning of what became known as reggaeton.

Turntablism

Main article: Turntablism

While early hip hop arose through the decline of funk and disco while still employing their musicianship, there was the rise of artists who employed the use of the turntable as an instrument in itself. Hip hop turntablist DJs use turntable techniques such as beat mixing/matching, scratching, and beat juggling to create a base that can be rapped over. Turntablism is generally focused more on turntable technique and less on mixing. Each scratch of the turntable is considered unique due to the complex waveforms produced and employing digital sampling is considered an affront to a true Turntablist.^[9] Prominent artists included the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, The X-Ecutioners, and the Beat Junkies.

Nationalization and internationalization

Main article: World hip hop

Hip-hop has globalized into many cultures worldwide. We now find hip-hop in every corner of the globe, and like the South Bronx, each locale embodies a kind of globalism. Hip hop has emerged globally as an arts movement with the imperative to create something fresh by using technology, speech, and the body in new ways. The music and the art continue to embrace, even celebrate, its transnational dimensions while staying true to the local cultures to which it is rooted. Hip-hop's inspiration differs depending on each culture. Still, the one thing virtually all hip hop artists worldwide have in common is that they acknowledge their debt to those Black and Latino kids in New York who launched this global movement in the first place.^[13] As hip-hop is sometimes taken for granted by Americans, it is not so elsewhere, especially in the developing world, where it has come to represent the empowerment of the disenfranchised and a slice of the American dream. American hip-hop music has reached the cultural corridors of the globe and has been absorbed and reinvented around the world.^[14]

1990s

Gangsta rap became mainstream in 1992 with the release of Dr. Dre's The Chronic. This album established a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hiphop. Other artists such as Tupac Shakur, who started his rapping career in 1991, would dominate in the '90s becoming the highest-selling rapper with more than 75 million albums sold worldwide.^{[citation needed]} The Notorious B.I.G. rose to fame around the same time. Being from New York, Biggie brought the East Coast back into the mainstream at a time when the West Coast mainly dominated rap. (See the article on the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.)

Record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis, and New Orleans also gained fame for their local scenes. The midwest rap scene also had good achievements with unique fast rapping styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Twista. By the end of the decade, hip hop was an integral part of popular music, and many American pop songs had a hip hop components.

World

In the 1990s and the following decade, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music. Nu soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music and produced some major stars^[who?]. In the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip hop and merengue.

New York City experienced a heavy Jamaican hip hop influence during the 90s. This influence was brought on by cultural shifts particularly because of the heightened immigration of Jamaicans to New York City and the American-born Jamaican youth who were coming of age during the 90s. Hip hop artists such as De La Soul and Black Star have produced albums influenced by Jamaican roots.

In Europe, Africa, and Asia, hip hop began to move from the underground to mainstream audiences. In Europe, hip hop was the domain of both ethnic nationals and immigrants. Germany, for example, produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel, Kool Savaş, and Eko Fresh. Similarly, France has produced a number of native-born stars, such as IAM and Suprême NTM, but the most famous French rapper is probably the Senegalese-born MC Solaar. The Netherlands' most famous rappers are The Osdorp Posse, an all-white crew from Amsterdam, and The Postmen from Cape Verde and Suriname. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G. Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the housing projects of America's ghettos. Israel's hip hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with several stars emerging from both sides of the Palestinian (Tamer Nafer) and Jewish (Subliminal) divide. Mook E., preached peace and tolerance, others expressed nationalist and violent sentiments.

In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Francis Magalona, Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane. In Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the '90s.

Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba, early in its history. In Mexico, popular hip hop began with the success of Calo in the early '90s. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. Hip hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, because official governmental support for musicians.

West Coast

Main article: West Coast hip hop

After N.W.A broke up, Dr. Dre (a former member) released The Chronic in 1992, which peaked at #1 on the R&B/hip hop chart, #3 on the pop chart and spawned a #2 pop single with "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang." The Chronic took West Coast rap in a new direction, influenced strongly by P funk artists, melding the psychedelic funky beats with slowly drawled lyrics. This came to be known as G-funk and dominated mainstream hip hop for several years through a roster of artists on Death Row Records including Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose Doggystyle included the songs "What's My Name" and "Gin and Juice," both top ten hits

East Coast

Main article: East Coast hip hop

New York became dominated in terms of sales by Puff Daddy (No Way Out), Mase (Harlem World) and other Bad Boy Records artists. Other New York-based artists continued with a harder sound, achieving limited popular success. Nas (Illmatic), and The Wu-Tang Clan (Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)), for example, received excellent reviews but generally mediocre sales.^{[citation needed]}

The rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast rappers eventually turned into a personal rivalry, aided in part by the music media^{[citation needed]}.

Diversification of styles

Further information: List of hip hop genres

In the late '90s, the style of hip hop diversified. The South got on the hip hop map with the rise of Southern rap, starting with OutKast's ATLiens and Goodie Mob's (Soul Food). Both groups were based out of Atlanta. Later, Master P (Ghetto D) built up a roster of artists (the No Limit posse) based out of New Orleans. Master P incorporated G funk and Miami bass influences, and distinctive regional sounds from St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Detroit and others began to gain popularity. Also in the 1990s, rapcore (a fusion of hip hop and heavy metal.) became popular among mainstream audiences. Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit were among the most well known rapcore bands. Though white rappers like the Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, and 3rd Bass had had some popular success or critical acceptance from the hip hop community, Eminem's success, beginning in 1999 with the platinum The Slim Shady LPsurprised many. However, Eminem was criticized for glorification of violence, misogyny, and drug abuse as well as homophobia and albums laced with constant profanity Some alternative hip hop musicians, with a socially aware or positive or optimistic tone, achieved moderate mainstream success. Such examples include De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising which was listed in The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums. Gang Starr's No More Mr. Nice Guy and the Jungle Brothers' Straight Out the Jungle are considered notable albums in this genre, with jazz-based samples and lyrics (see jazz rap) strongly influenced by the Afrocentric messages of Bambaataa's Zulu Nation collective. Later alternative artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, and The Roots, also achieved some mainstream success, though the influence of jazz had grown less pronounced (with some exceptions, such as Guru's Jazzmatazz project). Jazz rap went on to influence the development of trip hop in the United Kingdom, which fuses hip hop, jazz, and electronic music. It is said^{[citation needed]} to have been started by Massive Attack's Blue Lines (1991). Arrested Development released their album 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... in 1992, which included the hit single, "Tennessee."

2000s

World and national music

In the year 2000, The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem sold over ten million copies in the United States, and Nelly's debut LP, Country Grammar, sold over six million copies. The United States also saw the success of alternative hip hop in the form of moderately popular performers like The Roots, Dilated Peoples and Mos Def, who achieved unheard-of success for their field.

As the decade progressed, hip hop has transformed from the more or less "old school" rhythmic rap to a more melodic hip hop that has the elements of jazz, classical, pop, reggae, and many other genres. Hip hop also gave birth to subgenres such as snap music and crunk. Hip hop influences also found their way into mainstream pop during this period as well.

Some countries, like Tanzania, maintained popular acts of their own in the early 2000s, though many others produced few homegrown stars, instead following American trends. Scandinavian, especially Danish and Swedish, performers became well known outside of their country, while hip hop continued its spread into new regions, including Russia, Japan, Philippines, Canada, China, Korea and India.

In Germany and France, gangsta rap has become popular among youths who like the violent and aggressive lyrics. Some German rappers openly or comically flirt with Nazism, Bushido (born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi) raps "Salutiert, steht stramm, Ich bin der Leader wie A" (Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like 'A') and Fler had a hit with the record Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) complete with the title written in Third Reich style Gothic print and advertised with an Adolf Hitler quote. These references also spawned great controversy in Germany^.

Decline in sales

Starting in 2005, sales of hip-hop music in the United States began to severely wane, leading Time magazine to question if mainstream hip-hop was "dying." Billboard Magazine found that, since 2000, rap sales dropped 44%,and declined to 10% of all music sales, which, while still a commanding figure when compared to other genres, is a significant drop from the 13% of all music sales where rap music regularly placed. NPR culture critic Elizabeth Blair noted that, "some industry experts say young people are fed up with the violence, degrading imagery and lyrics. Others say the music is just as popular as it ever was, but that fans have found other means to consume the music."^[31] It can also be argued that many young people now download music illegally, especially through P2P networks, instead of purchasing albums and singles from legitimate stores. Some put the blame on the lack of lyrical content that hip hop once had, for example Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's 2007 debut album souljaboytellem.com was met with negative reviews.^[32] Lack of sampling, a key element of hip hop also has been noted for the decrease in quality of modern albums. For example, there are only three samples used in 2008's Paper Trail by T.I., while there are 35 samples in 1998's Moment of Truth by Gang Starr. The decrease in sampling is in part due to it being too expensive for producers. In Byron Hurt's documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, he claims that hip hop had changed from "clever rhymes and dance beats" to "advocating personal, social and criminal corruption.

Ice Cube

Ice Cube is one of the most enduring, versatile, controversial and engaging figures ever to emerge out of hip-hop. At 30, he is one of this generation's cultural icons. After establishing himself as a film phenomenon, acclaimed actor, screenwriter, director and producer, Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson) comes back to his solo music career with a vengeance. He has spent most of 1999-2000 working at an astonishing rate, completing not one, but two full-length albums the first part titled War & Peace - Volume 1 (The War Disc) followed by the current album, War & Peace - Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc).

The first volume War was released on November 17, 1998 on Priority Records with Peace following on March 21, 2000. Just as his classic Death Certificate presented a "Death Side" and a "Life Side", Cube explores the war/peace dialectic in well over 2 hours of new music.

Further fueling rumors of a NWA reunion album, War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) opens with the simple greeting "Hell Low", a Dre produced selection (co-produced by Mel Man) featuring Dr. Dre and MC Ren; a comedic track "You Ain't Gotta Lie" featuring Chris Rock and appearances by Krayzie Bone on the commercial single "Until We Rich." Other notable artists featured on the album are Mack 10 and Jayo Felony with production on several tracks by Chucky Thompson, Battlecat, and Puffy to name a few.

The War record allowed Cube to throw down the gauntlet on tracks like "Dr. Frankenstein," "Once Upon A Time In the Projects 2" and on the single "Pushin' Weight," Cube raised the stakes for the present day rap game while reclaiming his legacy. War provided cutting edge soundscapes with mega-platinum rockers Korn making a guest appearance on "Fuck Dying." Cube performed with Korn on their "Family Values" tour. "To expose Korn fans to my music is cool, because most of their audience is only exposed to my movies. It reminded me of when I went out on Lollapalooza (1992), where I was the alternative to that alternative show" says Cube of the experience.

Although Cube keeps it gangsta on the Peace, LP, Vol. 2 is more dance/club oriented using samples from popular party anthems crating a lighter mood. Cube can't say enough about the music. "War and Peace are my best records in years. The production on both albums is far superior to anything I've ever released. Peace is gonna be a different look; it's a different record than any I have ever done. Lyrically, War covers a lot of ground-moving from rap's battlegrounds to the Los Angeles killing fields." "Ghetto Vet," "Penitentiary" and the masterful "3 Strikes You In" are as incisive pieces of social commentary as he's ever penned. Just as every coin has two sides, Peace represents the other side of Cube.

Ice Cube caught the rap bug in the ninth grade when a classmate named Kiddo challenged him in a typing class. "One day, he asked me if I ever wrote a rap before. I told him, you write one, I write on and we'll see which one come out better and I won," recalls Cube. He went on to form his first crew, C.I.A., with future collaborators Sir Jinx and K-Dee, and began hanging in the burgeoning South Central Club scene. Through Jinx's cousin, he met Dr. Dre and together they began rhyming for nightclub patrons over the hits of the day. "We was doing these dirty raps strictly for the club audiences," he says. "When that started catching on, we started making mix tapes. We would rap on what was going on in the neighborhood and they were selling. Eazy-E had a partner named Ron-de-Vu, Dre was in the World Class Wreckin Crew, and I was in C.I.A. We were all committed to these groups, so we figured we'd make an all-star group and just do dirty records on the side." That all-star group would become known as Niggaz With Att

itude (NWA).

In early 1987, Cube wrote "Boyz-N-The-Hood" for Eazy-E and "Dopeman" and "8-ball" for NWA and they went into the studio to record. He knew he was doing something different, but wasn't sure about his prospects. "The rap game wasn't looking too solid at that time, so I decided to go ahead and go to school." When he left for The Phoenix Institute of Technology, the records were just hitting the streets. By the time he completed his degree a year later, both Eazy's and NWA's singles had sold hundreds of thousands of copies. He came back to write the rhymes for the albums that would be Eazy Duz It and Straight Outta Compton and the world would never be quite the same.

NWA's Straight Outta Compton, in retrospect, was the most influential album since The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks. Straight Outta Compton didn't break taboos so much as blow them away with rapid-action scattershot. The excitement they inspired was proportional to the outrage they incited. Newsweek dismissed the record as "The Godfather in gutter language." FBI Assistant director, Milt Ahlerich, sent a letter to the label condemning the record as encouraging "violence against and disrespect for the law-enforcement officer." Ahlerich warned, "Advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." Sales rocked past platinum. "Straight Outta Compton has had the biggest impact on rap music than any other album to this day," says Cube. "We opened the door where you can say exactly what you really want to say without having to sugar-coat , without having to hold back."

But by 1989, things were beginning to sour between Cube and Jerry Heller, then NWA's manager. Cube was involved in writing 10 of the 13 tracks on Straight Outta Compton, including the entirety of "Dopeman," "8 Ball" and "Express Yourself" and he felt he was due more than the $30,000 that he received for records that had sold 3 million units. "I was broke before I jumped in that shit, so it wasn't hard to walk away. I preferred it that way," Cube recalls. "At the time the two producers that was worth fucking with was Dr. Dre and The Bomb Squad. If I couldn't get Dre, I was going to the Bomb Squad." He broke east and began collaborating with Public Enemy.

Energized by the rush of liberation and inspired by the exchange of ideas with Chuck D and the other members of the Public Enemy camp, he turned in the stunning Amerikkka's Most Wanted. "Fuck you, Ice Cube!" went the chorus of "The Nigga You Love to Hate," and immediately the hip-hop nation was screaming it. The record went gold in 10 days, platinum in three months. "I can never play out," smiles Cube, "because people are still biting my styles from that record."

In his book It's Not About A Salary: Rap, Race and Resistance, Brian Cross wrote of the album's impact, "Amerikkka's Most Wanted sought to give a face to (the) criminal underclass and this face was to be furrow-browed, jheri-curled, beanie-clad face of Cube himself. Cube to this day is the foremost hip hop meta-critic, providing listeners not only with stories, but potential criticism of his practice from different perspectives."

The follow-up EP Kill At Will went gold just as quickly. In contrast to the booming "Endangered Species" remix and the club friendly "Jackin For Beats," "Dead Homiez" was a surprise. When it was first released, Cube ran the risk of the appearing soft, exposing a vulnerable, sentimental side; instead, audiences embraced the track. He had correctly measured the depth of emotion amongst his violence-weary fans. "Dead Homiez" created an entirely new theme for gangsta rappers. Cube was thinking seven steps ahead of the game.

"I was reading a lot of books. I was just learning about the world, paying attention to world history, political views. Up to that point, I was just rolling through life trying to get money," says Cube. His readings "gave me my freedom mentally to deal with this world. The main focus on what I was learning was coming from Minister Louis Farrakhan and the honorable Elijah Muhammed. I did a lot of self-studying knowledge of self, because I'm far from a follower."

On Halloween 1991, Ice Cube's second solo LP, Death Certificate had advance orders of over a million copies and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Charts. Death Certificate spoke to what it meant to be a young black male in an increasingly pressured space, one strained by deindustrialization, drug economies, state repression, police brutality, and immigration. Released just months before the LA riots, it singularly captured the tenor of the times, the feel of a generation. On April 29 1992, Death Certificate sounded prophetic.

That year, The Predator, debuted at #1 on the pop and R&B charts simultaneously and went platinum in four days. The on-the-corner commentaries of "When Will They Shoot?, "I'm Scared," "Now I gotta Wet'cha" and "We had To Tear This Muthafucka Up" were rounded out by the hits "Wicked" and "It Was A Good Day." Cube had arrived as the chronicler of his generation.

Lethal Injection was his fourth album in four years, but although it also went platinum on the hot groove of the George Clinton collaboration "Bop Gun" and the haunting "Ghetto Bird," Cube felt the rap game changing subtly. "At that time, nobody wanted to hear that kind of rap. The whole (conscious) era had peaked with the release of the Malcolm X Movie. The G-funk era was coming in. It was a whole different tone in the music. People didn't want to take rap that serious," he says.

"I was doing movies, directing videos, trying to produce other groups," Cube says. He had directed dozens of videos (he has done 20 to date) and his filmmaking career was set to take off. He had always struck a compelling image in his own videos, whether the rending "Dead Homiez," the pulsing "Steady Mobbin,' or the frantic "Natural Born Killaz."

Based on his amazing performance in John Singleton's "Boyz in the Hood," however, he was in demand. He went on to appear in "Trespass," "CB4," Charles Burnett's "The Glass Shield," Singleton's "Higher Learning," Anaconda," and most recently costarred in "3 Kings" with George Clooney. After co-screenwriting the script "Friday" with DJ Pooh - a balancing, hilarious view of a day in the life of a couple of brothers from South Central - Ice Cube followed up with "Next Friday" the successful, top grossing film which outsold blockbuster films "Stuart Little," "The Green Mile," and "The Hurricane" it its first week becoming the most successful New Line Film next to the Austin Power's sizzler. Cube also executive produced and starred in "Dangerous Ground" and "The Player's Club," a film he wrote, co-produced and directed to critical acclaim. The movie grossed over $25 million in domestic receipts alone. "People always ask, "When are you gonna stop doing records? Or 'Do you prefer doing movies or records?" Cube respon

ds, "If opportunities present they self, you take them. I think I can do this from all different sides of entertainment," he says.

Cube somehow also found the time to oversee the production of a number of homies. Two of them, Mack 10 and WC, joined him to become the Westside Connection, after a few successful outings. "I was tired of doing solo albums," Cube says. "I wanted to feel the group thing. With me, Mack 10 and WC, our chemistry was so tight that the Westside Connection was born." The group's allegiance to the West courted controversy. "Our whole purpose from the beginning was to make sure that people wasn't gonna just snatch our style from under us and give us no credit and no props," he says. "I'm not really tripping on straight being from the west coast. But when I was doing it, I heard a lotta shit being said about the west coast, so I stood up for the west coast." With Bow Down's double platinum sales, seems there must have been a lot of bi-coastal unity after all. Westside Connection is scheduled to release another album May 2000.

Finally it became time to return to the solo spotlight. "When you trying to do records, write a movie, produce a movie, it's hard to make good music. I wanted to put all the other stuff down, be finished with The Player's Club and do my album, he says, "War & Peace is my best record since Death Certificate."

Although hip-hop fans are notoriously fickle, Cube has stayed atop the games for over a decade. "I still sell the same amount of records. I still get a big reception," he says. "In hip hop, people always want new artists, but when I really get down, nobody puts a record together better than me. So I'll always be here. Long as I stay consistent and keep my heart in it, I'm a be here."

Wu-Tang Clan

Emerging in 1993, when Dr. Dre's G-funk had overtaken the hip-hop world, the Staten Island, NY-based Wu-Tang Clan proved to be the most revolutionary rap group of the mid-'90s - and only partially because of their music. Turning the standard concept of a hip-hop crew inside out, the Wu-Tang Clan were assembled as a loose congregation of nine MCs, almost as a support group. Instead of releasing one album after another, the Clan was designed to overtake the record industry in as profitable a fashion as possible - the idea was to establish the Wu-Tang as a force with their debut album and then spin off into as many side projects as possible. In the process, the members would all become individual stars as well as receive individual royalty checks.

Surprisingly, the plan worked. All of the various Wu-Tang solo projects elaborated on the theme the group laid out on their 1993 debut, the spare, menacing Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Taking their group name from an powerful, mythical kung fu sword wielded by an invincible congregation of warriors, the crew is a loose collective of nine MCs. All nine members work under a number of pseudonyms, but they are best known as RZA (aka Prince Rakeem, aka Rzarecta, Chief Abbot, and Bobby Steels; born Robert Diggs), GZA/Genius (aka Justice and Maxi Million; born Gary Grice), Ol' Dirty Bastard (aka Unique Ason, Joe Bannanas, Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, and Osirus; born Russell Jones), Method Man (aka Johnny Blaze, Ticallion Stallion, Shakwon, and Methical; born Clifford Smith, Raekwon the Chef (aka Shallah Raekwon and Lou Diamonds; born Corey Woods), Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks and Sun God; born Dennis Coles), U-God (aka Golden Arms, Lucky Hands, Baby U, and 4-Bar Killer; born Lamont Hawkins), Inspectah Deck (aka Rebel INS and Rollie Fingers; born Jason Hunter), and Masta Killa (aka Noodles; born Elgin Turner).

The vision of the Wu-Tang Clan is undoubtedly due to the musical skills of RZA. Under his direction, the group - through its own efforts and the solo projects, all of which he produced or co-produced - created a hazy, surreal, and menacing soundscape out of hardcore beats, eerie piano riffs, and minimal samples. Over these surrealistic backing tracks, the MCs rapped hard, updating the old-school attack with vicious violence, martial arts imagery, and a welcome warped humor. By 1995, the sound was one of the most instantly recognizable in hip-hop.

It wasn't always that way. Like most rappers, they began their careers trying to get ahead whatever way they could. For RZA, that meant releasing a silly single, Ooh, I Love You Rakeem, on Tommy Boy Records in 1991. On the advice of his label and producers, he cut the humorous, lover-man single that went absolutely nowhere. Neither did the follow-up single, My Deadly Venoms. The experience strengthened his resolve to subvert and attack record-industry conventions. He found partners in Genius and Ol' Dirty Bastard. Genius had also released a record in 1991, the full-length Words From the Genius on Cold Chillin', which was preceded by the single Come Do Me. Both records were unsuccessful. After the failure of his album, Genius teamed with an old friend, Ol' Dirty Bastard, to form the crew that would evolve into the Wu-Tang Clan within a year.

RZA quickly became part of the crew, as did several other local MCs, including Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa, who rarely raps. The nine rappers made a pact to a form an artistic and financial community - the Wu-Tang Clan wouldn't merely be a group, it would be its own industry. In order to do this, they decided to establish themselves through a group effort and then begin to spread the word through solo projects, picking up additional collaborators along the way and, in the process, becoming stronger and more influential.

The first Wu-Tang Clan single, the hard-hitting Protect Ya Neck, appeared on their own independent label and became an underground hit. Soon, the record labels were offering them lucrative contracts. The group held out until they landed a deal that would allow each member to record solo albums for whatever label they chose - in essence, each rapper was a free agent. Loud/RCA agreed to the deal, and the band's debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), appeared in November of 1993. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful; although its financial success wasn't immediate, it was the result of a slow build. C.R.E.A.M., released in early 1994, was the single that put them over the top and won them a devoted following. The group wasted no time in pursuing other projects, as a total of five of the members - Genius, RZA, Raekwon, Method Man, and Ol' Dirty Bastard - landed solo contracts as a result of the success of C.R.E.A.M. RZA was the first to re-enter the studio, this time as a member of the Gravediggaz, a group he founded; in addition to RZA, who was rechristened RZArecta, the group included De La Soul producer Prince Paul, Stetsasonic's Frukwan, and Brothers Grimm's Poetic. The Gravediggaz's album 6 Feet Deep appeared in August 1994; it eventually would go gold. Labeled "horrorcore" by the group, it was an ultra-violent but comical tour de force that demonstrated RZA's production prowess. Shortly after its release, Raekwon released his first single, Heaven and Hell, on the Fresh soundtrack; the song was produced by RZA and featured Ghostface Killah.

The first Wu-Tang member to become a major solo star was Method Man. In November 1994, he released Tical on Def Jam Recordings, the first official Wu-Tang solo album. Again, RZA produced the album, creating a dense, dirty sonic collage. Tical became a big hit in early 1995, as did Meth's duet with Mary J. Blige, I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By. Ol' Dirty Bastard followed Method Man's breakthrough success with Return to the 36 Chambers, which appeared in March 1995 on Elektra Records. Thanks to the hits "Brooklyn Zoo" and "Shimmy Shimmy Ya," the record became a gold success. Out of all the solo albums, it was the one that sounded the most like Enter the Wu-Tang, although it did have a more pronounced comic bent, due to Ol' Dirty's maniacal vocals. Tales From the Hood, a movie soundtrack featuring Inspectah Deck's first solo track, appeared in May.

Later in 1995, the two most critically acclaimed Wu-Tang records appeared: Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Genius/GZA's Liquid Swords. Raekwon released his album on Loud/RCA in August 1995; the record featured extensive contributions - a total of 12 songs - from Ghostface Killah, his greatest exposure yet. Genius' second solo album was released by Geffen Records in November 1995. In February of 1996, Ghostface Killah's first solo track, Winter Warz, appeared on the Don't Be a Menace to South Central While You're Drinking Your Juice in the Hood soundtrack. Later that October, he released his own solo debut, the critically acclaimed, '70s soul-flavored Ironman; the record was the first released on RZA's new Epic subsidiary, Razor Sharp Records.

The Wu-Tang Clan finally reconvened and returned with their second album, the double-CD Wu-Tang Forever, in June of 1997. Hugely anticipated, the album entered the charts at number one - selling over 600,000 copies in its first week alone - and quickly spawned the hit single Triumph. There were several contributions from guest associate Cappadonna, who'd appeared on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Ironman. The group toured extensively in support of the album.

In the meantime, the next phase of the Wu-Tang plan started to take shape: unearthing new associates and spinning the resulting stable of talent into a brand-name franchise. A group of Wu protégés dubbed Killarmy released their debut album, Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, on Priority Records in August 1997, drawing heavily upon the Clan's martial imagery. 1998, however, was truly the year for Wu-related side projects. In March, Cappadonna released his solo debut The Pillage on Columbia. The same month, Killah Priest - not an official part of the Clan, but a frequent guest and a member of another protégé group called the Sunz of Man - made his solo debut on Geffen Records with Heavy Mental, an acclaimed album filled with spiritual imagery that established him as one of the more distinctive solo artists in the Wu-Tang orbit. In July the Sunz of Man released their own debut album, The Last Shall Be First, on Red Ant, and yet another group of up-and-comers dubbed the Wu-Tang Killa Beez released their first album, The Swarm, Vol. 1, on Priority, featuring a number of guest appearances by Wu members and associates. In August, Killarmy issued their second album, Dirty Weaponry.

1998 was also the year Ol' Dirty Bastard began a long and bizarre saga of erratic behavior and run-ins with police that found him making headlines with alarming (and ridiculous) regularity. In February he interrupted Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards to protest the Clan's loss in the Best Rap Album category; shortly thereafter, he announced he was changing his name to Big Baby Jesus. This was only the beginning - over the next year and a half, ODB would be arrested for a litany of offenses that included assault, shoplifting, making terrorist threats, wearing body armor after being convicted of a felony, possessing cocaine, and missing countless court dates. Plus, in early 1999, the whole Clan fell under suspicion of masterminding a gun-running operation between Staten Island and Steubenville, OH, charges that were never proven to have any validity.

In the midst of this legal sideshow, the Clan kicked off a second round of solo projects in late 1998. This time around, RZA curtailed his activities somewhat, making appearances but often leaving the majority of the production duties to his protégés. Still, he released his own solo debut, the soundtrack-styled RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo, in November of 1998 on V2; the same month, Method Man's second album, Tical 2000: Judgement Day, debuted at number two on the charts. June 1999 saw the release of an excellent singles compilation, RZA Hits, which covered the first Wu-Tang album and the first round of solo albums (1994-1995); the very next week, Genius/GZA's second album, Beneath the Surface, was released. September brought plenty of new Wu product: Ol' Dirty Bastard's Nigga Please, released while the rapper was in rehab; Method Man's acclaimed duo album with Redman, Blackout!; and the first-ever solo album by Inspectah Deck, Uncontrolled Substance, which appeared on Loud Records. Another Wu member made his solo debut in October, when U-God issued Golden Arms Redemption on Priority; Raekwon returned the following month with Immobilarity. Finally, Ghostface Killah issued his well-received sophomore set, Supreme Clientele, in January 2000.

However, this second round of Wu-Tang solo albums didn't attract as much attention, either critically or commercially. True, Method Man remained a popular solo star (and, to a lesser degree, so did ODB), and reviews were highly positive for Ghostface Killah (and, to a lesser degree, Genius/GZA). But the Wu franchise was suffering from inconsistency, overexposure (they'd spawned a clothing line, a video game, a comic book, and more), and a flood of musical product that even diehards found difficult to keep up with. Their once-distinctive sound was becoming commonplace and diluted, not just through the collective's own releases but also RZA's many imitators.

Indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch commissioned RZA to compose a soundtrack for his acclaimed Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, the results of which were unveiled in early 2000. Other than that, the Clan reconvened for a new album and was mostly quiet during much of 2000 - aside from Ol' Dirty Bastard, who unfortunately continued to spiral out of control. He spent some time in a California jail for violating the terms of his probation, but appeared to be on the right track when suddenly, in October - with just two months of rehab to go - he escaped the California facility and spent a month on the run from the law. Fans were shocked when ODB turned up on-stage at the New York record-release party for the Clan's new album, The W, which was released with considerably less fanfare in November 2000. A leaner, more focused collection, The W featured only one track from ODB. The W album spawned the hit Gravel Pit, one of the three videos in the The W music video trilogy: Gravel Pit, Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off), and Careful (Click, Click). A few months later they scored a hit in Europe with the Isaac Hayes blessed song I Can't Go To Sleep.

ODB managed to exit the club after his surprise performance but was soon captured by police in Philadelphia and extradited to New York to face charges of cocaine possession. In April 2001, he cut a deal with prosecutors that resulted in a sentence of two to two years in state prison, bringing his outlaw saga to a sad end. In August 2001, RZA issued his second Bobby Digital album, Digital Bullet on Koch Entertainment. Also in August, Killarmy released their third album named Fear, Love & War on Loud Records. November brought a solo album from Ghostface Killah: Bulletproof Wallets This time, though, there was no full round of solo projects in between Wu albums; the full group (minus ODB) assembled for their fourth album, Iron Flag, which was released in December 2001, just one year after its predecessor. Another Wu-Tang Killa Beez album was released containing a lot of new and old tracks by the large Wu-Tang family, named The Sting. After a quiet year GZA/Genius dropped his new album Legend Of The Liquid Sword in December 2002.

In August 2003 Ol' Dirty Bastard returned home and immediately signed a new deal with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records the same day of his release. An official mixtape titled Osirus featuring many new songs was released in March 2005, but ODB's Roc-A-Fella album A Son Unique, which should have been released in 2005, had numerous delays until now. Ghostface Killah joined Def Jam Recordings to build his own Starks Enterprises imprint. Raekwon jumped to Universal Records and his shaping up his own company: Ice Water, Inc. Masta Killa released his first solo album No Said Date in 2004.

On November 13, 2004 the most tragic moment in the Wu-Tang history happened as Ol' Dirty Bastard collapsed at approximately 5:29 p.m. at Wu-Tang's 36 Chambers studios on West 34th Street in New York City. Less than an hour later he was pronounced dead, only two days before his 36th birthday. His funeral service was held at Brooklyn's Christian Cultural Center.

In 2005 RZA premiered as a writer and published his first book the Wu-Tang Manual giving an inside view of the philosophy behind the Clan. The manual is divided into four books each containing nine chambers totaling 36 chambers. The chapters include biographies of each member, an explanation of the famous Wu-Tang slang, a history on the Wu-Tang Clan logo, explanations of diverse influences like the Nation of Gods and Earths, chess, comic books, drugs, and martial arts. The book also shows RZA's views on music, spirituality and producing, and a lyrical guide to the meanings of key Wu-Tang songs.

U-God also released his second album Mr. Xcitement in 2005 and GZA started his collaboration with DJ Muggs, GrandMasters.

On March 28, 2006, Ghostface Killah released Fishscale which was followed by the release of More Fish in December. The whole Clan, including Cappadonna and the deceased ODB, appeared on "9 Milli Bros." Method Man came back with his critically acclaimed 2006 album 4:21... the Day After. He was heavily featured in the media due to his displeasure with Def Jam's handling of his project, and despite not having any promotion or airplay the album still debuted in the Billboard Top Ten. 2006 also saw the release of Masta Killa's second studio album, Made in Brooklyn, and Inspectah Deck released an official mixtape titled The Resident Patient on June 25, 2006, a prelude to his next album The Rebellion.

Finally in December 2006, the Wu-Tang Clan signed a one-album deal with Steve Rifkind's SRC Records, who released the group's four previous albums on Loud Records. The album was titled 8 Diagrams referring to the Kung Fu classic movie The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter and has been released on December 11, 2007.

RZA announced the release of a new Bobby Digital album DigiSnacks in summer 2008, which he has already begun to work on. Raekwon's Cuban Linx 2 and GZA's new album Protools are also scheduled for releae this year.