Hip-Hop | Musicosity

Hip-Hop

Arrested Development

Arrested Development is an afrocentric hip-hop group, founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the early 1990s. It took the group three years, five months and two days to be offered a record deal. Hence the name of the first album was 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..., which produced several hit tracks. These included "Tennessee", "People Everyday", and "Mr. Wendal", which hit the top ten. The group won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and Best New Artist, and were also Band of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

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Gaslamp Killer

The Gaslamp Killer, A reference to his hometown of San Diego and their beach brah's Gaslamp bar district, the self professed Animal style DJ has been holding it down behind LA's Turntable Lab counter. But his real home is behind the turntables, where his wild style takes DJing into the realm of freak fest psychedelia.

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dead prez

dead prez is a hip-hop duo from the United States, composed of stic.man and M-1, and formed in 1996 in New York. They are known for their sometimes confrontational style, combined with socialist lyrics focused on both militant social justice, and also positivity. The duo maintains an ethical stance against corporate control over the media, especially hip-hop record labels.

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Sean Paul

Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born January 9, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Grammy Award winning reggae and dancehall singer, rapper and former lead vocalist of the Dutty Cup Crew. He released his debut solo album, Stage One, in 2000 and followed this in 2002 with Dutty Rock, which won the 2004 Grammy Award for the best reggae album. In 2005 he released his third studio album, The Trinity, and his latest studio album Imperial Blaze was released in 2009.

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N.E.R.D

N.E.R.D (No One Ever Really Dies) is a funk rock, alternative rock and alternative hip hop band formed in 2001. Their music is best described as funk rock, with various other influences, including hip hop, R&B, soul, alternative rock, and blues. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo met in Virginia Beach, Virginia at the ages of 12 at a summer camp for musicians, which they both disliked. They spent their free time making beats and performing in groups with fellow childhood friend Timbaland. Shay Haley began performing with Williams and Hugo in high school.

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Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Del the Funky Homosapien is an alternative hip-hop artist. Del was born Teren Delvon Jones, August 12, 1972, in Oakland, California. Del was part of his cousin Ice Cube’s backing band Da Lench Mob and made his first solo album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, with support from his cousin in 1991. Critics and fans had mixed opinions about the album, many feeling that Del’s and Cube’s styles weren't an ideal match.

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Michael Franti

Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966, in Oakland, California) is an African, Irish, and German American poet, musician, and composer. Franti is the creator and driving force behind Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, folk, and rock. Franti was part of the industrial punk band The Beatnigs with DJ Rono Tse, which released a self-titled LP, and an EP Television on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records.

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Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958 in Barbados) is a hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. Saddler's family migrated to the United States, and he grew up in the Bronx. He became involved in the earliest Queensbridge, New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries. Learning from Pete Jones and Kool Herc, he used duplicate copies of a single record and two turntables but added a dextrous manual edit with a...

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Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva, born Rodney Smith is a British hip-hop artist, who mixes hip hop with reggae and dub as well as electronica, and even some gospel. He grew up around Stockwell in South London. His parents were from a small village in Jamaica called Banana Hole where his father was a preacher and tailor. Spending much of his early years in poverty, this and his strict Pentecostal upbringing clearly had an influence on his music as can be seen in many of his tracks such as "Sinny Sin Sins" and "Colossal Insight".

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