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GZA – Discography

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Gary Grice (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names GZA (/ˈdʒɪzə/ JIZ-ə) and The Genius, is an American rapper and songwriter. A founding member of the hip hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA is known as the group’s “spiritual head”, being both the oldest and the first within the group to receive a record deal. He has appeared on his fellow Clan members’ solo projects, and since the release of his critically acclaimed solo album Liquid Swords (1995), he has maintained a successful solo career.

He is considered to be one of the best MCs and lyricists because he is “armed with sharp metaphors and a smooth flow”, and has been noted for his lyrical style, which often dismisses typical rap story lines in favor of science and wide-ranging philosophies. An analysis of GZA’s lyrics found that he has the second largest vocabulary in hip hop music. He teamed up with an education group to promote science education in New York City through hip hop. Read more

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Gym Class Heroes – Discography

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Gym Class Heroes is an American band from Geneva, New York, United States. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band’s music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip hop, rock, funk, and reggae. After the addition of guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and bassist Eric Roberts in 2003, the group was signed to Fueled by Ramen and Decaydance Records (Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz’s independent record label), on which they released their debut album, The Papercut Chronicles. The group gained a strong fanbase while promoting the album, appearing at festivals such as The Bamboozle and Warped Tour.

In 2006, the group released the gold-selling album As Cruel as School Children. Since that release, the band’s single “Cupid’s Chokehold” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Clothes Off!!” peaked at No. 5 in the United Kingdom. On September 9, 2008, Gym Class Heroes released their third album, The Quilt, which contained numerous collaborations with other artists. The band went on hiatus in 2009, a time in which the members pursued various side projects. McCoy released his solo debut album Lazarus in June 2010. Lumumba-Kasongo has been working on his side-project Soul, while McGinley now drums in the rock group Kill the Frontman. The group released The Papercut Chronicles II on November 15, 2011. It has since become one of their most successful albums to date. Read more

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EPMD – Discography

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EPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group’s name is a concatenation of the members’ names “E” and “PMD” or an acronym for “Erick and Parrish Making Dollars”, referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon (“E” a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith (“PMD” a.k.a. Parrish Mic Doc). During an interview on college radio station WHOV in 1987, Parrish Smith stated that the name evolved from the original: “We were originally known as “EEPMD” (Easy Erick and Parrish the Microphone Doctor), but chose to go with EPMD because it was easier to say.” He also stated that they dropped the two “E’s” because N.W.A.’s Eric Wright was already using “Eazy-E” as his stage name. The group has been active for 31 years (minus two breakups in 1993 and 1999), and is one of the most prominent acts in east coast hip hop. Diamond J and DJ K La Boss were DJs for the group and their current DJ is DJ Scratch

The word “business” is used in every title of the group’s albums. Every album also has a track with “Jane” in the title. Read more

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Swizz Beatz – Discography

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Kasseem Dean (born September 13, 1978),[n 1] better known by his stage name Swizz Beatz, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer from New York City, New York. Born and raised in The Bronx, he began his musical career as a disc jockey (DJ) and has since added rapper, producer, record executive, creative director and fashion designer, to his repertoire. At the age of 16, he gained recognition in the hip hop industry, through his friendship and work with East Coast rapper DMX and the Ruff Ryders Entertainment record label. Read more

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Souls Of Mischief – Discography

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Oakland native Tajai began rhyming with future bandmate A-Plus at age 8, while both were in elementary school. Tajai and Phesto met later in junior high school. Tajai later introduced A-Plus and Phesto to the remaining Souls of Mischief member, Opio, and the group informally formed in high school before making its major-label debut on Jive Records with the group’s well-received album 93 ’til Infinity, in 1993.

The group is part of the hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics, emcees Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Jaybiz, and producer Domino. The group participated as full members in all three of Hieroglyphics’ studio albums: 1998’s 3rd Eye Vision, 2003’s Full Circle, and 2013’s The Kitchen.

93 ’til Infinity is the group’s highest charting album to date (#17 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums; #85 Billboard 200) and, in January, 1998, was named one of the Top 100 Rap albums by The Source magazine. Read more

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Snow – Discography

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Darrin Kenneth O’Brien (born October 30, 1969), better known by his stage name Snow, is a Canadian reggae artist. He is best known for his 1993 single “Informer”, which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Read more

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Nine – Discography

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Nine is the stage name of Derrick Keyes (September 19, 1969), an emcee and protégé of DJ Funkmaster Flex from The Bronx, New York. Keyes got his break in late 1993 as a featured guest on Funkmaster Flex and the Ghetto Celebs’ “Six Million Ways to Die”. The verse showcased Nine’s harsh, gravelly flow and the artist signed a deal with the now-defunct Profile Records. He is known for the singles “Whutcha Want?” (1994) and “Any Emcee” (1995)

Keyes originally recorded under the Moniker 9MM (or Nine Double M) before changing his name to simply Nine. He stated, “I didn’t want to be just be named after the gun (9mm).” His stage name refers to his date of birth (9/19/1969), his shoe size, and his lucky number.
Emcee Nas recently referred to 9 Double M on the track “Where are They Now?” from his album Hip Hop Is Dead. He is also referred to on the track “Twinz (Deep Cover ’98)” from Big Pun’s debut album Capital Punishment, where Fat Joe says “Boogie down major like Nine” referring to Nine’s hometown, the Bronx.

Portions of Nine’s “Whutcha Want?” were recently featured in advertisements by US automobile manufacturer Jeep. The ads used the song “Steady Bounce” by KRS-One from his album Strickly for da Breakdancers & Emceez, which used a sample which from Nine’s “Whutcha want?” According to an interview conducted with HalftimeOnline.com, Jeep never sought permission to use the sample and Nine is pursuing legal action.

Nine also acted in an episode of New York Undercover (1997) .

The album “Nine Livez”, produced by Rob Lewis and Tony Stoute, generated several underground hits including “Whutcha Want?”, “Redrum”, “Ova Confident” and “Any Emcee”. The album, considered by many hip-hop aficionados to be a classic underground hip-hop album, is sought after by collectors. Read more

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K-OS – Discography

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Kevin Brereton (born February 20, 1972), better known by his stage name k-os (/ˈkeɪ.ɒs/; “chaos”), is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted.

The alias “k-os”, spelled with a lower case “k”, was intended to be less aggressive than the pseudonyms of other rappers whose names were all upper case, such as KRS-One. It is an acronym for “Knowledge of Self”, although in a later interview he said that it originally stood for “Kevin’s Original Sound”. k-os’ music incorporates a wide variety of music genres, including rap, funk, rock, and reggae. The lyrics frequently focus on promoting a “positive message” while at times expressing criticism of mainstream hip hop culture’s obsession with money, fame and glorification of violence. A musician as well as a producer, k-os has written and produced nearly every part of all four of his albums. k-os usually performs with a live band, something that is uncommon in the hip hop genre. He sometimes plays guitar and keyboard both during live performances and in the studio.

k-os received his first musical exposure with the single “Musical Essence”, released in 1993. After the release of his second single “Rise Like the Sun” in 1996, he withdrew from the industry because he was dissatisfied with his musical style. He reappeared briefly in 1999 and released his debut album Exit in 2002. The album received positive reviews but sold relatively few copies. He released his second album Joyful Rebellion in 2004, which received platinum status in Canada. A third album, Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, was released in 2006 and also went platinum. His fourth album, Yes!, was released in 2009. His fifth album BLack on BLonde was released in 2013. He released his sixth album, Can’t Fly Without Gravity in 2015. Read more

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OutKast – Discography

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Outkast (stylized as OutKast) is an American hip hop duo formed in 1991, in East Point, Atlanta, Georgia, composed of Atlanta-based rappers André “André 3000” Benjamin (formerly known as Dré) and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton. The duo achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success in the 1990s and early 2000s, helping to popularize Southern hip hop while developing distinctive personas and experimenting with diverse genres such as funk, psychedelia, techno, and gospel.

Benjamin and Patton formed the group as high school students in 1991. OutKast released their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik in 1994, which gained popularity after the single “Player’s Ball” reached number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart. With successive releases including ATLiens (1996) and Aquemini (1998), the duo further developed their sound, experimenting with a variety of styles and achieving commercial success. In 2000, Outkast released the critically acclaimed Stankonia, which included the singles “Ms. Jackson” and “B.O.B.”

In 2003, the duo released the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which featured the number one singles “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move.” The album would eventually win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. Outkast next released the soundtrack for the 2006 musical film Idlewild, which they also starred in. In 2007, the duo went on hiatus and both members have since pursued solo careers. In 2014, Outkast reunited to celebrate their 20th anniversary by performing at more than 40 festivals worldwide in 2014, beginning at the Coachella Festival in April.

The duo is one of the most successful hip-hop groups of all time, having received six Grammy Awards. Between six studio albums and a greatest hits release, Outkast has sold over 25 million records. Meanwhile, they have garnered widespread critical acclaim, with publications such as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork Media listing albums such as Aquemini and Stankonia among the best of their era. Read more

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Naughty by Nature – Discography

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Naughty by Nature is a Grammy Award-winning American hip hop trio from East Orange, New Jersey consisting of Treach (Anthony Criss, born December 2, 1970), Vin Rock (Vincent Brown, born September 17, 1970), and DJ Kay Gee (born Keir Lamont Gist, September 15, 1969).
The group formed in East Orange, New Jersey,(colloquially referred to as Illtown in the 1980s) in 1986 as The New Style. The group first appeared on the music scene in 1989, releasing an album called Independent Leaders as The New Style, and the album generated the minor hit “Scuffin’ Those Knees”. After the release of its first album, the group was mentored by fellow New Jersey native Queen Latifah, and subsequently changed its name. Read more