Terrence Thornton was born May 13, 1977,he is better known by his stage name Pusha T and a hip hop recording artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is also known as one half of hip hop duo Clipse, alongside his brother and fellow rapper Gene “No Malice” Thornton. He is the co-founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Re-Up Records along with his aforementioned brother. In September 2010, Thornton announced his signing to Kanye West’s GOOD Music label and on March 21, 2011, released his first solo project, a mixtape titled Fear of God. He later released his debut solo album My Name Is My Name on October 8, 2013.
De La Soul Is Dead is De La Soul’s second full-length album, released in 1991. The album was produced by Prince Paul, whose work on 3 Feet High and Rising was highly praised by music critics. The album was one of the first to receive a five mic rating in the Hip hop magazine The Source.The album was also selected as one of The Source’s 100 Best Rap Albums in 1998. The album’s cover refers to the death of the “D.A.I.S.Y.” age, or a distancing from several cultures including hippies and the mainstream hip-hop. It is considered among many, as one of the best albums of the 1990s.
Slam” was the second single released from Onyx’s debut album, Bacdafucup. Released on May 11, 1993, “Slam” was Onyx’s breakthrough single, making it to number 4 on the US Billboard 100 and was the group’s second straight single to make it to number 1 on the Rap charts.
Craig Mack born May 10, 1971 he is a rapper, who gained fame on Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment record label in the 1990s. Although his first single was released under the name MC EZ in 1988, he is best known for his 1994 hit single “Flava In Ya Ear”, which was released under his real name. The remix of the single was the breakout appearance of The Notorious B.I.G., as well as one of the first solo appearances by Busta Rhymes. The success of The Notorious B.I.G.’s debut album Ready To Die overshadowed Mack’s early success on the Bad Boy label. Although Puff Daddy mentioned in a 1994 interview on MTV’s Yo! MTV Raps that he was working with Mack on his second album, which was to be released sometime in January the following year, this proved to not be the case. At the interview Mack himself was puzzled by the statement. Mack did release a second album in 1997, but none of the singles charted and Mack was unable to repeat his success. In an interview, Biggie Smalls says he appeared on the remix of Flava In Ya Ear for political reasons for Puffy. On November 26, 2012, Beazylife Distribution released a new Craig Mack mixtape Operation Why2K Hosted by B-Eazy through DatPiff.com. In multiple interviews, Craig Mack has stated clearly that for him the real joy in hip hop is moving the crowd from his delivery of rhymes and rhythms. He has noted that for him the hip hop tradition includes inspiring the crowd to get up and dance.
Dennis Coles was born May 9, 1970 better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, he is a rapper and a prominent member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers, the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success. Ghostface Killah debuted his solo-career with Ironman in 1996, which was well received by music critics. He has continued his success over the following years with critically acclaimed albums such as Supreme Clientele (2000) and FishScale (2006). His stage name was taken from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film Mystery of Chessboxing. He is the founder of his own label Starks Enterprises. Ghostface Killah is critically acclaimed for his loud, fast-paced flow and his emotional stream-of-consciousness narratives containing cryptic slang and non-sequiturs.
Youngest in Charge is the debut album from the then-16-year-old Brooklynite hip hop artist Special Ed. The album had sold more than 500,000 copies. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source ’s 100 Best Rap Albums Ever.
Dr. Octagonecologyst is the debut solo album of American rapper Keith Thornton who is also known by his aliases as Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Black Elvis, Dr. Ultra, Crazy Lou, Poppa Large and Kool Keith. This is the first album he released under the alias Dr. Octagon. It was released May 7, 1996, on Bulk Recordings in the United States and Mo’ Wax in the United Kingdom, and re-released in the US on DreamWorks Records in 1997. Dr. Octagonecologyst was produced by Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert. KutMasta Kurt provided additional production work. The artwork for Dr. Octagonecologyst was drawn by Brian “Pushead” Schroeder. Dr. Octagonecologyst introduces the character of Dr. Octagon, a homicidal, extraterrestrial, time-traveling gynecologist and surgeon. The album’s distinctive sound crosses genres such as psychedelic music, trip hop, horrorcore, and electronic music. Thornton’s lyrics are often abstract, using surrealism, non-sequiturs, hallucinatory psychedelia, horror and science-fiction imagery, and juvenile humor. The unique sound and lyrics of Dr. Octagonecologyst helped revitalize alternative and underground hip hop, gaining more attention than any contemporary independent hip hop album “in quite a while”. Although it did not sell enough copies to reach the mainstream music charts, the album was well received with positive reviews and recognition.
Lyricist Lounge, Volume One is the first installment of Rawkus Records Lyricist Lounge album series, based on the Lyricist Lounge showcases in New York. The double-disc compilation features De La Soul, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Tash of Tha Alkaholiks, Punch & Words, O.C., Ras Kass, Black Thought, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Saul Williams, Kool Keith, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek, Bahamadia, Rah Digga, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Jurassic 5, KRS-One, Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Last Emperor and Company Flow.
Breakin’, released as Breakdance: The Movie or Break Street ’84 in some countries, is a 1984 breakdancing-themed film directed by Joel Silberg. The film setting was inspired by a 1983 German documentary entitled Breakin’ and Enterin’ set in the Los Angeles multi-racial hip hop club Radiotron, based out of Macarthur Park in Los Angeles. Many of the artists and dancers, including Ice-T who makes his movie debut as a club MC)and Boogaloo Shrimp, went straight from Breakin’ and Enterin’ to star in Breakin’. Ice-T has stated he considers the film and his own performance in it to be “wack”. Breakin’ was the final Cannon film production released by MGM/UA. After Breakin’ was released, MGM and Cannon Films dissolved their distribution deal, reportedly over the potentially X-Rated content in John Derek’s film Bolero and MGM’s then-current rule of not releasing X-Rated material theatrically, forcing Cannon to become an in-house distribution company once again. Because of the demise of the distribution deal, Breakin’ is considered to be the final financially profitable film released by Cannon Films.
“Protect Ya Neck” is the debut single by hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The song is from the group’s critically acclaimed first album Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers. It is produced by RZA then known as Prince Rakeem and features eight of the original nine Wu-Tang members.
Sittin’ on Chrome is the second album from Hip Hop group Masta Ace Incorporated, which includes Ace, Lord Digga, Paula Perry and Leschea. Ace followed the success of his 1994 hits “Jeep Ass Niguh” and “Crooklyn” with his most commercially successful album, which concentrated more on the West Coast gangsta Hip-Hop sound that particularly became a popular trend. Sittin’ on Chrome features the crossover hit “Born to Roll” which peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was originally released as a hidden track on his SlaughtaHouse album, as well as two more Hot 100 hit singles, “The I.N.C. Ride” and the title track. A year after the release, Ace split with the I.N.C. crew and was largely missing from the Hip Hop scene, until his comeback album, Disposable Arts, was released in 2001.
PeteStrumentals is an instrumental hip hop album from hip hop producer/rapper Pete Rock, his second solo release. The album is the second installment of BBE Records Beat Generation series, following Jay Dee’s Welcome to Detroit album. The instrumental songs were originally recorded between 1990 and 1995, but were remixed and continued when putting together the album. All songs featuring vocals were recorded exclusively for this project between 2000 and 2001. There are two versions of this album. On the first version, twelve of the fourteen tracks are instrumentals, and the tracks “Cake” and “Nothin’ Lesser” both feature rapping from The UN. On the second, five out of sixteen tracks feature vocals from The UN, Freddie Foxxx, Nature, and Rock’s former partner, CL Smooth. The updated version of the album was a result of Rock being blown away by Jay Dee’s Welcome to Detroit which made him feel he needed to better his own contribution to the Beat Generations series.
