The Roots

The son of a Jazz musician, Nas was born with a musical thirst, one that was channeled into hip hop under the influence of neighbor and friend ‘Ill Will’. Even after dropping out of high school, Nas continued to educate himself, utilizing his intellectual life view in his rhymes as he began to garner attention from the likes of producer Large Professor. At just 18, Nas recorded a stand-out verse on Main Source’s ‘Live at The Barbeque’ propelling him to new heights and even securing him a record deal from Columbia under the management of 3rd Bass’ ‘MC Serch’.

With the hype building, Nas was hailed as the best MC since ‘Rakim’ and delivered a certified classic album with his debut, Illmatic. Nas’ complex and insightful rhymes met with world class production and made for a hip hop album unlike anything before it. The album received five mics from ‘The Source’ and is now considered one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

The album however, did not translate into commercial success and with mounting pressure from his label, Nas began to slide towards a more mainstream sound for the next run of albums which included ‘I Am…’ and ‘Nastradamus’.

It took a now legendary beef with fellow New York rapper Jay Z to set him back on the right track. Nas countered Jay’s ‘The Takeover’ with the lethal diss song ‘Ether’ which fuelled the release of the ‘Stillmatic’ album and re-secured Nas’ place as one of Hip Hop’s premier talents. He has maintained this success through follow up albums and huge festival appearances and in 2014 a documentary was released documenting the importance of ‘Illmatic’ and Nas on Hip Hop’s history.

T.I. was raised by his grandparents in Georgia, who nicknamed him Tip in memory of his great-grandfather. After meeting local rapper Big Kuntry King, T.I began to make his own mixtapes and was picked up by Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment some years later. Due to another artist on the label using a similar name, Tip was shortened to T.I and a rap star was born.

T.I.’s childhood in Georgia had taught him a lot about hustling, so when his record deal with Arista Records went sour after the release of his first record, it was no surprise when T.I formed his own label, Grand Hustle Entertainment and continued to release mixtapes.

T.I.’s drive and talent won further mainstream attention and he was signed to Atlantic Records where he released his second album, “Trap Muzik”, which was followed by “Urban Legend” a year later. Both albums proved to be a success and were both top 10 albums in the US charts.

T.I.’s biggest successes, though, have been his third, fourth and fifth studio albums titled “King”, “T.I .vs. T.I.P.” and “Paper Trail” respectively. Each hit the number one spot in the US and also won the singer three Grammy Awards. T.I’s single “Whatever You Like” from the album “Paper Trail” proved to be the most successful single for the rapper since the inception of his career, and the track impressively leapt from 71 to the number one spot on the Billboard charts.

T.I. has collaborated successfully with a host of artists throughout his career including Iggy Azalea, Lil Wayne, Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke, amongst many others. The most successful collaboration was the single “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke, which went platinum and hit the number one spot on almost every major music chart.

T.I.’s most recent three studio albums have also all been top five albums in the US charts and have done favourably in other parts of the world. T.I.’s work and the number of fan’s he can attract to any of his gigs really are a testament to his talent.

Fellow rapper Pimp C founded the rap duo Underground Kings in the late 1980s with friend Mitchell Queen. The lineup didn’t last long however and Bun B ultimately joined, alter securing a record deal with independent Houston label Bigtyme Records. The pair’s debut output was the well-received EP “The Southern Way”, which raised the duo's exposure and led to them signing with Jive Records. Unable to release much of their hardcore, explicitly content on their debut full-length, the EP “Banned” was issued in 1993 to satisfy fans. The studio album “Too Hard to Swallow” arrived in 1993 on Jive Records, succeeded by “Super Tight” in 1994, “Ridin’ Dirty” in 1996, and “Dirty Money” in 2001.

Following the arrest of his UGK partner Pimp C, Bun B began making appearances on songs by Paul Wall, Webbie, and Yung Joc, before releasing the mixtape “Legends” in 2005. The same year Bun B issued his debut solo album “Trill”, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 aided by the singles “Draped Up”, “Git It”, and “Get Throwed”. In 2007 UGK partner Pimp C was found dead in a hotel room, and Bun B’s sophomore album “Il Trill” was in large part a tribute to his former colleague. Debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the album proved his most successful to date, spawning the singles “That’s Gangsta”, “You’re Everything”, and “Damn I’m Cold”.

Two years later Bun B’s third studio album “Trill OG” hit the shelves featuring 2Pac, T-Pain, Trey Songz, Drake, and Slim Thug. Led by the single “Countin’ Money”, the record earned favourable reviews and charted at No. 4 upon release. “Trill OG: The Epilogue” followed in 2013 once again featuring a host of high-profile contributions from the likes of Big K.R.I.T, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, and Redman. Debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200, the record received positive reviews and cemented Bun B’s position as one of the most celebrated rappers in hip-hop.

Made up of Posdnuos, Dave and Maseo, De La Soul’s debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising,” released on March 3rd, 1989 became a critical smash hit in the hip-hop genre. They became prominent members of the Native Tongues Posse along with A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah the Jungle Brothers and more. It was also the single “Me Myself and I” that became a huge hit, further cementing the group’s popularity. Unfortunately, the sixties pop group, The Turtles, sued De La Soul for using a sample from their 1969 hit “You Shows Me” for the interlude track “Transmitting Live from Mars”, despite them not even writing the original song. All of this aside, the album made it to #24 in the Billboard Music Charts. It has been dubbed as “One of the greatest albums ever made” by the NME, “The Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop” by the Village Voice. It was also #5 on the top 100 albums of the century, according to Spex.

Their following album, “De La Soul Is Dead”, was released on May 13th 1991. It is highly regarded in the hip-hop community as a classic. The album’s title is in reaction to the group being labelled hippies following its debut release. The album cover, a broken pot of daisies, signals the end of the D.A.I.S.Y age. It has been labelled as edgier than it’s first release. Despite not selling as many units as the previous album, it quickly became a cult classic. The Source magazine listed the album as one of their top 100 hip hop albums of all time, stating that “its true genius is rarely understood”.

Throughout their career, they evolved and transcended, stylistically and musically. There were moments on the album, “Buhloone Mindstate” that proved that the band had matured. “I Be Blowin” was a departure as the track was an instrumental featuring saxophone playing by Maceo Parker. “Breakadawn” featured a sample of Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It” and Smokey Robinson’s “Quiet Storm”. Each album that they released, would gain the kind of critical reputation that would solidify its place as one of the most “influential albums” or “best hip-hop album”.

After a few years out, they made a comeback with their album “Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present…First Serve.” It was in collaboration with French DJ duo Chokolate and Khalid, released on April 2nd 2012.