Lil Wayne

About the artist

A game-changing artist and an impervious celebrity, Lil Wayne began as his career as a near-novelty -- a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop -- but through years of maturation and reinventing the mixtape game, he developed into a million-selling rapper with a massive body of work, one so inventive and cunning that it makes his famous claim of being the "best rapper alive" worth considering. Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove, he was a straight-A student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through any kind of report card. He found music was the best way to express himself, and after taking the name Gangsta D he began writing rhymes. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive self-promotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was just for odd jobs around the office. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. and dubbed the duo the B.G.'z. Although only B.G.'s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as the B.G.'z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. The 1997 album Chopper City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .44, it became a solo B.G. release.

That same year, he officially took the moniker Lil Wayne, dropping the "D" from his first name in order to separate himself from an absent father. He joined B.G., Juvenile, and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boys, who released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. Two years later, Cash Money would sign a distribution deal with the major label Universal. Mainstream distribution would help that year's Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1998, Lil Wayne would appear on Juvenile's hit single "Back That Thing Up," or "Back That Azz Up" as it appeared on Juvie's album 400 Degreez. Wayne would launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. It went double platinum but the rapper was still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money sound had not yet crossed over. His second album, Lights Out (2000), failed to match the success of its predecessor but it did go gold, and with an appearance on the Big Tymers' hit single "#1 Stunna," his audience was certainly growing. While Fresh was primarily responsible for launching his career, Wayne was now much closer to Fresh's fellow Big Tymer and Cash Money CEO Birdman. When Juvenile left the label, Wayne -- or "Birdman Jr." as he was calling himself -- showed his allegiance to his CEO by releasing an album with a title much hotter than Juvie's breakthrough effort. 500 Degreez landed in 2002 and while it went gold, rumors began flying about Cash Money's financial troubles and possible demise. The rest of the Hot Boys had defected and Wayne's planned 2003 album was scrapped, coming out instead as an underground mixtape called Da Drought.

Wayne became enamored with the mixtape world after Da Drought drew so much attention from the hip-hop press. He used these underground releases to drum up anticipation for his next official album, the breakthrough effort Tha Carter. Released in 2004, the album seemed familiar on one hand with Mannie Fresh's production, but the Wayne on the cover was a dreadlocked surprise, and the rhymes he laid on the tracks showed significant growth. His marketing skills had become sharper, too, and it was no mistake that the album's hit single, "Go DJ," mentioned hip-hop's greatest tastemakers right in the title. It reached number five on the singles chart, and with a guest shot on Destiny's Child's number three single, "Soldier," Wayne had officially crossed over. On the flip side, his street cred was supported by a slew of mixtapes released in 2005, including the popular titles Dedication with DJ Drama and Tha Suffix with DJ Khaled. Cash Money's future was no longer in doubt and traditional music business rules no longer seemed to apply, as tracks would be leaked onto the Internet and various DJs' mixtapes. "Get Something" was another bold move, as a Universal-funded video was made without the track ever seeing official release.

With his alternative marketing scheme working in overdrive, the 2005 landing of Tha Carter II was a major event, selling over a quarter-million copies the week of its release. "Fireman" and "Shooter" with Robin Thicke were released as singles, while the album -- which for the first time featured no Mannie Fresh productions -- went platinum. It also introduced his Young Money posse, with appearances from Currensy and Nicki Minaj, and initially came with a bonus disc featuring Wayne's greatest hits screwed and chopped by Swishahouse DJ Michael "5000" Watts. A year later he collaborated with Birdman for the Like Father, Like Son album, featuring the hit single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy." His mixtapes were still flooding the underground, including the stunning Dedication 2, which came with an iconic image of the rapper on the cover plus the much talked-about track "Georgia...Bush," a venomous response to President George W. Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster. With no official follow-up to Tha Carter II in sight, numerous collaborative tracks kept the rapper in the mainstream with "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, and "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle becoming three of the biggest hits.

Tha Carter III was promised for 2007 but didn't arrive until a year later, setting off Wayne's infamous reputation of delayed releases. Part of the problem became unauthorized leaks of the album's tracks, something combatted by the official, downloadable EP The Leak released that same year. Preceded by the number one hit "Lollipop," Tha Carter III arrived in May of 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release. An appearance on "Saturday Night Live" and four Grammy Awards -- including Best Rap Album -- spoke to Wayne's mainstream acceptance. He also performed at that year's Country Music Awards with Kid Rock, but rather than rap, he played guitar. The guitar playing was part of Wayne's new involvement with rock music, including his help in signing Kevin Rudolf to Cash Money plus an appearance on Rudolf's massive hit "Let It Rock." His planned rock album was previewed with the 2009 single "Prom Queen," but when the album failed to meet its promised April release, the music press began to portray the rapper as the king of missed street dates. Unconcerned, Wayne forged ahead with his Young Money crew, releasing the underground mixtape Young Money Is the Army, Better Yet the Navy, the aboveground single "Every Girl," plus the official album We Are Young Money that same year. His rock album, Rebirth, would finally appear in early 2010, which coincided with Wayne being sentenced to a nine-month prison term for criminal possession of a weapon. The rapper may have been behind bars on Riker's Island, but that didn't stop his ten-song EP, I Am Not a Human Being, from seeing the light of day in September 2010. Tha Carter IV was finally released in 2011 along with its lead-off single "6 Foot 7 Foot." The album reached the top spot in "Billboard"'s Top 200. A second volume of I Am Not a Human Being arrived in 2013 featuring the singles "No Worries" and "Love Me."

David Jeffries, Rovi

	Top songs	Album
1	Rich As Fuck (Explicit)	I Am Not A Human Being II (Deluxe Version)	3:43	1
2	Forever (Explicit)	More Than a Game	5:57	1
3	Drop The World (Explicit)	Rebirth	3:49	1
4	Lollipop	Tha Carter III	4:59	1
5	Love Me (Explicit)	Love Me	4:15	1
6	No Worries (Explicit)	I Am Not A Human Being II (Deluxe Version)	3:41	1
7	Mirror	Tha Carter IV (Deluxe Version)	3:48	1
8	A Milli (Explicit)	Tha Carter III	3:41	1
9	Gunwalk (Explicit)	I Am Not A Human Being II (Deluxe Version)	4:31	1
10	Right Above It (Explicit)	I Am Not A Human Being	4:31	1

Albums

I Am Not A Human Being II (Deluxe Version)

Lil Wayne

I Am Not A Human Being II

Lil Wayne

Tha Carter IV (Deluxe Version)

Lil Wayne

An interesting story came out as Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV leaked to the Internet five days early. Special guest Busta Rhymes, being interviewed from his tour bus, had not even heard the leak within those first 48, and seemed fascinated to hear that Bun B, Nas, and Shyne were also on his track. This was in spite of the his line “Tunechi, thanks for giving us a whole 'nother classic with Tha Carter IV” the album's final words, delivered by Busta during the “Outro,” one of two tracks on which Wayne doesn’t even appear. Busta’s mix of excitement and confusion perfectly captures this album’s magic in that there’s an electricity in the air here, one so attractive that you don’t care about what’s missing, so don’t hold this up next to Tha Carter II or III because you just might miss a grand Jay-Z diss (“Talkin' about baby money, I got your baby money/ Kidnap your bitch, get that how much you love your lady money”) while considering the differences. If II and III were the arguable masterpieces, this one is less convincing, but it is a solid, above average hip-hop album that would be in held high and wide regard if it carried any other name. Wayne seems to address this new, sometimes B+ era with “Some of us are lovers/Most of y’all are haters/But I put up a wall/And they just wallpaper” on “Blunt Blowing,” a track which is Young Money’s seductive and flossy version of the blues. If dazzling rhetoric and shameless bombast is what grabs his audience, it absolutely overflows during the album’s unstoppable first quarter, which boils over when the short blue mobster called “Megaman” shoots forth “Life is shorter than Bushwick.” The totally T-Pain track “How to Hate” is the album’s first speedbump, and Wayne remains a guest on his own album as Tech N9ne and Rick Ross dominate the following cuts, but the uncontroversial “Abortion” (“I know your name, your name is unimportant/We in the belly of the beast, and she thinkin’ of abortion”) puts the spotlight back on Weezy. After John Legend adds some purposeful polish, it’s all smooth sailing plus with those high Carter standards, bouncing between tracks fans can singalong and connect with (the pure and simple “How to Love”) or marvel at (“It’s Good” where Jay-Z diss meets Alan Parsons sample). In the end, Busta’s pre-cog declaration of “classic” is the download generation’s more “in the moment” definition of the word, and it is fittingly delivered while the venerated Wizard Weezy is out the door and off the track in that “pay no mind to that man behind the curtain” style. On Tha Carter IV, Wayne’s world feels more like a dream than reality, but the loyal subjects of Young Money get a wild ride and the great feeling of flashing those ruby slippers one more time. [The Deluxe Edition added three bonus tracks, including "Mirror" featuring Bruno Mars.]

David Jeffries, Rovi

Tha Carter IV

Lil Wayne

I Am Not A Human Being

Lil Wayne

Released with less fanfare than you’d expect from the self-proclaimed “greatest rapper alive,” Lil Wayne’s I Am Not a Human Being landed on the streets while the rapper was behind bars. Any effort finished while in prison automatically falls into the “stopgap release” category, but what was originally planned as an EP to mark Weezy’s birthday somehow became a ten-track mini-album, and its quality is just a shade below any given entry in his Carter series. The biggest flaws are run time and an overall layout that just doesn’t flow like his albums, but when sci-fi beats (“shout out to all my moon men”) and sexually transmitted diseases collide on the vicious “Gonorrhea,” it’s obvious these aren't just leftovers. Human Being barely seems concerned with current affairs either, as grand single “Right Above It” swaggers and struts like a free man cruising through the club (“I been fly for so long/I fell asleep on the f’n plane”), while Weezy’s good luck with the ladies is the topic that drives three killer cuts (the freaky doo wop “With You,” the woozy porno dream “I’m Single,” and the free-association smut number “Popular”). His Young Money crew is well represented with Drake on four tracks and Nicki Minaj on one and the production is as slick and clever as ever, making a full recovery after the drabness found on his rap-rock effort, Rebirth. This is too short and scattered to put on his top shelf, but it comes awfully close, which is downright astonishing considering the circumstances.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Rebirth

Lil' Wayne

Featuring the single “Prom Queen” and released right after his hip-hop mixtape No Ceilings, Rebirth is Lil Wayne’s rap-rock album. The rapper fronts a live a band on most cuts, with crunching guitars and thunderous drums supplying the heavy metal backbeat. Best of the bunch is the jittery “Get a Life,” which finds the rapper riding the song’s new wave-inspired beat as if his Cash Money label just signed Devo and couldn’t be happier.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Rebirth

Lil' Wayne

Tha Carter III

Lil' Wayne

Like Father Like Son

Birdman

Cash Money's rise and fall has been talked to death, but it's important to note that the 2006 collaboration between Birdman (Cash Money CEO) and Lil Wayne (Birdman's "surrogate son" and Cash Money's president) lands while the label is on the upswing. Critically, they're doing better than ever, respected in a way they weren't back when they had Juvenile and Mannie Fresh. The biggest reason of all is Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 2, so Birdman bumps him up to president and suddenly the rapper who was evolving with more complex lyrics, strange vocal rhythms, and risky production choices is creative director of the label that used be the down-low dirty-dirty. Like Father, Like Son is a celebration of Wayne and Cash Money's success, a testament to the allegiance the two feel toward each other, and most likely a way for Birdman to set Wayne on the right path as label boss. When it came to singles, Tha Carter 2 stalled after the leadoff "Fireman," so it's no big surprise this album is filled with hooks, infectious beats, and that trunk-rumbling weekend music Cash Money was built on. Synthesized horns blast out "Stuntin' Like My Daddy"'s triumphant melody, while the instantly gripping "Know What I'm Doing" works because it's keep-it-simple-stupid swagger music like the Big Tymers used to kick. Birdman might be reinforcing what Cash Money was built on, but he's well aware of his boy's talent and gives the freedom-craving, forward-looking baller adequate room to roam. The woozy "Leather So Soft" had to be Wayne's idea, "Army Gunz" features one of his most broken deliveries yet, and on the title track he offers, "I'll put you niggas in the closet in the shirt space/Niggas yellow like Sesame Street's Bert face." Production comes primarily from TMIX -- the UGK-sampling "1st Key" is his masterwork -- although Scott Storch stops by for the so-so "You Ain't Know," a great argument the beat-maker is spread too thin in his prolific 2006. The mix of familiar and strange is fascinating, the team-up feels like family, and at 20 tracks long, the album doesn't wear out its welcome. There's probably too much get money/stack-paper for those who want Wayne to speak on the injustices New Orleans has suffered post-Katrina, or to get to work on "Tha Carter 3", but that's not what Like Father, Like Son is about. This is the sure sound of Cash Money steadying the ship and getting back on course. [Like Father, Like Son was also made available with a bonus CD with five extra tracks including the guitar-filled "Rock Remix" of "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" and "Shooter," Lil Wayne's excellent collaboration with Robin Thicke.]

David Jeffries, Rovi

Tha Carter II

Lil' Wayne

An appropriately titled album, Tha Carter II builds on the Lil Wayne of the first Carter, the Lil Wayne who was not only cocky, but also truly confident, confident enough to loosen up his rhymes and create a winning mixture of slick baller posturing and slippery flippancy. If the first Carter found him somewhere between a crazed Silkk the Shocker and a thuggish Devin the Dude, the excellent follow-up finds him more toward the latter. Take "Money on My Mind," a track that covers the usual "get money" territory but this time with scatological whimsy and off-the-wall rhymes that would make Tracy Morgan proud. This uninhibited style is also the reason the many hookless, freestyle-ish tracks work, and while these hardcore, mixtape-sounding numbers may alienate those who don't appreciate dirty street music, they balance the slicker club singles. Recalling the gutter hits of the Hot Boys -- the crew where Lil Wayne spent his teen years -- the stomping "Fireman" was rightfully lighting up the request lines at the album's release, but the rest of the radio-worthy polish -- "Grown Man," "Hustler Music," and "Get Over" -- is much more soulful, with smooth R&B in its heart rather than tacked-on to land it on the play list. For longtime fans of Lil Wayne or the Cash Money label, the absence of regular producer Mannie Fresh is worth noting, but the Heatmakerz along with Tmix & Batman offer plenty of brilliant grime and glitter while two newcomers deliver the curveballs. Producer Yonny loops a reggae bounce and makes the smoking song "Mo Fire" drip out of the speakers like the dankest sticky-icky while Thicke -- as in Alan Thicke's son -- reprises his slinkiest number from his overlooked 2003 album Beautiful World for "Shooter," arguably the most adventurous and stylish Lil Wayne song yet. Lyrical triumphs like the epic "Tha Mobb" and the pimp-hand-showing "Receipt" seal the deal, leaving only the short, ignorable skits and the black-on-red printing in the liner notes to complain about (the latter is hell on the eyeballs). The sturdy Carter II caps off a year when the man was appointed president of Cash Money by founders Birdman and Ronald "Slim" Williams, then watched his 17th Ward, New Orleans, neighborhood destroyed by hurricane Katrina -- something bitterly touched upon during "Feel Me"'s FEMA dis, but most likely too late for press time for most tracks. The well-rounded, risk-taking, but true-to-its-roots album suggests he can weather the highs and lows like a champion and that Birdman and Slim knew something everyone else didn't when they bet the farm on the formerly "raw talent," now "fully formed" Lil Wayne.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Similar Artists

T.I.

Once dubbed "the Jay-Z of the South" by Pharrell Williams, T.I. gradually came into his own and established himself as one of rap's most successful MCs during the early 2000s. Like Jay-Z, T.I. -- born Clifford Harris in Atlanta, Georgia -- carried a balance of smoothness and toughness, and although 2001's I'm Serious didn't shoot him out of the gate à la Reasonable Doubt, he consistently grew and launched a string of major hits with 2003's "24's." Throughout the six following years, T.I. maintained a consistent presence on urban radio stations in America: 2003's Trap Muzik, 2004's Urban Legend, 2006's King (released in tandem with T.I.'s debut screen appearance in "ATL"), 2007's T.I. vs T.I.P., and 2008's Paper Trail -- all released through the MC's deal with Atlantic -- were Top Ten albums, with the latter three even spending time at the very top of the chart.

For better or for worse, T.I. also courted a good deal of controversy during his rise to superstar status. Far more ink was spent on his legal issues and conflicts with other rappers, including fellow Southerner Lil' Flip, than his Katrina relief efforts and other humanitarian involvements. One notable event occurred on May 3, 2006, when T.I.'s crew was caught up in a shooting after a show in Cincinnati. The crossfire left three people injured, while longtime friend and personal assistant Philant Johnson was fatally wounded. Despite such incidents, T.I. continued to flourish as the decade drew to a close, charting three chart-topping rap singles and four Top Five pop hits between 2008 and 2009. His career took a breather in 2009, however, when the rapper entered an Arkansas prison to serve a year-long sentence related to federal gun charges. He was released from prison at the end of 2009, serving the rest of his sentence at a halfway house in Atlanta. Just prior to the December 2010 release of his seventh album, No Mercy, he returned to prison, sentenced to 11 months for violating his probation. The album went gold, and the rapper was nominated for two Grammy awards. After his release, he continued recording and co-starred in the VH1 series "T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle". He issued Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head, in December 2012.

Andy Kellman, Rovi

Young Jeezy

Atlanta-based Young Jeezy originally planned on having a background role in the music industry -- as a businessman, not as a rapper. Years before making his first Def Jam album -- Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, released in July 2005 -- he set up Corporate Thugz Entertainment and promoted Cash Money releases. From there, he branched out as a label boss and artist in his own right, releasing albums and mixtapes. Come Shop wit' Me, his independently distributed debut from 2003, allegedly sold more than 50,000 copies. As a member of Boyz N da Hood, he was behind a self-titled album (released just weeks before Let's Get It) that debuted in the Top Ten of the Billboard album chart. Driven by the hit "Soul Survivor," Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 eventually did even better, nestling at the number two spot in the Billboard 200. The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102 followed in late 2006, and by that point, Jeezy had become one of the most prominent MCs; the album became his first number one smash. In 2007 he introduced his U.S.D.A. crew with the album Cold Summer, and then returned to his solo career a year later with the politically minded The Recession -- his second set to reach number one. In 2010 the single Lose My Mind announced the coming of his fourth major-label release. A diagnosis of Bell's palsy would shift the rapper's priorities, delaying the release of the album until late 2011 when TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition finally landed.

Andy Kellman, Rovi

Birdman

When he's doing business, Cash Money Records CEO Bryan Williams uses his real name, but when he grabs the mike to spit Dirty South raps, Williams goes by the names Birdman or Baby. Williams formed Cash Money in 1991 with his brother Ronald "Slim" Williams. Releases by B.G., the Hot Boys, Juvenile, and many others built the Cash Money empire into a Dirty South powerhouse. Williams himself displayed his vocal skills on the Hot Boys albums, but it was with Cash Money's in-house producer, Mannie Fresh, that he really made his mark. The two formed the group Big Tymers in 1997 and made of series of albums that became Dirty South favorites. He broke out on his own with Baby aka the #1 Stunna in 2002. After the album's release, he oversaw an urban footwear collection for the Lugz company, narrated the video game Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition, and appeared in the 2005 movie "Beauty Shop". Three years after his solo debut, Birdman released his second solo album, Fast Money. In 2006 he teamed with his "surrogate son," Lil Wayne, for Like Father, Like Son. In 2011 the single I Get Money announced the coming of that year's solo album, Bigga Than Life.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Rick Ross

Tattooed with pictures of AK-47s, Miami's six-foot, 300-pound rap figure known as Rick Ross embraced his city's reputation for drug trafficking on his debut single, "Hustlin'," in 2006. While Atlanta and Houston artists were establishing their cities as Southern strongholds, Ross aimed at putting Miami back in rap's national spotlight. Ross, real name William Roberts, grew up in Carol City, Florida, an impoverished northern suburb of Miami. Influenced by artists like Luther Campbell and the Notorious B.I.G., Roberts formed local rap group the Carol City Cartel and began rapping in the mid-'90s. (He took his rap name from Los Angeles drug kingpin "Freeway" Rick Ross, who ran one of the largest crack cocaine distribution networks in the country during the '80s and early '90s.) Ross had a brief stint on Suave House Records, former label of Eightball & MJG, before he ended up on Miami-based Slip 'N' Slide Records, the label home of Trick Daddy and Trina. During the early to mid-2000s, he became popular and well known locally through touring with Trick Daddy and guest-appearing on a few Slip 'N' Slide releases, but didn't release any solo material until 2006.

Once "Hustlin'" caught the ear of a few executives within the national industry, a bidding war ensued that included offers from Bad Boy CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs and The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc.) president Irv Gotti. Nonetheless, Def Jam president and veteran rapper Jay-Z signed Ross to a multi-million-dollar deal. The Miami anthem "Hustlin'" went on to receive gold status from RIAA in May 2006 and sold over a million ringtone units before the physical release of his debut album, Port of Miami. Released in August 2006, Ross' debut was Slip 'N' Slide's first project under the Def Jam partnership, and it went to number one on the Billboard album chart. His follow-up, Trilla, was released the following year, prefaced with the Cool & Dre-produced title track. Early 2009 saw the release of Deeper Than Rap, an album greeted with numerous positive reviews in the hip-hop press. In early 2010 he released the Teflon Don album featuring the hit single "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)." The star-studded God Forgives, I Don't followed in 2012, with guest shots from Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.

Cyril Cordor, Rovi

DJ Drama

One of the most important, famous, and even infamous players in the mixtape game, Drama certainly lives up to his moniker thanks to some high-profile legal problems. Drama began his career in hip-hop in his native Philadelphia under the name DJ Drama. It was in Philly that he befriended Bahamadia, although he wouldn't become her DJ until he made the move to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University. While at CAU, he also began his popular Automatic Relaxation mixtape series, which focused on neo-soul and soulful rap, plus he formed his crew the Aphilliates featuring DJ Don Cannon, DJ Jamad, Ox Banger, and DJ Sense. After a short gig as DJ for Slum Village, he began a new mixtape series, Gangsta Grillz, which would become the prime showcase for hardcore artists looking to connect or reconnect with the streets. Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Jim Jones were just a few of the artists to host a volume of Gangsta Grillz, but it was during the making of Vol. 7 that he met his future employer, T.I. As the official DJ of T.I.'s Grand Hustle organization, Drama became better known, and a cameo in the 2006 film "ATL" didn't hurt either.

What did hurt was a January 2007 police raid on the Aphilliates office, which found both Drama and Don Cannon under arrest for racketeering, along with 81,000 mixtape CDs being confiscated. Three months later, legal threats from another DJ Drama forced him to change his name to simply Drama. Despite these legal hassles, Drama took his Gangsta Grillz series aboveground late in the year as the legit release Gangsta Grillz: The Album arrived in December courtesy of Grand Hustle/Atlantic. Lil Wayne, OutKast, Pharrell, T.I., and Young Jeezy were just a few of the artists who contributed to the star-studded album. A second volume followed in 2009. In 2011, Third Power became the first Drama album without the Gangsta Grillz tagging, but the guest list would remain big and powerful with names like Wiz Khalifa, Freddie Gibbs, Wale, and Chris Brown all included. Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, and Tyler, the Creator were some of the names that landed on the 2012 follow-up Quality Street Music. In 2013 he let his sense of humor show by hosting the Urbane Outfitters, Vol. 1 mixtape from the online hip-hop comedy team ItsTheReal.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Wiz Khalifa

With a series of hits that bundled gangster rhymes, weed talk, pop hooks, and slick production, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper Wiz Khalifa went from breakthrough single ("Black and Yellow") to feature film star (Mac and Devin Go to High School) in the short span of two years. Along the way there were revered mixtapes, sports anthems, a friendship with West Coast legend Snoop Dogg, and the proliferation of his crew referencing Taylor Gang or Die T-shirts.

A military brat, Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Thomaz, was born in 1987 in Minot, North Dakota. After his parents divorced when he was three, he lived in various places and military bases around the world. His first attempt at committing lyrics to paper was around age nine, and at 12 he was already recording and producing his own records in his father's Oklahoma studio. Settling in Pittsburgh during his high school years, Khalifa laid down the groundwork for a solo career and kept busy recording music in a local studio, I.D. Labs. He stood out among the studio's regulars, prompting the I.D. Labs' staff to offer him free beats and recording time, plus bringing him to the attention of Benjy Grinberg, a former executive assistant to L.A. Reid at Arista Records who had started up a new independent label, Rostrum Records. Signed to Rostrum, Khalifa built a buzz in Pittsburgh with a few singles, but he began to draw ears nationally during his senior year in high school when his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, dropped in early 2006. With the release of his independent full-length debut, Show and Prove, later that year, major publications, including "Vibe", "XXL", and "Rolling Stone", featured profiles on the young rapper.

In summer 2007, Khalifa and Rostrum hopped on board with Warner and he cut his first major-label single, "Young'n on His Grind." The follow-up, Say Yeah, climbed into the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks that same year, but the relationship between Warner Bros. and Khalifa was taking a turn for the worse. Unable to come to an agreement on his debut album for the label, the rapper announced he was leaving Warner in 2009 and returning to Rostrum for the album Deal or No Deal.

The next year began with Khalifa appearing on the cover of XXL as one of the magazine's Top Ten Freshmen while "The Source" named him Rookie of the Year. In April his Kush & Orange Juice mixtape topped Google's Hot Search Trends list. Atlantic took notice, signing the artist that same month, and in September, his first single for the label, the Pittsburgh Steelers tribute and Stargate production Black and Yellow, appeared. As the NFL team progressed toward the playoffs, Khalifa's track became their unofficial anthem, and when the Green Bay Packers emerged as the team's opponent for the Super Bowl, Lil Wayne responded with the answer song Green and Yellow. Khalifa's song topped the charts in February of 2011, while his debut Atlantic set, Rolling Papers, debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart a month later. Also arriving that same year was a feature film with Snoop Dogg, Mac and Devin Go to High School, along with its accompanying soundtrack. Two mixtapes, Taylor Allderdice and Still Blazin', landed in 2012 and in early December, his fourth album, O.N.I.F.C., was released, featuring a return appearance by production team Stargate, this time working with Benny Blanco on the album's first single "Work Hard, Play Hard." Khalifa explained in interviews that the acronym title O.N.I.F.C. stood for "Only Nigga in First Class," inspired by by the album H.N.I.C. by Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Clean copies saw the abbreviation standing for "One Night in First Class."

Cyril Cordor, Rovi

Empire

Empire had its origins in the demise of the band Flash -- in fact, for a short while its name was simply Flash Mk. II. Guitarist Peter Banks, formerly of Yes, emerged from management disputes of Flash to pull together a band of jam-mates in the loosely structured ZOX and the Radar Boys. These jams had featured Phil Collins behind the drums, though his commitment to Genesis meant that he could only sit in on a few tracks of the 1974 recording sessions for the newly named Empire.

The sound of Empire had distinct progressive elements, as one might expect with both Banks and Collins around. Their recordings, though, were marked by a willingness to dip into a wide variety of musical genres, from blues to country blues. The band was also unusual among progressive bands in being fronted by a woman. Although Renaissance had the ethereal voice of Annie Haslam, Empire's Sydney Foxx provided a notable counterpoint to the band's complexity by with her strong bluesy vocals, not unlike Lydia Pense or even Janis Joplin at times.

Empire's work brought little success, though. Despite some anticipation among the pop music press, Banks and Foxx were unable to land distribution for their work either in Britain or the U.S. Still clinging to hope, the group recorded two more albums in the '70s but to no avail. It was to be two decades before One Way released them on CD; and while not exactly lost classics, the albums are of a high enough quality that it's unfortunate that the band was unable to get any footing before its breakup in 1980.

Paul Collins, Rovi

Ace Hood

Born Antoine McColister in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Ace Hood was raised by his mother in Deerfield Beach, twenty miles north of Miami. Rap music became his full-time obsession after he suffered a football injury in the tenth grade, effectively putting the kibosh on any professional sports career. By age 17, he was recording tracks for local imprint Dollaz & Dealz and had a few street singles put out, including 2006's "M.O.E." (i.e., "Money Over Everything"). In November of the following year, Ace maneuvered his way into meeting DJ Khaled at local radio station 99 Jamz and handed the Miami mixtape DJ his demo. Within a matter of weeks, DJ Khaled signed Ace, then 19 years old, as the first artist to his newly formed We the Best Music, which obtained distribution through Def Jam a few weeks after that. Ace's Def Jam debut single, the Runners-produced "Cash Flow," featuring Rick Ross and ubiquitous hook singer T-Pain, arrived in early 2008 and turned out to be a smash hit on South Florida radio. A few mixtapes and guest appearances later, he released his first full-length, Gutta, in summer 2008. Ruthless followed the next year and, like its predecessor, peaked at number five on Billboard's R&B albums chart. Two years would pass before the ambitious Blood Sweat & Tears arrived, featuring some of Hood's best work to date.

Cyril Cordor, Rovi

Gorilla Zoe

Gorilla Zoe is an Atlanta rapper in the mold of Young Jeezy, whom he replaced in the Bad Boy group Boyz n da Hood. Both Atlantans have raspy voices, slow flows, simple rhymes, and a shameless obsession with the illegal drug trade, in particular cocaine. Gorilla Zoe's first taste of commercial success came with "Coffee Shop," a 2007 hit by Bad Boy labelmate Yung Joc. His debut single as a solo artist, "Hood Nigga," followed shortly thereafter, along with the accompanying debut album Welcome to the Zoo. Gorilla Zoe's first album as Jeezy's replacement in Boyz n da Hood, Back Up n da Chevy, was released next, also in 2007. The album spawned a series of singles, including "Everybody Know Me" and "We Ready." A collaborative single with Lil Wayne called "Lost" landed in late 2008, while the full-length Don't Feed da Animals followed in March 2009, debuting atop the rap charts and cracking the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. In 2010, he released 28 different mixtapes, one per day for all of February, along with the single "Just Like My Chevy." His club-oriented effort King Kong would follow in 2011.

Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

Gucci Mane

The year 2005 was like yin and yang for Atlanta bling rapper Gucci Mane. He enjoyed success entering the charts with his first national hit, "Icy," became involved in a quarrel with that song's collaborator, Young Jeezy, and found himself facing murder charges in the Georgia courts. Before his career as a rapper, Gucci Mane, whose birth name is Radric Davis, loved to write poetry when he was in elementary school. He moved to Atlanta from Birmingham, Alabama with his single mother during the fourth grade. Since progressing to rap was a fairly easy step, Gucci Mane had already spent time in a recording studio by the age of 14. The glamour and sense of fashion of rappers like Big Daddy Kane motivated him to put words to music. His locally played debut single, "Black Tee," earned him a contract with Big Cat Records, and in May 2005 the label released his debut album, Trap House, which stood at the number one spot on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.

The beef with Young Jeezy originated from a fight over the rights to the album's "Icy" hit single, which spawned a number of dis tracks traded between the two. Within the same month of his LP's release, Gucci Mane was arrested for murder following an altercation in which he shot at a group of five men who burst into his friend's house, threatening to kill the rapper. As it turned out, the murdered attacker was an associate of Young Jeezy, who denied any involvement with the incident. Gucci Mane declared in court that it was self-defense, and by January 2006, Georgia prosecutors dropped all charges, citing lack of evidence.

After being released from jail (on charges unrelated to the murder) that same month, he quickly went back into the studio to make his second album, Hard to Kill, which was released in October. He took the song "Go Head" from his first album and made it the lead single for the second in order to make up for the time taken away from promoting Trap House. The State vs. Radric Davis, his second official album, was released in December 2009 following a dizzying array of mixtapes. The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted followed in 2010 with guest shots from Estelle, Nicki Minaj, and Wyclef. Featuring the single Mouth Full of Gold with special guest Birdman, the street album The Return of Mr. Zone 6 followed in 2011, along with two collaborative albums, 1017 Bricksquad Presents...Ferrari Boyz with Waka Flocka Flame and Baytl with V-Nasty.

Cyril Cordor, Rovi

Evil Empire

DJ Khaled

Miami-based DJ/producer DJ Khaled -- a Palestinian-American born Khaled Khaled -- is a member of Fat Joe's Terror Squad and released Listennn: The Album on Koch in June 2006. He utilized his connections to snare the likes of Beanie Sigel, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Young Jeezy, Slim Thug, Trick Daddy, and Clipse for guest appearances. Many were back for his 2007 effort We the Best and in 2008 for We Global. The thematic Victory followed in 2010, while 2011's We the Best Forever would find him switching to Birdman's Cash Money label. Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Nas, dancehall singer Mavado, and many others would land on his 2012 effort, Kiss the Ring.

Andy Kellman, Rovi

Soulja Boy

Before he reached the age of 18, Soulja Boy Tell Em (born DeAndre Way; originally Soulja Boy until copyright issues interfered) was already an ambitious artist and a seasoned businessman, wielding all the hitmaking requirements: producer, live entertainer, and an ability to write catchy hooks. Born in 1990 in Chicago, IL, Way moved from the Windy City down to Atlanta when he was six years old, but then went to live with his father in Batesville, MS at age 14. In Mississippi, the young entertainer found all the various connections to pursue a musical career seriously, including the aid of his father, who provided a recording studio. After the success of spreading his music through the Internet in 2004 and establishing his Stacks on Deck Entertainment label, he moved back to Atlanta to pursue industry leads and to get his feet wet doing live performances. Shortly thereafter, he was discovered by Atlanta producer Mr. Collipark (Ying Yang Twins, Bubba Sparxxx, Young Jeezy), who helped launch Soulja Boy Tell Em from a local sensation to a national mover and shaker -- and it was all largely due to the Internet. His MySpace page broke the site's records and generated millions of views. Affiliated with Interscope via Collipark's Collipark Music imprint, Soulja Boy Tell Em gradually rose to number one on the pop charts with his snap-dance hit single "Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)" in 2007. By the end of the year the track landed on his debut album, Souljaboytellem.com. iSouljaboytellem followed in 2008, with The DeAndre Way arriving two years later.

Cyril Cordor, Rovi

Yung Joc

Rapper Yung Joc (born Jasiel Robinson) learned about running his own business from his father, who owned a hair-care products company. It was also his father who gave a teenage Yung Joc his first break, writing a jingle for the Revlon company. Joc decided right then that the hip-hop business was for him, but he needed time to find his own style. Watching the various hip-hop crews that grew out of his native Atlanta, Yung Joc didn't feel a kinship to any movement until the hard-edged T.I. came on the scene, although he was a big OutKast fan. Like T.I., Joc had begun rapping with the street in mind. To release this music, he formed his own company, Mastermind. He later hooked up with Russell "Block" Spencer and his Block Enterprises label and released the hard club track "It's Goin' Down" in early 2006. The track became an Atlanta favorite and eventually landed on the desk of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Spencer had already brought the group Boyz N da Hood to Diddy, and with Joc sounding like the very hot Young Jeezy and T.I., Diddy felt he had the right artist to take his fledgling Bad Boy South label to the top. Spencer inked a multi-million dollar deal with Bad Boy to sign Yung Joc and his label Mastermind along with Spencer's own Block Enterprises. Joc's full-length debut, New Joc City, became one of the first releases from this new team of labels in early 2006. A year later the "Coffee Shop" single preceded the full-length Hustlenomics.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Ludacris

When the Dirty South movement broke nationwide at the turn of the century, Ludacris rode it to immediate widespread popularity, becoming arguably the most commercially successful Southern rapper of the time. In 2000 the Atlanta-based rapper signed to Def Jam's newly established Southern rap subsidiary, Def Jam South, and became the label's flagship Dirty South artist. Def Jam repackaged his underground album Incognegro (2000) as Back for the First Time (2000) and issued "What's Your Fantasy?" as its lead single. The song soon became a national hit, beginning a long string of hits that would include Billboard Hot 100 number ones ("Stand Up," "Money Maker") and Top Tens ("Move Bitch," "Splash Waterfalls," "Pimpin' All Over the World," "Runaway Love"), as well as a bunch of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Top Tens ("Southern Hospitality," "Area Codes," "Rollout [My Business]," "Saturday [Oooh Oooh!]," "Get Back," "Number One Spot"). Plus, Ludacris became a reliable featured guest, gracing Top Tens for Missy Elliott ("One Minute Man," "Gossip Folks"), Mariah Carey ("Loverboy"), LL Cool J ("Fatty Girl"), Chingy ("Holidae In"), Usher ("Yeah!"), Ciara ("Oh"), Jamie Foxx ("Unpredictable"), Fergie ("Glamorous"), and others. Moreover, Ludacris established himself as a versatile actor, notably appearing in such mainstream films as 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Crash (2005), and Fred Claus (2007), among other films and TV series. Along with associate Chaka Zulu, Ludacris also founded his own boutique label at Def Jam, Disturbing tha Peace (aka DTP), which released albums by such diverse rap/R&B acts as Shawnna, Bobby V., Field Mob, and Playaz Circle.

Born Christopher Bridges on September 11, 1977, in Champaign, IL, Ludacris moved to Atlanta during his high school years and attended Banneker High School there. He then studied at Georgia State University. His entry into the rap industry came via radio; he worked as a disc jockey at Atlanta-based urban station Hot 97.5 (which later became Hot 107.9), where he was known as DJ Chris Lova Lova, and this was how he became acquainted with Timbaland. The producer featured Ludacris (then billed as Ludichris) on the song "Fat Rabbit" from his album Tim's Bio (1998), and with such a high-profile feature to his credit, the groundwork was laid for the rapper. Ludacris proceeded to record an independent album, Incognegro (2000), which he in turn released regionally himself, on the label Disturbing tha Peace. Ludacris primarily worked with producer Shondrae for the album, though also with Organized Noize, the acclaimed production team behind the early albums of OutKast and Goodie Mob. Incognegro sold well enough to break into the Billboard 200, and Ludacris was approached by Scarface of the Geto Boys, who as a representative of Def Jam was interested in negotiating a recording contract.

In late 2000, Def Jam repackaged Incognegro and released it as Back for the First Time, adding a few new songs: a U.G.K. collaboration ("Stick 'Em Up"), a Neptunes production ("Southern Hospitality"), and a remix of his previously released song with Timbaland (retitled "Phat Rabbit"). The album's lead single, "What's Your Fantasy?," became a major hit nationally, peaking at number 21 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up single, "Southern Hospitality," was similarly popular, charting at number 23. This pair of hits helped drive sales of Back for the First Time, which climbed all the way to number four on the Billboard 200. The follow-up album, Word of Mouf (2001), was an even greater success for Ludacris, charting at number three and spawning a series of hit singles that carried over well into 2002: "Area Codes," "Rollout (My Business)," "Saturday (Oooh Oooh!)," "Welcome to Atlanta," and "Move Bitch." After these singles had run their course, a collaborative album, Golden Grain (2002), was released, showcasing the assembly of talent signed to Ludacris' revived Disturbing tha Peace label, which was now in partnership with Def Jam. The following year was a busy one for Ludacris, as he appeared in the film 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and released his third album, Chicken -N- Beer (2003), his first to reach number one on the Billboard 200. Chicken -N- Beer brought with it another series of hits, including the Hot 100 number one "Stand Up" and number six "Splash Waterfalls."

Ludacris continued his output the following year, with The Red Light District (2004), another number one album loaded with hit singles ("Get Back," "Number One Spot," "Pimpin' All Over the World"). Disturbing tha Peace (2005), a second collaborative album featuring the label's roster of talent, was Ludacris' only release for the year, and he kept a relatively low profile until the release of Release Therapy (2006), an introspective album on which he vowed that he would be taken more seriously than in the past. Another chart-topper, Release Therapy included only two Hot 100-charting singles, yet both were smashes: "Money Maker" (number one), "Runaway Love" (number two). In 2007, Ludacris got a lot of airplay as the featured guest on Fergie's number one hit "Glamorous." A year later a mixtape with DJ Drama called "The Preview" preceded the November release of Theater of the Mind. The long list of guest stars included director Spike Lee and comedian/actor Chris Rock. His 2010 effort Battles of the Sexes was originally planned as a joint release with Shawnna, but when the female rapper left the DTP family, it became a solo Ludacris album.

Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

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