 | | Beginning with his classic debut, Illmatic (1994), Nas stood tall for years as one of New York City's leading rap voices, outspokenly expressing a righteous, self-empowered swagger that endeared him to critics and hip-hop purists. |
 | | As golden age rap suddenly gave way to West Coast gangsta in the early '90s, an East Coast variety of hardcore rap arose in turn, with Mobb Deep initially standing tall as one of New York's hardcore figureheads on the basis of their epochal album The Infamous. |
 | | Raekwon may not have achieved the solo stardom of his fellow Wu-Tang Clan mates Method Man or Ol' Dirty Bastard, but along with Genius/GZA and frequent partner Ghostface Killah, he's done some of the most inventive, critically acclaimed work outside the confines of the group. |
 | | As one of the original members of the seminal '90s rap crew the Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks) made an impact before he released his debut album, Ironman, late in 1996. |
 | | Emerging in 1993, when Dr. Dre's G-funk had overtaken the hip-hop world, the Staten Island, New York-based Wu-Tang Clan proved to be the most revolutionary rap group of the mid-'90s -- and only partially because of their music. |
 | | The LOX -- an acronym for Living Off Experience -- are a Yonkers, NY-based rap trio who worked their way up through the Bad Boy training camp, writing and rapping on hits by the likes of Puff Daddy, the Notorious B. |
 | | A member of Fat Joe's DITC crew, rapper Big L was born Lamont Coleman on May 30, 1974. He made his solo debut with 1995's Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, scoring a series of underground hits including "No Endz, No Skinz," "Street Struck" and "Da Graveyard"; Big L's best-known effort, the single "Ebonics," followed on his own Flamboyant label in the summer of 1998. |
 | | The first solo Latino rapper to go platinum, Big Punisher was also yet another member of the hip-hop community to fall victim to an early death -- though in his case, it was due to health problems, not violence. |
 | | The Genius, aka the GZA, was the most cerebral MC in the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as perhaps the most acclaimed. |
 | | In just a few short years, the Notorious B.I.G. went from a Brooklyn street hustler to the savior of East Coast hip-hop to a tragic victim of the culture of violence he depicted so realistically on his records. |
 | | Lil' Fame and Billy Danzenie formed hardcore rap act M.O.P. The duo's debut single, "How About Some Hardcore," became popular and led to the release of their first album, To the Death, in the spring of 1994. |
 | | Method Man was the first -- and biggest -- solo star to emerge from the groundbreaking Wu-Tang Clan. |
 | | As part of the golden age MC-and-DJ tandem Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, the "Kool Genius of Rap" enjoyed a successful and, above all, influential run during the late '80s and early '90s before embarking on a fitful solo career. |
 | | Never quite a superstar, Redman was nonetheless one of the most off-the-wall, beloved, and enduring rappers of the '90s and 2000s. |
 | | The most influential MC-and-DJ tandem of the 1990s, Gang Starr set new standards for East Coast rap with a pair of early-'90s touchstones, Step in the Arena (1991) and Daily Operation (1992), whose appeal has only grown over the decades. |
 | | Initially regarded as one of the most promising rappers to emerge in the late '90s, Mos Def turned to acting in subsequent years as music became a secondary concern for him. |
 | | Jadakiss (born Jason Phillips) became a member of the Ruff Ryders in 1999. Five years earlier, he joined the LOX (who started their saga as a group called the Warlocks) and has remained a member of both groups since. |
 | | Philadelphian rapper Beanie Sigel had a rapidly rising career, beginning with his appearance on one of underground rapper/producer DJ Clue?'s mixtapes, to his cameos on Jay-Z's Vol. |
 | | Common (originally Common Sense) was a highly influential figure in rap's underground during the '90s, keeping the sophisticated lyrical technique and flowing syncopations of jazz-rap alive in an era when commercial gangsta rap was threatening to obliterate everything in its path. |
 | | Bad Boy Records rapper Black Rob began his recording career appearing on albums like the Cru's Da Dirty 30 and collaborating with artists like L. |
 | | Embodying the rags-to-riches rap dream, Jay-Z pulled himself up by his bootstraps as a youth to eventually become the reigning rapper of New York City and, in turn, a major-label executive following his short-lived retirement from music-making. |
 | | Although he never became a household name, Rakim is near-universally acknowledged as one of the greatest MCs -- perhaps the greatest -- of all time within the hip-hop community. |
 | | KRS-One (born Kris Parker) was the leader of Boogie Down Productions, one of the most influential hardcore hip-hop outfits of the '80s. |
 | | If skills sold, Talib Kweli would have been one of the most commercially successful rappers of his time. |
 | | Part of Brooklyn's talented Boot Camp Clik, the powerful tandem of Smif-n-Wessun got their start on Black Moon's classic debut, Enta da Stage, in 1993. |
 | | Though popular success has largely eluded the Roots, the Philadelphia group showed the way for live rap, building on Stetsasonic's "hip-hop band" philosophy of the mid-'80s by focusing on live instrumentation at their concerts and in the studio. |
 | | They didn't gain as much critical hype as other acts in the independent rap scene (perhaps due to a laid-back release schedule), but Black Moon has been one of its better acts. |
 | | The most idiosyncratic personality in rap and possessor of its most recognizable delivery, a halting, ragga-inspired style with incredible complexity, inventiveness, and humor, Busta Rhymes formed Leaders of the New School in 1990 and released two albums with the group before breaking out with a 1996 solo hit single, "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check. |
 | | Following the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., DMX took over as the undisputed reigning king of hardcore rap. |
 | | Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to hardcore and gangsta rap. |
 | | Speaking out against what he saw as a decline in rap during the mid-'90s, Jeru the Damaja came to the fore as a self-proclaimed prophet and the savior of hip-hop, much as KRS-One had done almost ten years before. |
 | | Rapper, DJ, and producer Pete Rock first emerged in 1991 as one half of a duo with C.L. Smooth, debuting with the All Souled Out EP. |
 | | Strongly associated with his group, the LOX (aka D-Block), Styles managed a sporadic solo career on the side. |
 | | Scarface quickly became the South's most admired rapper and remained so throughout the '90s after breaking away from the Geto Boys to launch his solo career in 1991. |
 | | One of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, who recorded some of the most influential hip-hop of the '90s, Ol' Dirty Bastard was the loose cannon of the group, both on record and off. |
 | | Generally acknowledged as the more lyrically gifted member of the New York hardcore rap duo Mobb Deep, Prodigy debuted as a solo artist in 2000 with H. |
 | | Onyx's shouting, in-your-face brand of high-volume rapping proved to be more at home in the slam pit than on the dancefloor and brought the rap quartet instant chart success. |
 | | Rapper Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. |
 | | Immortalized by a much-publicized legal skirmish that resulted in a stiff ten-year prison sentence (and an acquittal for co-defendant Puff Daddy), Shyne was well-known among the public before Bad Boy Records even released his debut -- which was, for many years, his only -- album. |
 | | The East Coast gangsta rap supergroup the Firm never lived up to its excessive hype and instead became a brief footnote in the careers of its main participants. |
 | | An underground Latino crew who moved from being strictly producers to make some action on the other side of the mixing board as well, the Beatnuts first hooked up in the late '80s, with Junkyard Ju-Ju (aka JuJu, born Jerry Tineo) and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernandez) being joined by Fashion (aka Kool Fashion, born Berntony Smalls). |
 | | Das EFX's wildly playful, rapid-fire stuttering -- dense with rhymes and nonsense words -- was one of the most distinctive and influential lyrical styles in early-'90s hip-hop. |
 | | While a member of the New York City duo Organized Konfusion, Pharoahe Monch developed a reputation as one of underground hip-hop's preeminent lyricists, crafting intricate and intelligent raps with partner Prince Poetry. |
 | | On the surface, the sample-reliant productions and monotone rapping styles of Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith had little to recommend them, but the duo's recordings as EPMD were among the best in hip-hop's underground during the late '80s and early '90s. |
 | | Following some underground work and cameo appearances, most notably on Wyclef Jean's "Gone Till November" remix in 1997, hardcore rapper Canibus feuded famously with LL Cool J. |
 | | They never had a mainstream hit of their own, but during rap's so-called golden age in the late '80s, Eric B. |
 | | One-half of the Queens hardcore rap duo Capone-N-Noreaga, Victor "Noreaga" Santiago met Kiam "Capone" Holley in 1992 while both were serving prison sentences. |
 | | Slick Rick foreshadowed and epitomized the pimpster attitude of many rappers during the late '80s and early '90s, with gold chains, his trademark eye-patch, and recordings that were no less misogynistic -- "Treat Her Like a Prostitute," for example, became an underground hit in 1988, though it was justly criticized for its view of women. |
 | | Boot Camp Clik affiliates Heltah Skeltah delivered a celebrated debut album, Nocturnal (1996), but struggled to follow through with subsequent output as their reputation simmered despite a fine follow-up, Magnum Force (1998). |
 | | Junior Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes, or Junior M.A.F.I.A., were able to grab instant notoriety with two hit singles, "Get Money" and "Player's Anthem," thanks to their childhood crony and producer, the Notorious B. |
