 | | |
 | | 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. |
 | | Hailing from the Bay Area of San Francisco, LoveRance -- real name Rance Oliver -- made the transition between independent local rapper and international major-label star within a head-spinning matter of months. |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | Atlanta DJ and rapper Unk entered the spotlight in 2006 with the hit single "Walk It Out." Under the guidance of Atlanta underground impresario Big Oomp, he turned the local Atlanta hit into a national one, enjoying rotation on MTV2 and BET as well as some radio outlets around the country. |
 | | |
 | | YC, aka Yung Chris (not to be confused with Young Chris of Young Gunz), is a rapper who hails from Decatur, Georgia. |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | Chicago native Yung Berg sat in the music industry background for the first half of the 2000s before his "Sexy Lady" jam blew up in 2007. |
 | | A producer, songwriter, and singer from Southfield, Michigan, Bei Maejor (Brandon Green) broke into the music industry in 2005. |
 | | A rapper who built an indie empire with his Cocaine City imprint, French Montana was born in Morocco, but emigrated to the U. |
 | | Originally formed in 2006 as the Hard Hitters, the trio officially switched to the enigmatic moniker Travis Porter in 2008. |
 | | J-Kwon's path to fame included mooning Arista head L.A. Reid and mocking producer Jermaine Dupri. These events helped gain the MC a contract with the latter's So So Def, a subsidiary of the former's employer. |
 | | |
 | | Mixing the party rap sound of his hometown Atlanta with more of an indie attitude, Roscoe Dash came on the scene in 2009 with the club track “All the Way Turnt Up!” Dash was originally called ATL, a moniker he used when he became friendly with the local hip-hop crew Travis Porter. |
 | | A Southern rapper associated with Grand Hustle Records, Yung L.A. made his chart debut in 2008 with "Ain't I," a collaboration with labelmates T. |
 | | A South Carolinian with a self-described "gumbo of crunk, snap, and other popular Southern rap styles," Lil' Ru earned his first stutter-start as a teenager in 2001 when fellow Palmetto-stater Angie Stone took him under her wing and got him inked to Elektra Records. |
 | | Coming across like a less sensitive, Houstonian version of Drake, Kirko Bangz is a Southern rapper -- and occasional singer -- who released his first charting single, “What Yo Name Iz,” in late 2010. |
 | | OutKast associate Killer Mike earned his own hit in 2003 with "A.D.I.D.A.S." He debuted two years earlier on "The Whole World," from the greatest-hits Big Boi and Dre Present. |
 | | Before rising to the forefront of late-'90s punk-pop with blink-182, drummer Travis Barker honed his chops with the Suicide Machines and the Aquabats. |
 | | Together with production partner DJ Paul, Juicy J played an important role in the South's rise to prominence within the once East- and West Coast-dominated rap industry. |
 | | Born Antoine McColister in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Ace Hood was raised by his mother in Deerfield Beach, twenty miles north of Miami. |
 | | Kicking his career off at the age of 16 with the street single "I Don't Like," rapper Chief Keef was a hit on Chicago's high-school circuit before mixtapes and viral videos led to a contract with Interscope. |
 | | Delivering lyrics with the speed of a bullet train, Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly (aka MGK) experienced a meteoric rise in late 2011. |
 | | The hard street life addressed in the raps of 2 Pistols stems from a turbulent childhood. Born Jeremy Saunders in the Tarpon Springs area of Florida, Jeremy spent most of his childhood without his parents, who were in jail, leaving aunts and older brothers to raise him. |
 | | Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, born Robert Williams, began releasing mixtapes in 2006, debuting with The Real Me. |
 | | Dorrough is a Texas rapper who made his debut in 2009 with the minor hit single "Ice Cream Paint Job. |
 | | Yo Gotti is among the many hardcore rappers who came out of hip-hop's Dirty South school in the late '90s. |
 | | Born in Guyana, Brooklyn rapper Red Café immigrated to New York with his family when he was young, settling in the Caribbean-populated Flatbush section of Brooklyn. |
 | | MGK, or Machine Gun Kelly, is a Cleveland rapper born Richard Colson Baker. Taking his stage name from the notorious mobster and applying it to himself for his rapid-fire lyrical flow, MGK started rapping while still in high school and quickly gained a large local following through the release of several mixtapes, 2006's Stamp of Approval, 2008's Homecoming, and 100 Words and Running and Lace Up, both released in 2010. |
 | | Coming up somewhere between Wiz Khalifa (loose flow, hedonistic lyrics) and Lil B (free spirit, love of alternative-flavored beats), Atlanta's Trinidad James went from viral to Def Jam signee, and all in his rookie season. |
 | | |
 | | A favorite on the New York mixtape circuit, Brooklyn rapper Maino, born Jermaine Coleman, grew up in the borough's Bedford-Stuyvesant section in a household with two drug-addicted parents. |
 | | Rapping since he was just nine years old, Shreveport, LA's Hurricane Chris burst onto the national scene in 2007 with his catchy single "A Bay Bay. |
 | | Atlanta Dirty South rapper Rocko's music career always had been a side note to his romantic relationship with R&B singer Monica until he signed with Def Jam in 2007. |
 | | St. Louis rapper Huey (aka Baby Huey) started dropping beats with a friend on his neighborhood block of Arlington Ave. |
 | | Laid-back Inglewood, California rap group Cali Swag District broke out when each member was a teenager. |
 | | After releasing a couple solo platinum albums and plenty of Top Ten collaborations, Atlanta-based rapper Young Jeezy kept his street cred in check by hooking up with rappers Blood Raw and Slick Pulla and forming the crew U. |
 | | Atlanta-born and bred trap rapper Shawty Lo, aka Carlos Walker, did not reach national prominence with his street-hustling raps, but by ushering in the "snap dance" craze with the Billboard-topping "Laffy Taffy" as part of his four-man crew, D4L, in 2005. |
 | | |
 | | Mowii (a onetime touring dancer for Madonna), Pee W33, and Bounc3 broke out as the Rej3ctz, a Los Angeles-based rap group, in late 2010, when the video for their low-slung single “Cat Daddy” -- also a dance -- was uploaded to YouTube. |
 | | Busting out of Atlanta in 2011 with his hit street track "Tony Montana," rapper Future grew up in Atlanta's Zone 6 section. |
 | | Born Natassia Zolot, the San Francisco, California-based rapper and director is better known by her stage name, Kreayshawn. |
 | | |
