Nicki Minaj

The next rapper I'm going to talk about is Nicki Minaj. At the start of her career, she was rapping with a group called "The Hoodstars" they consisted of Lou$tar, Scaff Breezy, and 7even up. They made the theme song "Don't Mess With" for the WWE wrestling star Victoria. She was featured on "The Come Up Volume 11." In 2007, she released her first mixtape "Playtime Is Over" with Dirty Money Records. She the released her second mixtape "Sucka Free" and then she won "Female Artists of the Year" at the 2008 Underground Music Awards. In 2009, she released "Beam Me Up Scotty" which is her third mixtape. This mixtape gained positive coverage on MTV and BET, and at the same time she appeared on XXL Magazine. In 2009, Nicki then signed a record deal with Young Money Entertainment, along with distribution from Universal Motown Records. Her album "Pink Friday" was released in 2010. Some of Nicki Minaj's songs are "Starships" "Super Bass" "Pound The Alarm" "Beez In The Trap" "Turn Me On" "High School" "Moment For Life" "Fly" "Stupid Hoe" "Roman's Revenge" and "Marilyn Monroe." Nicki Minaj also was one of the host/ hostess on American Idol.

Wiz Khalifa

The next rapper I'm going to talk about is Wiz Khalifa. He was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Camp Lo, The Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Khalifa is an Arabic word meaning successor, and wisdom was shortened down to Wiz, that is how he got his stage name. Khalifa signed with Rostrum Records sometime between 2004 and 2005. In 2005, he released his first mixtape "Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania." His first full studio album was "Show and Prove" which was released in 2006. Rolling Stone Magazine declared him "Artist to Watch." He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. He also released 2 more mixtapes through Rostrum Records called "Grow Season" and "Prince of the City 2." In 2008 he then released another mixtape called "Star Power" and another one in 2009 called "Flight School." In 2009, Khalifa released another mixtape called "Burned After Rolling" and then he released his second studio album called "Deal or No Deal" later that year. In 2010, he was named "Rookie of the Year" by The Source. He then released another mixtape called "Kush and Orange Juice" which became the number one trending topic on Twitter. His record label Taylor Gang Records is named after his love for Chuck Taylor shoes and his high school "Taylor Allerdice High School." His album "Rolling Papers" ranked number two on Billboards 200. In 2011 he won BET's "Best New Artist" Award. He then released his album "O.N.I.F.C." for the mainstream market. He just recently had a mixtape called "28 Grams" come out on May 25th, 2014. Some of Khalifa's songs are "Goodbye" "Black and Yellow" "Real Estate" "No Sleep" "Wake Up" and "Roll Up." Khalifa had also played in movies. He played the character "Timmy" in the movie "Gangs of Roses2: Next Generation" and Devin in the movie "Mac and Devin Go To High School."

The Notorious B.I.G.

The next rapper I'm going to talk about is The Notorious B.I.G. His real name is Christopher George Latore Wallace, but he is also known as Biggie Smalls, and The King Of New York. He released his album "Ready To Die" in 1994. His other album was called "Life After Death" and it was released in 1997. "Life After Death" was certified Diamond in 2000. After his releasing of "Ready To Die," he instantly became big in the East Coast Hip-Hop scene. The East Coast wasn't big in the in Hip-Hop, it was mainly West Coast that was big in Hip-Hop and Rap. In 1992, "Uptown  Records A&R" heard his Demo Tape and immediately signed him. He got fired from "Uptown" and went off to create his own record company and signed Sean Combs to "Bad Boy Records." In 93' Biggie's girlfriend gave birth to his daughter T'yanna. He continued to sell drugs to help support his daughter. Later in 93' he made a remix with Mary J. Blige on her song "Real Love." The song peaked at number 7 on "Billboards Hot 100." His album "Ready To Die" was released in 94' and ranked at number 13 on "Billboards Top 200" and certified Platinum 4 times. Biggie had a rap group called "Junior M.A.F.I.A." which included rappers Lil Kim, Biggie, and Lil Cease. They released their album "Conspiracy" in 1995. Biggie was involved in the feud between West Coast vs East Coast that also included Tupac. Biggie died on March 9th, 1997 while he was working on his second studio album "Life After Death." He died in a drive by shooting in LA. The album was released 16 days after his death and rose to number one on U.S. album charts.

Drake

The next rapper I'm going to talk about it Drake. Drake is originally from Toronto, Ontario. He started getting recognition for being Jimmy Brooks on the T.V. show Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake also played the voice of the mammoth Ethan on the movie Ice Age: Continental Drift.  He got signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment in 2009. He also is signed with OVOXO. Some of Drake's hit songs are "Best I Ever Had," "Successful," "Over," "Find Your Love," "Headlines," "Take Care," "Make Me Proud," " Started From The Bottom," and "Hold One Were Going Home." In 2006, he self released his first mixtape "Room For Improvement." Some of his other albums are, his EP "So Far Gone," "Thank Me Later," "Take Care," and "Nothing Was The Same." The album "Nothing Was The Same" ranked number one on billboard 200 selling 658,00 in it's first week of release. He has sold over 5 million albums worldwide. He has more number one singles than any other artists on Billboards "Hot Rap Songs" with twelve number one singles. He is has more than any rapper with ten number one singles for Billboard's "Hot R&B/ Hip-Hop Songs chart. Drake has 6 BET Awards, 3 Juno Awards, and 1 Grammy Award. In 2012, he was ranked number 2 on MTV's Hottest MC's in the Game. Drake is one of two artists to hold the Billboard's charts top 3 spots. He has also written songs for other artists like Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx and Trey Songs. He was influenced by Kanye West, Jay-Z, Aaliyah, and Lil Wayne.

Eminem

The next rapper I'm going to talk about Eminem. He is the 6th best overall selling artists in the United States. As of the 2000's, he is the best selling artists in The United States. He has sold more than 96 million albums and over 120 million singles. Eminem was ranked 82nd in Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Rolling Stones magazine also declared him The King of Hip-Hop. He has had 10 number one albums in Billboard 200. Eminem is the first rapper to ever win an Oscar. He won it for "Best Original Song" "Lose Yourself" from his movie "8 Mile." His first studio album was in 1996 called "Infinite," but that wasn't much of a success. His 2nd studio album was his "Slim Shady EP," which was produced in 1997. This Album introduced his Alter-Ego Slim Shady. Eminem went to LA in '97 to compete in the Rap Olympics. He came in 2nd place losing to rapper MC Juice. After the Rap Olympics, Eminem started working with Dr. Dre and got signed to Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment. Some of his other albums are "The Slim Shady LP," "The Marshal Mathers LP," "The Eminem Show," "Encore," "Relapse," and "The Marshal Mathers LP 2." The "Slim Shady LP" got certified 4x Platinum and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.Then his album "Marshal Mather LP" was released in 2000 and became the fastest selling album by a solo artist in history. The album won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. and got nominated for Album of the Year, In 2011, the album was certified Diamond, selling 10 million copies in the United States. The album sold more than 21 million copies Worldwide. The album was also ranked in 2010 by "Rhapsody" number one on their list of "The Top Ten Best Albums by White Rappers." The album was ranked 244 on the Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. One of Eminem's top selling songs is his song "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile." Some of his other popular songs are "Love The Way You Lie," "Without Me," "Not Afraid," "Cleanin' Out My Closet," "The Real Slim Shady," "My Name Is," "When I'm Gone," "Sing For The Moment," "Stan," and "Mockingbird,"

Jay-Z

Jay-Z is one of the most successful Hip-Hop artists ever. He is one of the world's best selling artists of all time. He has sold more than 75 million records, and he has won 17 Grammy Awards. Jay-Z is approximately worth about 520 million dollars. He is considered to be one of the greatest artists ever. He got married to Beyonce in 2008. Then in 2012, they had their daughter Blue Ivy Carter. The song "Glory" was dedicated to their daughter. In 2006, MTV ranked him number one on their list of The greatest MC's of all time. His albums "Reasonable Doubt," "The Blueprint," and "The Black Album" were all listed in the Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest albums of all time. "The Blueprint" ranked number 252, "Reasonable Doubt" ranked 250, and "The Black Album" ranked number 349. Some of his other albums are "Magna Carta Holy Grail", "Watch The Throne," "American Gangster," "The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse," "The Blueprint 3" "Kingdom Come" and "The Black Chronic" Some of Jay-Z's hit songs are "Ni**as in Paris," "03 Bonnie & Clyde," "Run This Town," "Empire State of Mind," "Izzo," "Excuse Me Miss," "Young Forever," "Holy Grail," and "99 Problems." Before Jay-Z got big, he sold CD's out of his car. Himself, Damon Dash, Kareem Biggs created Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995. In 1997, he signed a deal with Def Jam. Jay-Z is also the founder of Roc Nation.

Kendrick Lamar

The next rapper I'm going to talk about is Kendrick Lamar. He has made a large impact on Hip-Hop. He is a somewhat newer artist. In 2012-2013, Kendrick was ranked number on MTV's "Hottest MC of the Game" list. One of Kendrick’s biggest hits is the song "Swimming Pools (Drank)" Some of his other songs are "Ignorance is Bliss," "HiiiPower," "A.D.H.D." "Opposites Attract," "Hol' Up," "The Recipe," "Keisha's Song," "Backstreet Freestyle" and "m.A.Ad city." His most popular album is "Good Kid, M.A.A.d City." Some of his other albums are "Section.80," "Overly Dedicated," "Thoughts & Actions," and "Kendrick Lamar EP." My personally favorite album by him is "Section.80" and my favorite song by him is "A.D.H.D." Kendrick got signed to Top Dawg Entertainment after he released his first mixtape called "Youngest Head Ni**a in Charge." When he got signed to Top Dawg Entertainment he released two mixtapes called "Training Day," and "C4." He then got signed with Dr. Dre's label Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. When he, Big Sean, and Jay Electronica release their song "Control," Kendrick's verse got a lot of attention. He called out a lot of the rappers that are popular today like J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T. Wale, Pusha T. Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron, Tyler the Creator, and Mac Miller. I personally don't think he was trying to have beefs with anyone, I think he was just trying to have a competition, and have rappers stop putting out songs that aren't as good as they could be just to have a hits. Meek Mill had responded to his Kendrick’s verse and put out the song "Ooh Kill Em." Their beef was just recently dropped.