Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper, CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad.

Fat Joe's first album was Represent, released in 1993, followed by Jealous One's Envy in 1995. From 1998 to 2006, he was signed to Atlantic Records, releasing four albums under the label, Don Cartagena in 1998, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, Loyalty in 2002, and All or Nothing in 2005. Around the release of All or Nothing, Fat Joe became involved in a highly publicized feud with another New York City-based rapper 50 Cent, who attacked Fat Joe in his song "Piggy Bank". His most popular song in which he performed was his Remy Ma duet "Lean Back" with Terror Squad. The song was a number-one hit in the summer of 2004.

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The Rumpletilskinz was an American hip hop group signed to RCA Records composed of emcees the Capital LS, Sha-Now the Remedy Man, Jeranimo, and producer R.P.M. The group first appeared onLeaders of the New School's A Future Without a Past on the song "Sound Of The Zeekers @#^**?!" The collaboration proved successful and the group signed a deal with RCA Records. The group released its first and only album What Is a Rumpletilskin? in the summer of 1993. The album failed to make it to the charts, but two singles did, "Attitudes" and "Is It All Right?" Both made it to #24 on the Hot Rap Singles. After the albums failure, the group was dropped from the label and disbanded shortly afterward.

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Paperboy (born Mitchell Johnson in Oakland California) is a 1990s rapper, best known for single poem which sampled Zapp's R & B classic Doo Wa FICTION (Blow That Thing) and became a hit after being remixed by DJ / Producer Ben Liebrand In 1993 he released the album The Nine Yards, which contained 10 songs including the platinum-certified single FICTION Rhythm D-produced The Nine Yards, which went gold by the RIAA June 22, 1993 and the same poem was certified platinum May 11, 1993

Paperboy's album The Nine Yards was followed by two more albums town to town and The Love Never Dies City to City 1:18 track was released in 1996 in rap label, Next Plateau, and gave rise to hit the "P's Cure"

Paperboy for 2004 out with the title "The Love Never Dies was released in msheet Thump Records Rhythm D is back again with Big Keys noted that producers this album marked a change in the traditional style of rappers through his exploitation of artists and producers from other areas in their home state, California and also looking for talent in other areas in the U.S. It first song is called California carries the sound of a classic West Coast style tracks and the artist Battlecat a fellow California artist Rhythm D's presence felt strongly throughout the album with his unique production talents

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KRS-One (* 20. August 1965 in Park Slope, Brooklyn als Lawrence Parker) ist ein US-amerikanischer Rapper und ehemaliger Graffiti-Writer. Er benutzt auch die Pseudonyme Kris Parker, The Blastmaster und The Teacher. KRS-One fällt insbesondere dadurch auf, dass er soziale und politische Vorstellungen über die Szene pointiert formuliert. Innerhalb der Szene genießt er große Anerkennung.

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Die Leaders of the New School waren eine US-amerikanische Hip-Hop-Gruppe aus Long Island, New York, die 1990 gegründet wurde. Mitglieder waren die MCs Charlie Brown, Dinco D, Busta Rhymes und dessen Cousin DJ Cut Monitor Milo. Mit Bands wie De La Soul und A Tribe Called Quest waren sie Teil der Native Tongue Family.

Außerdem wurden sie von Public Enemy gefördert, mit denen sie auch auf Tournee waren. Die erste Veröffentlichung der Band war das Stück Mt. Airy Groove auf der Elektra Records-CompilationRubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary. Ihr Debüt-Album A Future Without a Past erschien 1991. Es enthielt die Hits Case of the P.T.A., Sobb Story und The International Zone Coaster.

Ihr zweites und zugleich letztes Album T.I.M.E. erschien 1993. Aus ihm wurden die Singles What's Next und Classic Material ausgekoppelt. Das Album, dessen Titel für The Inner Mind's Eye steht, war allerdings nicht mehr so erfolgreich wie A Future Without a Past.

Da sich Fans und Medien mehr und mehr auf Busta Rhymes statt auf die Band als Ganzes konzentrierten, kam es zum Streit und 1993 schließlich zur Auflösung der Leaders of the New School. Auf dem Stück Keep It Movin von Busta Rhymes 1996 erschienenem erstem Solo-Album The Coming war die Gruppe nochmals zusammen zu hören. Nach späteren Interview-Aussagen von Busta Rhymes ist die Band aber nach wie vor zerstritten.

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Boss (born Lichelle Laws, 1969, Detroit, Michigan, United States) is an American Midwest female gangsta rapper who enjoyed brief popularity in 1993 with her debut album Born Gangstaz. Her name is sometimes spelled Bo$$.

Laws relocated to Los Angeles after graduating high school. Laws was spotted by DJ Quik who stuck her on a track with AMG. Russell Simmons liked the track and promptly signed her to Def Jam West.Her debut album Born Gangstaz was released in 1993, and the singles, "Deeper" and "Recipe for a Hoe", hit number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart.

Laws' fledgling career took a major blow in 1994 when she was interviewed by a reporter from The Wall Street Journal. The reporter thought he revealed that she grew up in an upper middle-class family and attended private school. As it turned out, the reporter did not listen to the album before interviewing the artist. Further, Laws had left Detroit after high school to pursue a contract in New York, which brought on a hard survivalist mentality by the time she settled in Los Angeles. Def Jam was well aware of her background when she was signed, and she was never dropped from the label. In the mid-1990s, she moved to Dallas, Texas, and went on to be a radio DJ. In 2001, she collaborated with Krayzie Bone on his album Thug On Da Line. In 2004, she released a mixtape titled The Six Million Dollar Mixtape produced by Def Jef.

It was revealed in May 2011 that Laws is in need of a kidney due to her suffering from renal disease, a disease that rendered her kidneys useless for processing toxins in her body. Laws reached out to the Facebook community for a potential donor. A donor is yet to be found.

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As a child he took part in a band at school and from there learned to play a variety of instruments along the way. At school he only learned Classical, but at home he taught himself to play Funk related music like Parliament, Funkadelic and The Gap Band on his Casio keyboard. Interested in making music, he would create beats and record his own versions for fun.

Banks would later record tapes with his friend, Oakland rapper MC Ant, and sell them at their high school out the trunk of their cars. With the lyrics handled by MC Ant and the production by Ant Banks, buzz over the tapes eventually reached the streets, resulting in popularity throughout the city. In 1987, Banks recorded the debut album by MC Ant titled The Great, which was later released in 1989 through Raw Dog Records. In 1989, he recorded the debut album Let It Be Known by East Bay rapper Spice 1, which was later released in 1991 through Triad Records. Along with the releases of Pooh-Man and Dangerous Dame, Banks managed to sell in the range of 100,000 to 300,000 units with all four albums, without a record label or promotion. This turned him into a prominent figure in the Bay Area hip-hop scene by the early '90s.

He has produced songs for Too Short, E-40, Spice 1, Snoop Dogg and 3X Krazy to name a few. In 1993, he engaged in a beef with Oakland rapper Pooh-Man.

In 1996, Banks appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as "a masterpiece" by The Source magazine. In 1999 Banks started a group T.W.D.Y. (acronym for "The Whole Damn Yay"). Banks himself, Rappin' 4-Tay and Captain Save'm were the original members. Their debut album Derty Werk was released in 1999 and contained the single "Players Holiday", featuring Too Short, Mac Mall, Otis & Shug. The single received a lot of radio play. Also, Ant Banks settled his long time beef with Pooh-Man when they appeared together on the track, "Ride Wit Me". In 2000, T.W.D.Y. released their second and final album Lead the Way: Ant Banks and Captain Save'm remained while Dolla Will replaced Rappin' 4-Tay.

He is also known as "The Big Badass" and released an album of the same name in 1994. His talent for producing "funky" bass lines are well known and have achieved cross-over appreciation in the techno niche. The album liner for Daft Punk's album Homework gives a note of appreciation to Ant Banks for inspiration.

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