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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Mobb Deep are an American Hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consisted of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast Hip-Hop groups".The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones Pt. II".Mobb Deep have become one of the most successful rap duos in Hip Hop having sold over three million records.The majority of their albums have been critically acclaimed, in particular The Infamous, which is considered to be classic among avid Hip-Hop listeners and general fans.They are partially credited for the resurgence of East Coast rap in the early to mid-'90s. Havoc and Prodigy were also judges for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers and breakthroughs.

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Clifford Smith (born April 1, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man & Redman. He won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" with Mary J. Blige. In 2007, the writers of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007). In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Method Man appeared in the motion pictures Belly, How High, Garden State as well as a minor role in The Wackness. More recently, he appeared as a crewman in George Lucas' film Red Tails. On television, he and hip-hop collaborator Redman co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red, and he had a recurring role on HBO's Oz as Tug Daniels and as Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the acclaimed HBO drama series The Wire.

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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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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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The Beatnuts are a New York-based Hip Hop group and production duo from Queens, New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu (born Jerry Tineo on December 4, 1968) is Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernandez on April 10, 1972) is a Colombian American from Jackson Heights. The Beatnuts are the only Latino members of the Native Tongues collective. Although only peripheral members, they are routinely acknowledged by Q-Tip. The Beatnuts were originally a trio before Kool Fashion, now known as Al' Tariq, left the group to start a solo career. The Mighty V.I.C. (Groove Merchantz, Ghetto Pros) was also a member of The Beatnuts' production team for a while.

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Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac, Pac, and Makaveli, was an American Rapper and Actor. Shakur had sold over 75 million records worldwide as of 2010, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time. The themes of most of Tupac's songs are the violence and hardship in inner cities, racism, social problems, and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.

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