Featured Rap and Hip Hop Bands
The Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop group from New York City consisting of Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz. Since around the time of the Hello Nasty album, the DJ for the group has been Michael "Mix Master Mike" Schwartz, who was first featured in the song "Three MC's and One DJ". Beastie Boys began as a hardcore punk group in 1979, and appeared on the compilation cassette New York Thrash with Riot Fight and Beastie. They switched to hip-hop with the release of their 12" single "Cooky Puss", which was followed by a string ...
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is a Grammy Award-winning American hip hop trio from Queens, New York that came onto the music scene in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl James ("Salt"), now Cheryl Wray, Sandra Denton ("Pepa"), and DJ Deidra "Dee Dee" Roper (Spinderella), has sold over 15 million albums and singles worldwide and are one of the top selling rap acts, either male or female. Salt-N-Pepa is the best-selling female rap act, and six of their single releases have been certified either platinum or gold in America by the RIAA. [tubepress mode='tag', tagValue='Salt-N-Pepa', orderBy='relevance']
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noel Hill (born May 25, 1975 in South Orange, New Jersey) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer, rapper, musician, songwriter, producer, and film actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation in the hip-hop world as the lone female member of The Fugees. In 1998 she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards. Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. ...
Naughty By Nature
Their first hit as Naughty by Nature was a track called "O.P.P.", which sampled the Jackson 5's hit "ABC" and was released in 1991 on their self-titled album Naughty by Nature. The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most successful rap songs in history to that point in terms of crossover success on the pop charts. The song also has become well known in pop culture, being mentioned in TV shows and films such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Malibu's Most Wanted, Monk, and The Office. "O.P.P." also gained critical acclaim, ...
The Sugarhill Gang
The Sugarhill Gang is an American Hip Hop group, known mostly for their biggest hit, "Rapper's Delight", the first hip hop single recorded to become a Top 40 hit. The song uses the instrumental track from "Good Times" by Chic as its foundation. The members, all from Englewood, NJ, called themselves Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee. They were assembled into a group by producer Sylvia Robinson who also founded Sugar Hill Records along with her husband, record mogul Joe Robinson. This pioneering group inaugurated the recorded history of hip-hop with their single "Rapper's Delight", a multi-platinum seller and radio ...
