Hip-Hop Artist J. Cole, Rap Artist

When pertaining to thought of the hip-hop production and history, Tupac Shakur is one of the first names that pops to mind. Shakur was born in the Bronx on June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn New York, and died on September 13, 1996 in Las Vegas Nevada just at the age of 25! His mother, Afeni Shakur was an active revolutionary of the Black Panther Party. She became pregnant with her son in 1970 while on bail after being accused of plotting to start an ethnicity war, Mrs. Shakur was absolved the year after strongly protecting herself in court, demonstrating a talent for speech which her son later comes to acquire. Tupac had a sister that was 2 years apart from him her name was Sekiya Shakur. William “Billy” Garland was the biological father of Tupac Shakur. Even though he was his father in blood he wasn’t actually a father figure he did very little to care for Tupac, only seeing him hardly any times up until Tupac reached the age of 5, Afeni and Tupac lost all contact with Garland. Shakur had a father figure known by the name of Mutulu Shakur, his stepfather. Mutulu Shakur was a former and active Black Liberation party member and condemned criminal,

Lamar 's family was directly touched by the violence of the streets, yet he stayed thoughtful soft-spoken, and a great observer, even as a child. He adopted the stage name K-Dot and began performing his lyrics as a rapper. In 2003, at the age of 16, he released a mix tape called “Youngest Head Nigga in Charge”, which got a lot of interest in his native Southern

Aubrey “Drake” Graham is a Jewish actor/rapper who was born in Toronto on October 24th, 1986, Drake is the son of Sandi and Dennis Graham. Drake was brought to acting by his friend’s dad who got him a role which was a character from the show “Degrassi”. Then a few years later he was found by rapper lil Wayne and then was signed into Young Money Records.

There may be no bigger name in rap music right now than Chicago's own Chance the Rapper. His third mixtape Coloring Book is now available on all major music streaming platforms (Apple Music, Soundcloud, Spotify, Tidal, etc.) and he is also the first artist EVER to break The Billboard Top 10 Albums chart with streams only. He has burst onto the scene as a "lone wolf" of sorts; refusing to sign to a record label, releasing all of his music for free, and combining rap, jazz, and gospel music more beautifully than anyone we've ever seen in the music industry. To celebrate Lil Chano's recent success let's check out his ten best songs.

Have you ever wondered what famous person you would want to meet? What you would want to do with them, or talk about, or where would you be? Let me tell you about how my encounter would be.

On the other hand, some people are not as receptive to the criminal justice debate that Meek Mill’s sentencing has sparked. Rahman Hammond posted a Facebook post criticizing those who choose to blame the criminal justice system “for the choices of grown men” (Hammond). He believes that people are not holding Meek Mill accountable for his actions while he knew that he was on parole. Even though Meek Mill is not innocent in this situation as he violated New York law by riding a dirt bike, an unauthorized motor vehicle, his sentencing and the background for his case serves as a striking reminder of the harsh sentencing that black people face, no matter their wealth, notoriety, or popularity. Meek Mill is now 30 years old, yet he is still on parole for a crime he was convicted on when he was 19 years old. He spent over 10 years on parole not allowing him to practice any civil liberties. Even though the dirt bike charges were dismissed, the judge still sentenced him to two to four years in prison. People should be held responsible for their actions; however, the courts should also be held responsible for giving people unnecessarily harsh punishments compared to their white counterparts for crimes they have committed. Even though people say that Meek Mill is made an example of for black people, they also fail to realize the privilege that Meek Mill has a famous, wealthier black man. Black individuals who are typically exploited by the criminal justice do not have the finances to even hire a lawyer to properly defend their case. By examining Meek Mill’s case, individuals will hopefully understand the injustice that occurs within the black community and also understand what is at stake by ignoring or deflecting the concerns of a part of the population that essentially has no voice.

In 2011, J Cole released his first studio album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, and upon release it was a huge hit. The whole album was themed off of a gaining fame and all the past and present problems trying to pull him down. One song in particular, Lights Please, portrayed the problems of absent fathers and people falling short from goals by unneeded distractions. These messages get shown within the shift of the song. “All the times my brother told me that pussy is blindin’”

The hip-hop culture began in the streets of New York City during the 1970’s and has gone through tremendous changes up until now. Hip-Hop consists of four elements: rap, graffiti, break-dancing, and the disc jockey. In this paper, I intend to fully explain the evolution of rap music, from its infancy to the giant industry it is today.

On January 28, 1985 Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born in Frankfurt Germany. Better known as J. Cole, he's become one of the biggest rappers in the game alongside Kendrick Lamar and Drake. As much as it seems like I criticize Cole, over the years he turned into one of my favorite all time rappers. To celebrate the Birthday of J. Cole, I wanted to take the time and look back on the projects he provided for listeners. In my humble opinion, here is the order in which I rank his projects. These are my views only, and doesn't reflect the opinions of the other moboombox members. (Excluding EP's and compilation albums)

At age 12 his cousin introduced him to freestyling and he followed that inspiration and became one of the best hip hop rappers of this generation. At his young age he fell in love with storytelling rappers such as Nas, Eminem, and Canibus. By the age of 17 he would post his raps online

When thinking of the Hip-Hop industry, one of the first names that comes to mind is Tupac Shakur. Shakur was born in the Bronx on June 16, 1971. He was reared by his mother Afeni Shakur who was an active member of the Black Panthers. Tupac's family later relocated to Oakland, California, where he spent much of his time on the street. As a kid, he was always getting himself into trouble, and he was very lonely. He started writing songs to keep himself out of trouble. An article from VIBE magazine "Troubled Times for Tupac Shakur" quotes Tupac. "'I was lonely, I didn't have no big brothers, no big cousins until later. I could remember writing songs.... I remember writing poetry.' " 1 Tupac was talented in the areas of

Songs like “Ain’t no mountain high enough”, “My Girl”, and “ABC” have shaped American history in ways that people don’t even realize. We wouldn’t be listing to artist like Beyoncé, Drake, and John Legend if these former artists didn’t write and/or perform these songs. They have allowed African American music to blossom to what it is known for today. If these artists did not continue to write and produce music, they would have never gotten anywhere and we wouldn’t have the African American artist we love today. This paper will now go into more specific African American singer, songwriters, and composers.

I know what you’re thinking, J Cole isn’t his real name. His real name is Jermaine Lamarr Cole, but on stage, he prefers J Cole. If you’re wondering, who is J Cole, he is a famous rapper. He’s made four albums and just recently dropped an album called 4 Your Eyez Only and once again, J Cole has done it again, just a little heads up. J Cole was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1985 which makes him 31 years old. When his father left their family, him and his mom moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, which later became J Cole’s hometown. J Cole's, mother, Kay Cole, grew up loving rock and folk. J Cole’s father, is a hardcore fan of 2pac and Ice Cube.While trying to search for J Cole father name, I couldn’t find a trace of it anywhere on the internet.

In the early 70's, a Jamaican, DJ known as Kool Herc attempted to combine his Jamaican style of disk jockey, that involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records (Davey 1). He also invented turntables, which kept the music going, with the occasional voice on the top of records, which started the roots of rap music. Over time, the culture broke into mainstream, spread around the world, and young people who did not have much to do, created not only multi-million industry, but have also created a way we can speak to each other all around the world. Hip hop is linked to other music such as rap which is embraced by urban black population. It is raw self-expression, sometimes features expletive lyrics, and violence. “Hip hop artists spoke to despair and pain of urban youth and the poor who were often without a voice. The rappers themselves were, the product of that reality, and it was conveyed through their lyrics” (Muhammad 1).

50 Cent (born Curtis James Jackson on July 6, 1975[1] in Queens, New York) is a popular African-American rapper, also known as Fitty or Fifty, who rose to fame following the success of his 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin'.