doppaz.com

Earl Simmons, better known by the pseudonym DMX, is an American rapper and hip hop artist.

Born 18^th December 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland, Simmons first came to prominence after appearing in The Source magazine’s Unsigned Hype column. He was subsequently signed by Ruffhouse Records but, after the commercial failure of his debut single Born Loser, was swiftly dropped.

Despite the setback Simmons released a second single Make a Move in 1994. He then spent the next few years earning collaborations with artists like LL Cool J, Mase, The LOX and Sum 41, which created enough of a buzz to persuade Def Jam Recordings to sign him up as a solo artist. Before releasing his first record, he chose the stage name DMX after the Oberheim DMX drum machine he had used to record his own material in the early days.

DMX released his debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot in May 1998. It went straight to number one on the Billboard 200, sold over six million copies worldwide and produced three singles that charted on the Hot 100: Get at Me Dog, Stop Being Greedy, How’s It Goin’ Down and the classic Ruff Ryders Anthem.

DMX’s second album, 1998’s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, stayed at number one in the US for three weeks and produced the hit single Slippin’, while 1999’s …And Then There Was X sold almost 700,000 copies in its first week and produced the singles What’s My Name, Party Up (Up in Here) and What These Bitches Want.

Since the turn of the century, DMX has released two more albums – 2001’s The Great Depression and 2003’s Grand Champ – both of which hit number one on the Billboard 200. This gives DMX the distinction of being only artist in history to have his first five albums debut at number one in America.

DMX’s seventh and eighth studio albums are due for release in late 2010.

Andre Romelle Young, better known as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, owner of Aftermath Entertainment and ex-owner of Death Row Records.

He first came to prominence in 1984 as a member of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, an electro hop group who were very successful in the underground California hip hop scene. He then found wider fame in the late 1980s as a member of the influential gangsta rap group NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). The group, consisting of Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince, sold over nine million records in the late 1980s and produced smash hits like Fuck tha Police, Gangsta Gangsta, Straight Outta Compton, Appetite for Destruction and Alwayz into Somethin’.

Dr. Dre left the group in 1991 and, the following year, released his debut solo album The Chronic. It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and sold over three million copies, and is now widely considered to be one of the most important and influential albums on the 1990s. It also produced the Top 10 songs Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang and Fuck wit Dre Day, as well as the hit single Let Me Ride.

After appearing on a number of other hip hop artists’ records, including the 1996 number one singles California Love by 2Pac and No Diggity by Blackstreet, Dre released his next solo album in 1999, entitled 2001. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold over 500,000 copies in its first week – eventually shipping over six million copies worldwide. It also produced three hit singles: Still D.R.E, The Next Episode and the Grammy Award-winning Forgot About Dre (ft. Eminem).

In recent years, Dre has been credited with discovering hip hop megastars like Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent, as well as producing their Grammy Award-winning albums. However, he has still been recording his own material and, in 2010, will release his final studio album Detox.

Christopher Brian Bridges, better known by his professional stage name Ludacris, is a Grammy Award-winning rapper and actor from Illinois, USA.

Born on 11^th September 1977, Bridges wrote his first rap song when he was just nine years old. He began his career in earnest as a radio DJ in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was known by the name Chris Lova Lova, but his self-produced album Incognegro soon led to a record deal with Def Jam. The album was modified and re-released as Back for the First Time in October 2000, reaching number four on the US Billboard 200. The album included the Top 40 singles Southern Hospitality and What’s Your Fantasy and has been certified triple platinum with over three million copies sold.

Ludacris released his next album Word of Mouf at the end of 2001, which produced the singles Rollout (My Business), Area Codes, Saturday (Oooh, Oooh) and Move Bitch. Word of Mouf, just like Back for the First Time, ended up going triple platinum and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards.

Ludacris’ next album was 2003’s Chicken-n-Beer, which included the hit single Stand Up, which reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the huge pop hit Splash Waterfalls. Soon after this, Ludacris won his first Grammy Award for his part in writing and performing in Usher’s number one hit Yeah! And the success continued, with 2004’s The Red Light District and 2006’s Release Therapy both reaching number one on the Billboard 200 album charts, and single Money Maker also taking Ludacris to the top spot.

The rapper’s latest album, Battle of the Sexes, reached number one in the album charts in March 2010 and its first two singles, How Low and My Chick Bad, both made the Top 20.

Wu-Tang Clan is an influential American hip hop and rap group currently consisting of eight MCs: RZA, GZA, Method Man, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, Raekwon and Inspectah Deck.

Founded in 1992 on Staten Island, New York by cousins Robert Diggs, Gary Grice and Russell Jones (RZA, GZA, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard respectively), the group’s name comes from the film Shaolin and the Wu Tang. In fact, Staten Island is often referred to by members of the Clan as ‘Shaolin’.

The group first gained recognition in 1993 with the single Project Ya Neck. It was initially difficult to find a label that would sign the group while allowing each member to release solo albums with their other labels, but eventually Loud/RCA agreed to release Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in November 1993. It was an instant critical and commercial hit, creating a blueprint for hardcore hip hop during the next decade, and is now considered one of the most significant and influential albums of the 1990s.

Immediately after the success of their first group album, the individual members released a string of solo material, which has since been described as “the greatest winning streak in rap history”. This includes Method Man’s album Tical, RZA’s 6 Feet Deep (with side project Gravediggaz), Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, GZA’s Liquid Swords, Ghostface Killah’s Ironman and Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version.

In 1997, the Clan got back together to record the Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double album Wu-Tang Forever, which went straight to number one in the Billboard charts. To date, the album has sold over 8.3 million copies worldwide. Then, after a second round of solo releases, the group released The W in 2000, which went on to reach double platinum status, followed by the less well-received Iron Flag in 2001.

In December 2004, Ol’ Dirty Bastard collapsed and died aged 35 while recording at the Clan’s recording studio in New York. The band released no new material for a couple of years, but returned in December 2007 with 8 Diagrams. The album received generally positive reviews, although Ghostface Killah and Raekwon have since claimed to be unhappy with the album as they do not consider it to contain the signature “Wu-tang sound”.