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Onika Tanya Maraj, better known as Nicki Minaj, is an American rapper and hip hop singer.

Born 8^th December 1984 in Trinidad, Maraj moved to Queens, New York City at the age of five. Although growing up with an abusive, alcoholic and drug-addicted father, she found solace in music and developed a passion for rap and hip hop at a very young age. Her career began in 2004 when she began singing background vocals and recording hooks for local New York rappers, and she soon set up her own MySpace account to highlight her solo work. It was through this medium she was discovered by the hip hop record label Young Money Entertainment, although she was not immediately signed.

Maraj first appeared on ‘The Carter Edition’ of the label’s The Come Up DVD series. This was followed by a number of mixtape collaborations with the rapper and Young Money CEO Lil Wayne, including 2007’s Da Drought 3 (on the song Don’t Stop, Won’t Stop), 2008’s Dedication 3 (on Still I Rise) and 2009’s No Ceilings (on Sweet Dreams). In April 2007 she released her first solo mixtape, called Playtime Is Over, which was followed by 2008’s Sucka Free – and these releases led to her being named Female Artist of the Year 2008 at the Underground Music Awards.

The singer released her third mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, in April 2009 and signed up to record her debut album with Young Money Entertainment. She spent the rest of 2009 and early 2010 working on the album and collaborating with a number of established R&B artists, including Mariah Carey (on the single Up Out My Face), Ludacris (on the number eleven hit My Chick Bad), Usher (on the Top 40 song Lil’ Freak) and Jeffree Star (on his debut album Beauty Killer). Then, on 13^th April 2010, she released her first solo single – Massive Attack (ft. Sean Garrett and Amber Rose). After collaborating with Christina Aguilera on the single Woohoo, Maraj’s second solo single Your Love was released on 1^st June and shot to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Maraj is due to release her debut studio album on 23^rd November 2010.

Faheem Rasheed Najm, better known by the stage name T-Pain, is a singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer from Florida, USA.

Born 30^th September 1985 in Tallahassee, Florida, Najm started rapping from a very young age. He joined the rap group Nappy Headz in his late teens and recorded a cover version of Akon’s hit single Locked Up – called I’m Fucked Up. It got a lot of industry attention and was heard by Akon himself, who immediately signed T-Pain to his label Konvict Music. After months of recording, T-Pain released his debut album Rappa Ternt Sang in December 2005.

The album immediately entered the Top 40 on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 800,000 copies to date. It also produced the Top 10 hits I’m Sprung, I’m ‘n Luv (Wit a Stripper) (ft. Mike Jones), as well as the single Studio Luv. This was followed by his second studio album, Epiphany, in 2007. It was a huge hit, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling over 170,000 copies in its first week (eventually shipping close to a million). It produced the US number one smash hit single Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’), as well as the number five single Bartender (ft. Akon) and the non-US single Church.

The singer’s third and latest studio album Thr33 Ringz was released in November 2008. It was another US Top 5 hit and produced the number seven single Can’t Believe It, as well as the Top 40 singles Chopped & Skrewed (ft. Ludacris) and Freeze (ft. Chris Brown). The album was also nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.

T-Pain released a compilation album called The Instrumentals in 2009, which features instrumental-only versions of several of his prior hits, and is set to release his fourth studio album rEVOLVEr in late 2010.

Nas (formerly known as Nasty Nas) is an American singer-songwriter and rapper from New York City.

Born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones on 14th September 1973 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Nas’ father Olu Dara is a renowned jazz singer and musician. Naturally, Nas took an interest in music at a young age and was an accomplished trumpet player by the age of seven. He was exposed to hip hop in his early teens and soon began writing his own material, going under the name Kid Wave and then Nasty Nas. He was soon rapping at local music events and in 1991 managed to appear on stage with the rap group Main Source.

Following this, Nas was signed to Columbia Records in 1992 and released his debut single Halftime in October that year, which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Zebrahead. After shortening his name to simply Nas, he then appeared on MC Serch’s solo album Return of the Product.

Nas’ debut album Illmatic was released on 19th April 1994. It reached number twelve on the Billboard 200 and produced five hit singles, including The World Is Yours, It Ain’t Hard to Tell and One Love. His next album, 1996’s It Was Written, took a more mainstream direction and managed to hit the top spot in the US, selling three million copies and spawning the singles If I Ruled the World (Imagine That), Street Dreams and The Message. His last album of the 1990s, I Am…, also reached number one (selling over 470,000 copies in its first week alone) and scored hits with the singles Nas Is Like and Hate Me Now.

Throughout the 2000s, Nas released six more albums that sold millions of copies and scored a string of hits, including Got Ur Self A…, One Mic, I Can, Thief’s Theme, Bridging the Gap,  Hip Hop Is Dead, Hero and As We Enter. His most recent record Distant Relatives – a collaboration with Jamaican reggae artist Damian Marley – was released in May 2010 and shot to number five on the Billboard 200.

Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper from New York City.

Born 21^st May 1972, Wallace was a promising student and won several awards for English at school. However, he began selling drugs at the age of twelve and became involved in various criminal activities. After dropping out of school at seventeen, Wallace was arrested on weapons charges and for dealing crack cocaine, and ended up spending nine months behind bars.

Upon his release, Wallace made a rap demo tape that was heard by the editor of The Source magazine, who invited him to contribute to their Unsigned Hype column. He was subsequently signed up by producer Sean Combs (aka Puff Daddy, aka P. Diddy), and gained exposure after appearing on Mary J. Blige’s single Real Love – which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 – and Craig Mack’s Flava in Ya Ear – another Top 10 hit.

Wallace released his debut solo album Ready to Die in September 1994. The hardcore hip hop album reached number thirteen on the Billboard 200 chart and is credited with revitalizing the East Coast hip hop scene. The record went on to sell over four million copies and produced the hit singles Juicy, One More Chance and Big Poppa – which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Ready to Die is now generally regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

After taking time out of his solo work to record and release an album with his side project Junior M.A.F.I.A., Wallace began work on his second album Life After Death. However, in March 1997 he was murdered in a drive-by shooting in California. The album was released less than three weeks after his death and reached number one on the Billboard 200, selling over ten million copies worldwide and earning three Grammy Award-nominations. It produced the hit singles Hypnotize, Mo Money Mo Problems and Sky’s the Limit.

Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, is an eleven-time Grammy Award-winning rapper, singer and record producer from Missouri, USA.

Born 17^th October 1972, Eminem first came to prominence with the release of his 1999 debut album The Slim Shady LP. Now recognized as a hip hop classic, the record featured the hit songs My Name Is, Guilty Conscience and Just Don’t Give a Fuck, sold over six million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

He followed this success with The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000, which sold 1.8 million copies in its first week in the US – making it the fastest selling solo album in history – and spawned smash hits The Real Slim Shady, The Way I Am and Stan. The record eventually shipped over 19 million copies.

Eminem’s third album The Eminem Show was the bestselling record of 2002. It included the tunes Without Me, Cleanin’ Out My Closet and Sing For The Moment and made Eminem the only artist in history to have won Best Rap Album Grammys for three consecutive albums. Later the same year he also released the number one single Lose Yourself from the soundtrack to his debut film 8 Mile.

In 2004, Eminem released his fourth album Encore, which sold over eleven million copies worldwide within nine months, produced the hits Just Lose It, Like Toy Soldiers and Mockingbird and was again nominated for (though did not win) a Best Rap Album Grammy.

After a five year hiatus, Eminem released Relapse in 2009, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and produced the singles We Made You, Crack a Bottle and Beautiful. This album, along with his other three during the 2000s, helped him to become the biggest-selling artist of the decade with over 80 million record sales.

Eminem’s seventh album Recovery was released in June 2010 and scored the number one hit single Not Afraid.

Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg (or, previously, Snoop Doggy Dogg), is a rapper and record producer from California, USA.

Born October 20^th, 1971, Calvin’s parents nicknamed him Snoopy because of his appearance. He began singing and rapping at an early age but was arrested for cocaine smuggling while at high school. Although in an out of prison for a few years, he recorded some solo freestyles which were heard by producer Dr. Dre, who signed him to Death Row Records.

After appearing of Dr. Dre’s solo album The Chronic and the theme song for the 1992 film Deep Cover, Snoop Doog released his debut solo album Doggystyle. Selling over four million copies and producing the hits Gin and Juice and Who Am I (What’s My Name)?, Doggystyle is now considered one of the seminal albums of the 1990s.

His second album, 1996’s Tha Doggfather, was also a huge success. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and produced hits including Snoop’s Upside Ya Head. His third album in 1998, Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told, repeated his prior success by hitting the number one spot in the US and producing the hit single Still a G Thang, while his fourth album, No Limit Top Dogg, reached number two on the charts the following year, selling over 1.5 million copies and producing the cult hit Bitch Please, featuring Xzibit and Nate Dogg.

Throughout the next decade, Snoop Dogg produced a further six albums and a number of hit singles, including Snoop Dogg (What’s My Name Pt.2), From tha Chuuuch to da Palace, Beautiful, Drop It Like It’s Hot, Signs, That’s That Shit, I Wanna Fuck You and Gangsta Luv.

His latest album, Ego Trippin’, was released in March 2008 and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. With the singles Sexual Eruption, Neva Have 2 Worry and Life of Da Party, Ego Trippin’ has sold over 400,000 copies to date.