Rap

Radioactive (also known as Radioactive: Amazing and Mystifying Chemical Tricks) is the second studio album and major label debut by American rapper Yelawolf. It was released on November 21, 2011 through Shady Records and Interscope Records.

Recording sessions took place at Las Vegas Valley, Nevada in two weeks.

Radioactive covers many different styles of hip hop fusions, being alternative hip hop as principal musical genre. Hardcore hip hop is represented on the tracks "Radioactive Introduction", "Throw It Up", "Get Away", and "Slumerican Shitizen". A horrorcore rap style is used in "Growin' Up in the Gutter", whereas "Hard White (Up in the Club)" is a crunk party track. "Let's Roll", "Write Your Name", and "Radio" follow a pop rap style, with catchy hooks and beats. "Animal" is a fast-paced hip hop party track with a dubstep influenced beat. "Good Girl" utilizes an R&B-tinged feel, while "The Hardest Love Song in the World" is a g-funk hip hop track. Yelawolf covers a variety of lyrical themes in these album, from gangsta rap lyrics in "Get Away" and "Throw It Up", to more conscious and slightly political tracks such as "Made in the USA", "Slumerican Shitizen", "Write Your Name", and "The Last Song". "Radio" is about the internet taking over how music and music videos are received by fans. It also refers to radio stations playing the same songs constantly and singers being discovered via the internet. The song contains several references to rock and rap artists and their songs from the past."Write your Name" is produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League With samples from the Reza Pishro "Tehran". The album's final track, titled "The Last Song" described as very personal about Yelawolf's life, and it's a very emotional final letter to his absent biological father and talks about other past struggles.

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year. His debut album Ready to Die (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York's visibility at a time when the West Coast hip hop scene was dominating hip hop music. Wallace was awarded the 1995 Billboard Music Awards' Rapper of the Year. The following year, he led his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A., a team of himself and longtime friends, including Lil' Kim, to chart success.

Marcus Jamal Hopson, known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles.

Eric Lynn Wright, known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap".

Disturbing tha Peace Records (DTP) is an American record label founded by Jeff Dixon, Chaka Zulu, and Ludacris.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterprises) is an American hip hop group consisting of Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Flesh-n-Bone. The group was signed to Ruthless Records in late 1993, when they debuted with their EP Creepin on ah Come Up. The EP included their breakout hit single "Thuggish Ruggish Bone". In 1995, the group released its second album E. 1999 Eternal, which included hits "1st of tha Month" and "East 1999". Their hit song "Tha Crossroads", a tribute to then-recently deceased Eazy-E, won a Grammy Award in 1997.

The Art of War, the group's third album, was released in 1997. In 2000, BTNHResurrection reached platinum in one month, while 2002's Thug World Order received more moderate sales and promotion, going gold and peaking at No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. After that album, the group went on hiatus from their label and released their sixth studio album, Thug Stories, independently in 2006. In 2007 they had another major-label release, Strength & Loyalty, on Swizz Beatz's label Full Surface Records. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony "officially" returned with their 2010 album Uni5: The World's Enemy, released by their own record label, BTNH Worldwide, with distribution by Warner Bros.

Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he has been central to the creative and commercial success of artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, and J. Cole. He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007.

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. Regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation by XXL, he has often been cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wayne's career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label. From then on, he was the flagship artist of Cash Money Records before ending his association with the company in June 2018.

Ye is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.

Jayceon Terrell Taylor (born November 29, 1979), better known by his stage name the Game or simply Game, is an American rapper. Born in Compton, California, he initially released a series of mixtapes under the wing of fellow West Coast rapper JT the Bigga Figga. After releasing his debut independent album Untold Story in 2004, he was eventually discovered by record producer Dr. Dre and signed to his Aftermath Records label imprint. The Game rose to fame in 2005 with the success of his major-label debut album The Documentary and found continued success with the 2006 follow-up Doctor's Advocate. The Recording Industry Association of America certified The Documentary Double Platinum in March 2005.

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two million albums and has had his music featured in film, television, and video games. In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie award at the mtvU Woodie Awards.

His stage name originated from the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, a name given to him by rapper Black Walt due to his fast-rhyming chopper style. Yates later applied a deeper meaning to the name, stating that it stands for the complete technique of rhyme, with "tech" meaning technique and "nine" representing the number of completion. Despite minimal mainstream success himself, he has featured many mainstream artists on his albums including E-40, Ice Cube, Three 6 Mafia, B.o.B., Twista, Busta Rhymes, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Wiz Khalifa, CeeLo Green, T.I., 2 Chainz, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Eminem, Logic, and Boyz II Men.

Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer.

He is the co-founder of Beats Electronics, which had been acquired in 2014 for $3.4 billion by technology giant Apple Inc. He is also the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment after previously co-forming and owning Death Row Records. His career began as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1985 and later transitioned to the gangsta rap group N.W.A a year following. Dre was also credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy beats.

After departing from the disbanded N.W.A and Ruthless Records in 1991, Dre's solo debut studio album, The Chronic (1992), made him one of the best-selling American music artists of 1993. It was supported by singles, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and "Let Me Ride"; the latter earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. After a seven-year hiatus and issues with Death Row, he released a sophomore solo album, 2001, in late 1999.

Khaled Mohammed Khaled, known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.

Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality.

Jay Wayne Jenkins, known by his stage name Jeezy, is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, was released the following year and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling 172,000 copies in its first week and was later receiving platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Jeezy is credited, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, for helping to pioneer and popularize trap music with a mainstream audience.

Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's debut solo album, The Chronic. Broadus has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide. His accolades include an American Music Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and 17 nominations at the Grammy Awards.

Broadus' debut solo album, Doggystyle, produced by Dr. Dre, was released by Death Row Records in November 1993, and debuted at number one on the popular albums chart, the Billboard 200, and on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Selling 800,000 copies in its first week, Doggystyle was certified quadruple-platinum in 1994 and featured the singles "What's My Name?" and "Gin and Juice". In 1994, Death Row Records released a soundtrack, by Broadus, for the short film Murder Was the Case, starring Snoop. In 1996, his second album, Tha Doggfather, also debuted at number one on both charts, with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head" as the lead single. The next year, the album was certified double-platinum.

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.

O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor, and filmmaker. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popularity, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were critically and commercially successful. He has also had an active film career since the early 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.

A native of Los Angeles, Jackson formed his first rap group called C.I.A. in 1986. In 1987, with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, he formed the pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A. As its lead rapper, he wrote some of Dre's and most of Eazy's lyrics on Straight Outta Compton, a landmark album that shaped West Coast hip hop's early identity and helped differentiate it from East Coast rap. N.W.A was also known for their violent lyrics, threatening to attack abusive police and innocent civilians alike, which stirred controversy. After a monetary dispute over the group's management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Cube left N.W.A in late 1989, teaming with New York artists and launching a solo rap career.