Sean John Combs was born in Harlem, New York. He launched his music production company, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 1993 and worked with artists like Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Biggie Smalls (Elafros). After his friend, Biggie Smalls was murdered, in 1997, Combs recorded the tribute "I'll be Missing You," which topped the Billboard singles chart for eleven weeks and launched Combs' first album, No Way Out (1997), to platinum status (Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs).
Tupac Amaru Shakur
(1971-1966)
2Pac's unapologetic lyrics were relevant, important, and reflective of the hard lives led by many. His music earned attention and respect through a poetic style that embraced street vocabulary while being innovative (2PAC). Today, 2Pac is still considered by many to be one of the biggest influences on modern hip-hop. He also made inroads into other art forms. Shakur’s appearance in Juice as Bishop, the troubled high school teen who fashions himself into a cold-hearted killer, is the first great dramatic performance by a rapper in a movie. The Rose That Grew from Concrete is a collection of poetry written between 1989 and 1991 by Tupac Shakur, published by Pocket Books through its MTV Books imprint. In an interview, he proclaimed, “I’m not saying I’m going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world" ("Tupac Shakur").
Christopher George Latore Wallace
(1972-1997)
"The Notorious B.I.G." or "Biggie"
He recorded as The Notorious B.I.G. People knew him as Biggie Smalls or Biggie. He learned diction and phrasing from jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison when Biggie was just a teenager in Brooklyn and still went by the name Chris Wallace (Kelley). Posthumously, his album Ready To Die has been hailed as the cornerstone marker for the East Coast Rap Scene and thrived while he was alive, going gold within 2 months, and later going double platinum by the following year, according to Biography. It ranks in the top 10 of Rolling Stone‘s 100 Best Albums Of The Nineties, as well as their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Biggie Smalls).
Calvin Broadus
(b. 1971)
"Snoop Dogg"
Also called Snoop Doggy Dogg and Snoop Lion were born in Long Beach, California, U.S. He is an American rapper and songwriter who became one of the best-known figures in gangsta rap in the 1990s and was for many the epitome of West Coast hip-hop culture (Mihalka). His album Doggystyle (1993) became the first debut record to enter the Billboard 200 chart at number one. His carefully cultivated—and at times cartoonish—public persona made him a popular icon. His West Coast slang and exaggerated verbal tics entered the popular American vocabulary (Grove).
