Bow Wow

When it comes to prodigies, very few in history can hold a candle to the man born Shad Gregory Moss, who is 27 years old at the time of writing, and is already an astonishing 21 year veteran in the world of hip-hop and pop. His passion for hip-hop began growing at the age of three, and by the time he was six years old he had began rapping, at first for his friends and for himself, but very soon after he started, people around him realized that he was seriously good at it for his age. So good that he hopped on stage at a Snoop Dogg concert in his native Columbus and started rapping to an audience of thousands of rabid hip-hop fans. Against all probability, everyone in attendance was seriously impressed, none more so than Snoop himself, who came up to him after the show to bestow on him the new name Lil' Bow Wow, and ask him if he wanted to come to L.A with him to start a hip-hop career properly.

Moss spent the next five years in California, and wouldn't actually release anything until after he was introduced to a record producer by the name of Jermaine Dupri in 1998, who would go on to produce and executive produce most everything that the young rapper would release afterwards to this very day. His debut album “Beware Of Dog” would come out in 2000 and was an immediate hit, powered it's top twenty hit of a lead single “Bounce With Me”. While the album itself would be certified double platinum just over six months after its release, it would go on to be bettered by his first album after dropping the “Lil'” from his stage name. His third album, “Unleashed”, came in 2003, and its lead single “Let's Get Down”, a collaboration with Cash Money Records head Birdman became his biggest hit to date by a mile, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Moss spent the rest of the decade as one of the most commercially successful rapper and pop stars around, with three top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of his Omarion collaboration “Let Me Hold You”, his track with then-girlfriend Ciara “Like You” and 2006's “Shortie Like Mine”. Since then, Moss has made the tricky transition from teen-idol to genuine pop star better than anyone since Justin Timberlake, and with his long awaited seventh album “Underrated” coming soon, he comes highly recommended.

Born in the American midwest of Chicago, Illinois, Soulja Boy moved to Atlanta, Georgia when he was six and later Batesville, Mississippi at age 14. It was in Mississippi that Way immersed himself in rap music and culture and began recording his ideas, some of which the rapper uploaded in 2005 on the website SoundClick. Soulja Boy’s debut album “Unsigned & Still Major” was independently released on Palmtree Productions in March 2007 and by May that year his single “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” was receiving steady radio play.

The rapper subsequently inked a deal with Interscope Records and had his single “Crank That” appear on the Emmy-Award winning TV series “Entourage”. The single went on to top the Billboard 200, and made way for Soulja Boy’s major-label debut “souljaboytellthem.com”, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Despite critical reviews from the musical press, the record sold remarkably well aided by the subsequent singles “Soulja Girl”, “Yahh!”, and “Donk”.

Soulja Boy’s sophomore full-length “iSouljaBoyTellem” was issued in December 2008 once again earning disappointing reviews despite popular singles. The record’s lead single “Bird Walk” charted at No. 40, followed by the Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 single “Kiss Me Thru the Phone”. The rapper subsequently embarked on his debut headlining tour entitled “America’s Most Wanted”, and began increasingly to tour the world over. The studio album “The DeAndre Way” followed in November 2010 however was marked by a lack of promotion and appropriate label consideration. Despite earning his best reviews to date and presenting a much more personal and candid album, the record charted at No. 90 on the Billboard 200.

The rapper’s next release, the mixtape “Smooky”, was released independently in 2010, after which he collaborated with rapper Young L on the mixtape “Mario & Domo vs. the World. The subsequent mixtape, 2013’s “Foreign”, sparked rumours suggestingg Soulja Boy was making a move to Cash Money Records, however the rapper’s fourth full-length “Loyalty” was ultimately released on his own label Stacks on Decks Entertainment.

Born on August 19, 1970, Fat Joe released a number of recordings which have lead to the explicit rapper attaining great success. He was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, and was influenced by the Latino lyricist Big Pun in his early life; Fat Joe claimed he respected Big Pun for aiming to “represent our people”.

Between the years of 1992-1995, Joseph Cartagena performed under the show-name Fat Joe da Gangsta whilst being part of the Diggin’ in the Crates (D.I.T.C) rap collective. He released the debut album ‘Represent’ in 1993, which included the single ‘Flow Joe’; it gained Joe widespread recognition and forced people to start noticing his talents after it peaked at number one the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart.

In 1998, Fat Joe released the album ‘Don Cartagena’ - featuring the likes of Nas, Diddy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and his own group Terror Squad - on Atlantic Records. It peaked at number two on the US R&B chart, and signaled the begging of prolonged success for the east-coast rapper.

In 2001, Fat Joe released ‘Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E)’ - a production from Irv Gotti - which featured Busta Rhymes, Ludacris and R. Kelly. It included the hip-hop, club-classic single ‘What’s Luv’ featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti, which peaked at number four in the UK, at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and featured in the 2002 movie Juwanna Mann; the single has since sold over 4,500,000 copies. Fat Joe also featured heavily with Remy for Terror Squad’s single ‘Lean Back’ in 2004, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, topped the R&B charts for over a month and won the Single of the Year award at The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards.

Fat Joe is comparable to Mase, Redman and Indo G, whilst the Puerto Rican enthusiast is commended for his charitable work, having visited his old school and donated new computers for students, whilst also speaking at a School is Cool assembly in Public School 5 in New Jersey US in 2009. He has performed at prestigious settings such as The Black Music Festival and BET Hip-Hop Awards 2012, and continues to demand respect from the hip-hop scene and beyond for a career decorated with credible accolades.