The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip hop music to a wide audience, reaching the top 40 in the United States, as well as the top 3 in the UK and number-one in Canada.

He released only one album, Ready to Die (1994), before he was murdered in a drive-by shooting. Sixteen days after his death, Biggie's double-disc second album was released as planned with the shortened title of Life After Death and hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts.

Yup. Before Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was known as Lil Wayne, Weezy, or Tunechi, he called himself Shrimp Daddy, with inspiration for the pseudonym coming from former Cash Money artist Pimp Daddy.

With her parents frequently fighting during her childhood, Minaj lived through characters she created as a means of escape. Her first identity was Cookie, who became Harajuku Barbie and (later) Nicki Minaj. For Pink Friday, Minaj created another alter ego: Roman Zolanski, "a demon inside her", Minaj's "twin brother" whose character she assumes when she is angry. Roman has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on "Roman's Revenge" Minaj and Eminem collaborate as their alter egos.

Sales for the album, which he recorded for the independent Web Entertainment label, were not ... ummm ... infinite. In fact, he only sold about 1,000 copies. But poor sales and indifferent reviews led him to craft the angrier, moodier tracks for which he would become famous.

The distinctive sounds of Doggystyle helped introduce the hip-hop subgenre of g-funk to a mainstream audience.

Nas responded with "Ether", in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as J.J. Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel.

Beatboxing is connected with hip-hop culture, often referred to as "the fifth element" of hip-hop, although it is not limited to hip-hop music.

"My sister's name is Hennessy," the rapper explained to talk show host Jimmy Fallon. "So everyone used to call me Bacardi, and I started calling myself Bacardi," which eventually was shortened to Cardi B.

After breaking onto the hip-hop scene in 1990 with the chart-topping tune "U Can't Touch This", MC Hammer became synonymous with the flashy pants--billowy trousers that droop in the crotch and taper to the lower leg. But don't call them parachute pants in his presence. "I detest the term," he told Racked in 2016. "They're called Hammer pants."