60 Fun Facts About 90s Hip Hop

Vice President Dan Quayle said which Tupac album 'has no place in our society'?

2Pacalypse Now: Quayle attacked it after a Texas state trooper was shot dead in 1992, a killing linked to the album.

Tupac's Me Against the World hit number one in 1995 while he was where?

In prison: he was serving time at Clinton Correctional Facility for sexual abuse, and he married Keisha Morris there that April.

Which double album was Tupac's first album for Death Row Records?

All Eyez on Me: it counted as two of the three albums in his Death Row contract, and he recorded it at a furious pace.

Under what alias did Tupac release The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory?

Makaveli: Tupac took the name after reading Niccolò Machiavelli, saying he admired thinking that does whatever it takes to reach a goal.

Tupac was shot in a drive-by on September 7, 1996, in which city?

Las Vegas: earlier that night his entourage beat a Crips member in the MGM Grand lobby, and in 2026 that man's uncle, Duane Davis, was convicted of the murder.

The Notorious B.I.G. borrowed his alias 'Biggie Smalls' from a character in which 1975 film?

Let's Do It Again: in the film, two lodge brothers hypnotize an underdog boxer, bet on him with gangster Biggie Smalls, and win.

Biggie's 1994 single opening 'It was all a dream' is built on which 1983 track?

Mtume's 'Juicy Fruit': after 9/11 many radio stations cut the words 'World Trade' from the song, where Biggie had referenced the 1993 bombing.

Which R&B singer did Biggie marry in August 1994, weeks before Ready to Die came out?

Faith Evans: they met at a Bad Boy photo shoot, but the couple had separated by the time Biggie was killed in 1997.

The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered 16 days before the release of which album?

Life After Death: Biggie was shot as he left a crowded Los Angeles industry party that had been shut down early.

Which film's drug lord, Frank White, gave the Notorious B.I.G. one of his aliases?

King of New York: Christopher Walken played Frank White, and days before his death Biggie wore a plastic crown for a 'King of New York' portrait.

Which housing project did Nas grow up in before releasing Illmatic at age 20?

Queensbridge Houses: the Illmatic cover sets a childhood photo of Nas over the projects, and the now-classic album sold poorly at first despite rave reviews.

A Tribe Called Quest's 1990 single 'Can I Kick It?' is built on which Lou Reed song?

Walk on the Wild Side: Phife Dawg said the group saw no money from the single, because Reed claimed the profits from the sample.

Which 1996 Nas album brought in the Trackmasters to chase a more commercial sound?

It Was Written: to widen his audience, Nas also enlisted Lauryn Hill for the single 'If I Ruled the World'.

Wu-Tang Clan's debut album is named after Enter the Dragon and which other kung fu film?

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin: the group's own name came from another favorite of RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard, the 1983 film Shaolin and Wu Tang.

What unusual clause did RZA win in the Wu-Tang Clan's Loud Records contract?

Solo deals with other labels: RZA wanted members spread across labels, so Method Man went to Def Jam while Ol' Dirty Bastard signed with Elektra.

The Chronic's cover pays homage to what?

Zig-Zag rolling papers: the album also made its guest rapper, Snoop Doggy Dogg, a star before he had released an album of his own.

How did Snoop Dogg get his nickname?

His mother thought he looked like Snoopy, the Peanuts beagle, and in 2012 a Rastafari priest in Jamaica gave him a new name, Snoop Lion.

Roughly how many copies did Snoop Dogg's debut Doggystyle sell in its first week in 1993?

About 800,000: Snoop was facing a murder charge over a shooting by his bodyguard, and a jury acquitted him of murder in February 1996.

Which label did Snoop Dogg join right after leaving Death Row?

No Limit: Master P's label released his next three albums, and in 2022 Snoop bought Death Row itself.

Death Row Records was founded in 1991 by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre, Dick Griffey and which N.W.A associate?

The D.O.C.: a 1989 car crash wrecked his rapping voice, so he kept working behind the scenes as a writer with Dr. Dre.

Sean Combs founded Bad Boy in 1993 after being fired from which label?

Uptown: Andre Harrell fired Combs in 1993, and Combs took the Notorious B.I.G. with him to his new label.

In 1995 Suge Knight invited artists to 'come to Death Row' if tired of their executive producer doing what?

Appearing in all their videos: the jab at Puff Daddy publicly escalated Death Row's feud with Bad Boy.

Tupac blamed Biggie and Puffy for the November 1994 shooting at which New York studio?

Quad Studios: Biggie's 'Who Shot Ya?', released months later, sounded to Tupac like mockery of the attack, and he answered with 'Hit 'Em Up'.

Andre 3000's line 'The South got something to say' was a response to what?

Boos at an awards show: the New York crowd jeered OutKast as they collected an award in 1995, and André answered them from the stage.

Which civil-rights icon sued OutKast in 1999 over a song title on Aquemini?

Rosa Parks: her lawyers argued the song borrowed her name without being about her, and the dispute dragged on until a settlement in 2005.

Jay-Z's 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt appeared on which label he co-founded with Damon Dash and Kareem Burke?

Roc-A-Fella: rejected by the major labels, Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke started their own label to put out his debut.

Which unlikely artist did the Fugees sample on their 1996 single 'Ready or Not'?

Enya: the Fugees used her 1987 song 'Boadicea' without asking, and she came close to suing before they reached an agreement.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) was the first hip hop record to win what?

The Album of the Year Grammy: accepting it from Whitney Houston, Hill marveled on stage that a hip hop record had won.

Which lead single from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill topped the Hot 100?

Doo Wop (That Thing): Hill wrote it as a warning to women and men alike not to let 'that thing' run their lives.

Coolio's 1995 smash hit interpolates which Stevie Wonder song?

Pastime Paradise: Stevie Wonder approved the interpolation only if Coolio took the curse words out, so it became one of his few clean songs.

Salt-N-Pepa won their first Grammy in 1995 with which single?

None of Your Business: Salt-N-Pepa had lost rap Grammys twice before, with 'Push It' and 'Let's Talk About Sex', both times to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

In 1998 DMX released two albums that both did what?

Debuted at number one: earlier in the decade, Columbia had let DMX go after his single 'Born Loser' went nowhere.

DMX took his stage name from what?

An Oberheim drum machine: he started out beatboxing and, feeling he was 'nice with the beats', took his name from one of the era's best drum machines.

Which British singer's track is sampled on Eminem's 1999 breakthrough 'My Name Is'?

Labi Siffre: the openly gay singer refused to clear the sample until lyrics he called lazy bigotry against women and gay people were cut.

MC Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em was the first hip hop album to achieve what?

Diamond certification: Hammer earned an estimated $33 million in 1991 but filed for bankruptcy in 1996 with debts of nearly $14 million.

Which song's bassline did Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' borrow without credit?

Queen and Bowie's 'Under Pressure': the song began as the B-side of a 'Play That Funky Music' cover, and Queen and Bowie got credit only after it became a hit.

Which rap group released its second album, Black Sunday, in 1993?

Cypress Hill: that year they were banned from Saturday Night Live after a member lit a joint during their performance.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's 'Tha Crossroads' (1996) was a tribute to which figure who had signed them?

Eazy-E: the Cleveland group bought one-way bus tickets to California and phoned his label for weeks trying to land an audition.

Big Pun's Capital Punishment (1998) was the first album by a solo Latino rapper to do what?

Go platinum: earlier bids to name a Bronx street for him failed, but in 2021 the city named a Bronx corner Big Pun Plaza.

Which rapper was ousted from Nas's 1996 supergroup with AZ and Foxy Brown?

Cormega: he fell out with Nas over his dismissal, but they made up, and he rejoined the original lineup on Nas's 2020 album King's Disease.

Fab 5 Freddy was the first host of which rap video show?

Yo! MTV Raps: MTV aired the 1988 pilot as an experiment, but it drew some of the network's best ratings and became one of its most popular shows.

Coolio's 1995 smash with L.V. was the lead single from which film's soundtrack?

Dangerous Minds: when 'Weird Al' Yankovic parodied the song, Coolio refused his blessing and publicly objected, though the two later made peace.

Missy Elliott's blow-up suit in 'The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)' was widely compared to what?

An inflated trash bag: Missy later joked on Twitter that it was never a trash bag but a patent leather blow-up suit.

Puff Daddy's 1997 Biggie tribute 'I'll Be Missing You' is built on which Police song?

Every Breath You Take: Combs never asked Sting's permission to use it, so Sting was able to claim 100 percent of the song's publishing royalties.

Will Smith's 1998 hit 'Gettin' Jiggy wit It' samples which Sister Sledge song?

He's the Greatest Dancer: rumors said Nas ghostwrote the rap, but Nas said Will Smith wrote it himself.

Which rap elder gave Busta Rhymes his stage name, borrowed from NFL receiver George 'Buster' Rhymes?

Chuck D: the name stuck as Busta broke out with a scene-stealing verse on A Tribe Called Quest's 'Scenario', ahead of his 1996 solo debut, The Coming.

Rapper Master P spent ten days on which NBA team's training-camp roster in January 1999?

Charlotte Hornets: he made the camp roster once the lockout ended, then was waived on February 1, four days before the shortened season opened.

Which jazz double bassist did A Tribe Called Quest hire to play on The Low End Theory (1991)?

Ron Carter: he agreed only after warning Q-Tip to drop the cursing, saying he would be gone before they could spell the word 'exit'.

Which Wu-Tang member raps the opening verse on 1997's chorus-free posse cut 'Triumph'?

Inspectah Deck: a flood in RZA's basement studio destroyed the beats made for his solo debut, delaying the album.

During which singer's 1998 Grammy speech for 'Sunny Came Home' did ODB declare 'Wu-Tang is for the children'?

Shawn Colvin: ODB told the crowd he had bought expensive clothes expecting Wu-Tang Forever to win Best Rap Album, which went to Puff Daddy instead.

In Juice (1992), Tupac's first film role, he plays which of the four Harlem friends?

Treach, Money-B and Donald Faison had all auditioned for the part; Tupac only tagged along with Money-B, asked to read, and got 15 minutes to rehearse.

Which Broadway musical's children's chorus did Jay-Z sample for a 1998 hit single?

Annie: the sample began a lasting link to the show, and Jay-Z went on to produce the 2014 film adaptation of Annie.

Naughty by Nature's 1991 hit 'O.P.P.' is built on a sample of which Jackson 5 song?

ABC: the song's 'You down with O.P.P.?' chant became a national catchphrase in the 1990s.

Warren G's 'Regulate' (1994) rides a sample of which Michael McDonald song?

I Keep Forgettin': Warren G sampled it because his parents used to play that record, and finding it brought back good feelings.

Which producer discovered the teenage duo Kris Kross at an Atlanta mall in 1990?

Jermaine Dupri: he spotted them at Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall, and he later stressed that the two boys weren't rappers or even trying to be.

Which DJ produced House of Pain's 1992 hit 'Jump Around'?

DJ Muggs. At University of Wisconsin home football games, students jump to it between the third and fourth quarters.

Which female rapper released the 1994 debut album Funkdafied?

Da Brat. In March 2020 she publicly came out on Instagram, confirming her relationship with businesswoman Jesseca Dupart.

Which Queen Latifah single from Black Reign won the 1995 Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance?

U.N.I.T.Y. Latifah wrote it to confront the disrespect of women in rap and in society, from street harassment to abuse.

Which production team produced most of Ice Cube's 1990 solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted?

The Bomb Squad. Cube turned to them after quitting N.W.A, angry at how little the group had paid him.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth's 'T.R.O.Y.' (1992) memorialises a dancer from which group?

Heavy D & the Boyz lost dancer Trouble T Roy in 1990, after he fell from a ramp at their show in Indianapolis.