196 Fun Facts About Hip Hop

Which DJ turned the Black Spades street gang into the Universal Zulu Nation?

Afrika Bambaataa had risen to a commanding rank in the Black Spades; he named his new organisation after the 1964 film Zulu and renamed himself after a Zulu chief.

Which Run-D.M.C. album contains 'Walk This Way' and 'It's Tricky'?

Raising Hell's remake of 'Walk This Way' revived Aerosmith too: the rock band's own comeback album had underperformed a year earlier, and the duet put them back in the limelight.

Keith Cowboy of the Furious Five is credited with coining 'hip hop' while teasing a friend who had just joined what?

The Army's marching cadence is what Cowboy was mimicking when he scatted 'hip, hop, hip, hop' at his friend; he then worked the chant into his stage routine.

Trap music takes its name from Southern slang for what kind of place?

A drug house is the 'trap' of Southern slang; the name is said to cast the drug trade as a trap that is hard to get out of.

Besides DJing, MCing, breakdancing and graffiti, what is sometimes named as hip hop culture's 'fifth element'?

Knowledge of self is sometimes added to the four as a fifth element, particularly by socially conscious artists and scholars who see hip hop as a way to shape values and raise consciousness.

Which New York City borough do the Wu-Tang Clan call home and nickname 'Shaolin'?

Staten Island is 'Shaolin' in the Wu-Tang Clan's slang; the group took its own name from the kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang.

What song, released in 1979, is often credited with being the first commercially successful rap single?

"Rapper's Delight" was recorded in a single take and ran to about 15 minutes; the Fatback Band's 'King Tim III' beat it to release that year, but only as a B-side.

Which DJ is credited with pioneering the breakbeat technique that underpins hip hop?

DJ Kool Herc saw that dancers saved their best moves for a record's drum break, so he switched between two copies to keep the break going, a trick he called the Merry-Go-Round.

Which acclaimed 1994 debut album by Nas is a cornerstone of East Coast hip hop?

Illmatic collects rhymes Nas began writing at 16 about life in the Queensbridge housing projects; he was 20 by the time it came out.

What was the title of Missy Elliott's debut album, released in 1997?

Supa Dupa Fly was produced entirely by Timbaland and came out on Goldmind, the label Elektra let Missy Elliott set up in 1996, before she had released a solo record.

Which group became the second hip hop act in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Run-DMC were inducted in 2009, six years after Jam Master Jay was shot dead at a Queens recording studio; Eminem gave the induction speech for the two surviving members.

Tupac was shot in 1996 after watching which boxer's fight?

Mike Tyson knocked out Bruce Seldon in under two minutes at the MGM Grand; Tupac was shot at a red light later that night and died six days later, aged 25.

Which 2003 Jay-Z release was promoted as his farewell before retirement?

The Black Album was billed as Jay-Z's last before retirement, but the farewell lasted three years: he returned to recording with Kingdom Come in 2006.

Which 1999 album was Eminem's major-label debut?

The Slim Shady LP came after Eminem placed second at the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, which got his demo tape to Dr. Dre, who signed and produced him.

Which Public Enemy album holds 'Rebel Without a Pause' and 'Don't Believe the Hype'?

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was made faster on purpose: the group pushed its tempos well past their debut's so the songs would hit harder on stage.

Which record label was co-founded by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin in 1984?

Def Jam Recordings was run out of Rick Rubin's New York University dorm room, where he and Simmons sifted the demo tapes that aspiring rappers sent in.

Which 1996 Tupac double album includes 'How Do U Want It' and 'I Ain't Mad at Cha'?

All Eyez on Me was recorded straight after Tupac left prison on bail in October 1995 and reached shops just four months later, in February 1996.

What group released the album Straight Outta Compton?

N.W.A's album drew a warning letter from the FBI to its record label over one anti-police track, and the publicity is likely to have boosted sales.

Which Chicago rapper won an Oscar for co-writing 'Glory' from the film Selma?

Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, first recorded as Common Sense and shortened the name after a band that already used it took him to court.

Who released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010?

Kanye West made the album in self-imposed exile in Hawaii, where he retreated after the backlash to his interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Which group, known for its jazz-infused sound, released the album The Low End Theory in 1991?

A Tribe Called Quest's album includes 'Scenario', a posse cut that made a star of its 19-year-old guest, Busta Rhymes.

What record label was founded by Sean 'Diddy' Combs in 1993?

Bad Boy Records was born of a sacking: Combs had risen from intern to executive at Uptown Records, was fired in 1993 and launched his own label that year.

Which tech company paid $3 billion in 2014 for Beats, the headphone brand co-founded by Dr. Dre?

Apple got more than headphones: the deal included the Beats Music streaming service, which it replaced with Apple Music a year later.

Which rapper is often referred to as the 'King of the South'?

T.I. has claimed the title 'King of the South' since his first album, a boast that set off a public feud with Houston rapper Lil' Flip, who disputed it.

The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in which state?

California is where he was shot dead, at a red light in Los Angeles in March 1997, shortly after leaving a magazine party and about two weeks before his album Life After Death came out.

Nas's 'Ether' was aimed at which rapper, whose 'Takeover' had fired first?

Jay-Z and Nas traded insults on record after 'Takeover' and 'Ether', then made peace; Nas even signed to the label Jay-Z was running as president.

What smooth, synth-heavy West Coast subgenre did Dr. Dre popularize with The Chronic?

G-funk leaned so heavily on George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic records that The Chronic's 'Let Me Ride' lifts its hook from Parliament's 'Mothership Connection'.

Which Queensbridge duo recorded 'Shook Ones (Part II)' for 1995's The Infamous?

Mobb Deep's Havoc and Prodigy met as students at Manhattan's High School of Art and Design; their first album had flopped two years earlier, so The Infamous was a last-ditch comeback.

Which trio won a 1994 Grammy for 'Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)'?

Digable Planets never returned to the top 40: 'Rebirth of Slick' was the trio's only such hit, and they broke up in 1995 after one more album.

Which city is widely considered the birthplace of trap music?

Atlanta produced trap's so-called holy trinity of T.I., Jeezy and Gucci Mane, and T.I.'s 2003 album Trap Muzik put the genre's name on record shelves.

Which group released the song "Fight for Your Right"?

Beastie Boys meant it as a goof on dumb party-rock anthems, and the joke got away from them: plenty of fans sang along without noticing they were the target.

Which 1982 Furious Five single turned rap from party rhymes to social commentary?

The Message was largely the work of Sugar Hill staff writer Duke Bootee, who trades verses on it with Melle Mel; no other member of the group raps a line.

Which artist is known for the album Get Rich or Die Tryin', released in 2003?

50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000 and dropped by his label soon after; Get Rich or Die Tryin' arrived three years later on a new one.

Which director is known for iconic hip hop music videos such as "No Scrubs" and "Hate Me Now"?

Hype Williams's 'Hate Me Now' video showed Nas being crucified; a cut that also put Puff Daddy on a cross aired by mistake after he had asked for his scene to be removed.

Which Brooklyn rapper was born Christopher Wallace?

The Notorious B.I.G. was born Christopher Wallace in Brooklyn in 1972; he first rapped as Biggie Smalls until a lawsuit over that name forced him to record under the longer one.

Which record label was founded by Master P?

No Limit Records began as a record shop: Master P opened it in Richmond, California, with $10,000 from a settlement over his grandfather's death, then turned the name into a label.

Which rapper released good kid, m.A.A.d city in 2012?

Kendrick Lamar put a family snapshot on the cover: himself as a small child on an uncle's lap, a baby bottle on the table beside a 40-ounce of malt liquor.

Which N.W.A member's 1990 solo debut was AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted?

Ice Cube left N.W.A in late 1989 in a dispute over royalties and went east to make AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in New York with the Bomb Squad production team.

Which rapper teamed with Talib Kweli as Black Star on a 1998 album?

Mos Def and Talib Kweli recorded Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998) for Rawkus Records, naming the duo after Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line shipping company.

Which rapper released the powerful track "Mama Said Knock You Out"?

LL Cool J took the title from his grandmother, who told him to 'knock out' the critics saying his career was finished.

Which late-1980s collective grouped A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers?

Native Tongues came together by accident: the Jungle Brothers dropped in on De La Soul's session for 'Buddy' and were invited onto the track.

Which Wu-Tang member shared a 1996 Grammy with Mary J. Blige?

Method Man first cut it as the album track 'All I Need'; the Grammy went to the remix, which added Blige singing a Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell chorus.

Which magazine is dedicated to hip hop music and culture, often referred to as 'The Bible of Hip Hop'?

The Source began in 1988 as a free one-page newsletter that two Harvard students printed in their dorm room with $200 of their own money.

Which Wu-Tang Clan member, the group's de facto leader, produced its debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)?

RZA, born Robert Diggs, produced the whole album a few years after flopping as a solo rapper under the name Prince Rakeem.

Which artist released the album Doggystyle in 1993?

Snoop Dogg released Doggystyle while facing a murder charge, of which he was acquitted in 1996; it still became the first debut album to enter the Billboard 200 at number one.

Which group released the Grammy-winning album The Score in 1996?

Fugees wanted to rewrite 'Killing Me Softly' as an anti-drug song, but its writers refused, so the album's biggest hit keeps the original lyrics.

Which record label was founded by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight in 1991?

Death Row Records filed for bankruptcy in 2006, as did Suge Knight, and in 2022 it was bought by one of the very rappers whose careers it had launched.

Which artist is known for their song "Hot in Herre"?

'Hot in Herre' gave way at number one only to Nelly's own follow-up, 'Dilemma', in August 2002, and won him the Grammy for Best Male Rap Solo Performance.

Which rapper's 'Gangsta's Paradise' was Billboard's top single of 1995?

Coolio's hit reworks Stevie Wonder's 'Pastime Paradise', and Wonder approved it only after the swearing was taken out, so this gangsta rap chart-topper has no profanity.

Which Chic song supplied the bassline for 'Rapper's Delight'?

'Rapper's Delight' rode a replayed version of the bassline from Chic's 'Good Times' (1979); Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatened to sue and were credited as co-writers.

Chuck D and Flavor Flav front which Long Island group?

Public Enemy took shape at Adelphi University on Long Island, where Chuck D and the friends who became his bandmates worked together on a college radio show.

In breaking, what is the upright dancing done before dropping to the floor called?

Toprock is the opening display of a breaker's style, and it came first: the earliest b-boys danced mostly on their feet before the floor moves took over.

What does the acronym N.W.A stand for, referring to the pioneering gangsta rap group?

Niggaz Wit Attitudes got little radio play because of their lyrics, yet the group's records still sold in the millions.

Which Long Island duo's 1988 debut Strictly Business began a run of 'Business' album titles?

EPMD stands for 'Erick and Parrish Making Dollars'; the duo split after four albums but kept the theme when they reunited in 1997, calling the comeback record Back in Business.

At which film director's request did Public Enemy write 'Fight the Power' in 1989?

Spike Lee wanted a defiant anthem for Do the Right Thing and made it the film's refrain: it plays over the opening credits as Rosie Perez dances, then returns again and again.

Which Beastie Boys debut was the first rap album to top the Billboard 200?

Licensed to Ill gave rap its first number-one album, and it came from three New Yorkers who had started out playing hardcore punk.

Which show, whose 1988 American pilot was hosted by Run-DMC, was its network's first devoted to the genre?

Yo! MTV Raps, MTV's first hip hop show, was modelled on an earlier MTV Europe programme; Run-DMC hosted the August 1988 pilot before Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover and Doctor Dré took over.

Grand Wizzard Theodore is credited with discovering which DJ technique by accident in 1975?

Scratching, by his own account, began in his bedroom: as his mother stood in the doorway telling him to turn the music down, he held the record still and rubbed it back and forth.

Which Harlem crew of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Juelz Santana released Diplomatic Immunity in 2003?

The Diplomats, or Dipset, were Harlem's Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey; their 2003 double album Diplomatic Immunity came out through Roc-A-Fella.

Which 1983 Herbie Hancock single put Grandmixer D.ST's turntable work on MTV?

'Rockit' reached MTV with a video of robot mannequins in which Hancock is seen only on a television screen, a choice made to get it past a channel slow to play Black artists.

Which Seattle rapper topped the Hot 100 in 2013 with 'Thrift Shop'?

Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis put 'Thrift Shop' out on Macklemore's own independent label rather than through a major, and it still went to number one.

Which single earned DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince the first-ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance, in 1989?

'Parents Just Don't Understand' won a Grammy the duo boycotted, because the rap award was not going to be televised. The category lasted two years before splitting into solo and group prizes.

Which 2018 honour for DAMN. had never gone to an artist outside classical or jazz?

The Pulitzer Prize for Music, first given in 1943, went to DAMN. as 'a virtuosic song collection' whose vignettes capture the complexity of modern African-American life.

Which rapper's 1994 hit 'Regulate', featuring Nate Dogg, sampled Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin''?

Warren G took the title from the 1988 western Young Guns: the track opens with the film's line about 'Regulators' who 'regulate any stealing of his property'.

'Old Town Road' broke a 16-week Hot 100 record that 'Despacito' shared with a Boyz II Men duet with which singer?

Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men set the 16-week mark with 'One Sweet Day' in 1996; 'Old Town Road' passed it in 2019, months after Billboard had pulled it from the country chart.

Which Kendrick Lamar diss track won five Grammys in 2025?

'Not Like Us' won every award it was up for, weeks after its target, Drake, sued the record company the two rappers share for defamation over the song.

In 2021 which Cardi B hit became the first solo single by a female rapper to be certified diamond?

'Bodak Yellow' plays on the name of Florida rapper Kodak Black, whose flow on 'No Flockin' Cardi B borrowed; diamond means ten million units in the US.

Travis Scott's 2018 album Astroworld takes its name from what?

Six Flags AstroWorld, the defunct Houston theme park that closed in 2005, gave Travis Scott's album its name; Astroworld spawned 'Sicko Mode' and lent its name to the festival where a 2021 crowd crush killed ten.

Which Migos single hit number one in 2017 after Donald Glover praised it at the Golden Globes?

'Bad and Boujee' was already a meme for its 'rain drop, drop top' opening when Glover thanked Migos from the Golden Globes stage; it reached number one that month.

In the Wu-Tang Clan's 'C.R.E.A.M.', what 'rules everything around me'?

Cash rules everything around me, runs the hook, and the acronym caught on so widely that 'cream' became rap slang for money.

Doja Cat's first US number one, 'Say So', came from which album?

Hot Pink (2019) carried 'Say So', which reached number one in May 2020 after a Nicki Minaj remix; Doja Cat was born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, and Amala was her 2018 debut.

Ice Spice broke through in 2022 with which TikTok-viral song?

'Munch (Feelin' U)' took off after Drake played it on his radio show; Ice Spice had met its producer, RiotUSA, while she was a student at SUNY Purchase.

In which city was the rapper 21 Savage born?

21 Savage was born in London and brought to the United States as a child; his British nationality came to light only when immigration agents arrested him in 2019 over an expired visa.

Which J. Cole album made him the first act to debut three songs in the Hot 100's top ten in one week?

KOD was mostly recorded in about two weeks, partly on a family holiday in Italy and Tanzania; J. Cole then spent months reworking its last three songs before release.

Post Malone's 2018 album Beerbongs & Bentleys contained which Hot 100 number one featuring 21 Savage?

'Rockstar' reached number one in October 2017, helped by a YouTube upload from Post Malone's label that looped only the chorus for the length of the song, a tactic some called a chart loophole.

Juice WRLD's 2018 breakthrough single, which peaked at number two on the Hot 100, was called what?

'Lucid Dreams' is built on Sting's 'Shape of My Heart'; Sting called it a beautiful interpretation of his song and joked that the royalties would put his grandkids through college.

Which Lil Baby album spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was the most popular US album of 2020?

My Turn later gained 'The Bigger Picture', the protest song Lil Baby released after joining a hometown march over George Floyd's murder; it earned two Grammy nominations.

Which collective did Tyler, the Creator lead before his solo career?

Tyler, the Creator co-founded Odd Future (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) in Los Angeles in 2007; his later solo albums Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost each debuted at number one and won Best Rap Album.

In 2017, which rapper became the first act to debut two albums at number one on the Billboard 200 in consecutive weeks?

Future released Hndrxx seven days after his self-titled album, and it replaced that album at number one in March 2017; no act had succeeded itself at the top of the chart at all since 1968.

Which sports star appeared in Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show alongside SZA and Samuel L. Jackson?

Serena Williams, who grew up in Compton like the show's headliner, crip-walked during 'Not Like Us', echoing the dance she was criticised for after winning Olympic gold in 2012.

Which Shepherd's Bush rapper scored his first UK number one in 2023 with 'Sprinter', alongside Dave?

Central Cee and Dave kept 'Sprinter' at number one for over two months, the longest run by a UK rap single; he had only switched from melodic, auto-tuned rap to drill three years earlier.

Which album made its artist the first solo woman to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album, in 2019?

Invasion of Privacy was a day old when Cardi B revealed on Saturday Night Live that she was pregnant; within weeks she had cancelled a run of live dates in the US and Europe.

Which New York apartment building is widely called the birthplace of hip hop?

1520 Sedgwick Avenue earned the title from one back-to-school party, held for local teenagers in its recreation room on August 11, 1973, a date now celebrated as hip hop's birthday.

Who organized the August 11, 1973 back-to-school party that DJ Kool Herc played?

His sister Cindy Campbell threw the party in the building's recreation room to raise money for new school clothes and put her brother on the turntables; the date is now marked as hip hop's birthday.

Who was the first rapper signed to a major label, releasing 'Christmas Rappin'' on Mercury in 1979?

Kurtis Blow was 20 when Mercury signed him in 1979; his manager was Russell Simmons, whose younger brother Run performed as his DJ, billed as 'the Son of Kurtis Blow'.

Which 1980 single was the first rap record certified gold by the RIAA?

The Breaks was co-written and co-produced by Robert Ford Jr., who had left his job as a Billboard journalist to make rap records; it was only the second 12-inch single of any kind to go gold.

Which singer and producer co-founded Sugar Hill Records and became known as the 'Mother of Hip Hop'?

Sylvia Robinson, who had a hit of her own with 'Pillow Talk' in 1973, hand-picked the three rappers of the Sugarhill Gang for her new label and later produced 'The Message'.

Which Miami rapper topped the Hot 100 in 2011 with 'Give Me Everything', featuring Ne-Yo?

Pitbull was a good sport a year later: when pranksters hijacked an online vote to send him to a Walmart in remote Kodiak, Alaska, he flew there and performed.

Debbie Harry name-checks Fab 5 Freddy in which 1981 Blondie number one?

Rapture was the first US number one to feature rapping; Fab 5 Freddy had taken Harry and guitarist Chris Stein to a hip hop party in 1978, and they wrote the song around what they saw there.

Which 1990 single was the first hip hop song to top the Billboard Hot 100?

'Ice Ice Baby' reached number one in November 1990, the first rap single to top the Hot 100; Vanilla Ice lifted the bassline of Queen and David Bowie's 'Under Pressure' without initial credit.

Which 1990 album was the first hip hop album to reach diamond status?

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em was largely recorded in a studio fitted into MC Hammer's tour bus and sold over ten million copies; six years later he filed for bankruptcy.

Which Kraftwerk melody did the 1982 electro single 'Planet Rock' borrow?

'Planet Rock' took the melody of Kraftwerk's 'Trans-Europe Express' and the beat of 'Numbers', programmed by a musician found through a Village Voice ad offering a drum machine at $20 a session.

Which film is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture?

Wild Style cast real graffiti writers, DJs and breakers as versions of themselves; Fab 5 Freddy dreamed it up with director Charlie Ahearn and also co-stars in it.

Which 1984 hip hop film was produced by Harry Belafonte?

Beat Street, produced by Harry Belafonte, was shown in East Germany as a lesson in the ills of capitalism; instead its breaking and graffiti are credited with helping to start a hip hop scene there.

Which rapper, known as the 'Human Beat Box', backed Slick Rick on 1985's 'La Di Da Di'?

Doug E. Fresh supplied every sound on 'La Di Da Di' with his mouth: the record has no instruments, only his beatboxing beneath Slick Rick's story.

Which mid-1980s feud, sparked by a UTFO B-side, produced dozens of answer records?

The Roxanne Wars began when the teenage Roxanne Shanté answered UTFO's 'Roxanne, Roxanne' with 'Roxanne's Revenge', freestyled in a single take, and rival 'Roxanne' records kept coming.

Which breaking group danced in the 1983 film Flashdance?

Rock Steady Crew's brief scene in Flashdance sparked interest in breaking around the world, and their single '(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew' then reached the UK top ten.

Which rapper, nicknamed the 'Clown Prince of Hip Hop', had a 1989 hit with 'Just a Friend'?

Biz Markie lost a 1991 court case over an uncleared Gilbert O'Sullivan sample, a ruling that pushed rap producers to license their samples from then on.

Which teenage duo, famous for wearing their clothes backwards, topped the Hot 100 with 'Jump' in 1992?

Kris Kross were spotted at a shopping mall by a teenage Jermaine Dupri, who turned the two boys into rappers and produced 'Jump', a number one for eight weeks.

Which soul legend sued Eric B. & Rakim over sampling on their debut Paid in Full?

James Brown, whose grooves underpin much of Paid in Full (1987), took Eric B. & Rakim to court over unlicensed samples, one of the disputes that ignited the debate over sampling.

Which DJ co-founded Boogie Down Productions with KRS-One and was killed after their debut?

Scott La Rock was shot in August 1987 while trying to settle a dispute involving bandmate D-Nice, months after Criminal Minded; KRS-One later launched the Stop the Violence Movement.

Which producer helmed De La Soul's 1989 debut 3 Feet High and Rising?

Prince Paul, then of Stetsasonic, produced 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), whose samples ranged from Johnny Cash to Steely Dan and the Turtles, who sued over 'You Showed Me'.

How did Slick Rick lose the sight that led to his trademark eye patch?

Broken glass injured him as an infant, blinding his right eye; decades later the British-born rapper faced deportation over a 1991 conviction until New York's governor pardoned him in 2008.

Which Marley Marl-led collective did Big Daddy Kane join in 1986?

The Juice Crew, built around producer Marley Marl and radio DJ Mr. Magic, took in Big Daddy Kane in 1986; he had been co-writing lyrics for a friend who joined the crew too.

Which group's 1986 debut Hot, Cool & Vicious made them the first female rap act to go platinum?

Salt-N-Pepa's album took off only after a San Francisco DJ remixed 'Push It', a B-side, into a radio hit; the remix was then added to new pressings of the album.

Which rapper's 1993 album was the first by a solo female rapper to be certified gold?

Queen Latifah made Black Reign after her brother died in a motorcycle crash and included a jazz tribute to him, 'Winki's Theme'; its single 'U.N.I.T.Y.' won her a Grammy.

Which rapper recorded the early gangsta rap track '6 in the Mornin'' in 1986?

Ice-T has said he modelled '6 in the Mornin'' on Schoolly D's 'P.S.K.'; the future singer of 'Cop Killer' went on to play an NYPD detective on Law & Order: SVU from 2000.

A federal judge declared which 2 Live Crew album legally obscene in 1990?

As Nasty As They Wanna Be (1989) was ruled obscene by US District Judge Jose Gonzalez in June 1990, the first album so declared; the Eleventh Circuit overturned the ruling in 1992.

Which Houston DJ pioneered a woozy remix style in the 1990s by slowing records to a crawl?

DJ Screw's technique became known as 'chopped and screwed'; fans drove from across Texas to queue at his house for his tapes, and he led the Screwed Up Click until his death in 2000.

Which Memphis group won the Best Original Song Oscar in 2006 for a Hustle & Flow track?

Three 6 Mafia performed 'It's Hard out Here for a Pimp' at the ceremony themselves because the film's star, Terrence Howard, declined to sing it; shortly afterwards it won the Oscar.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's Hot 100 number one 'Tha Crossroads' was a tribute to whom?

'Tha Crossroads' began as a song for a late friend and was remade as a tribute to Eazy-E, the mentor who had signed Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and died of AIDS in 1995; it went on to win a Grammy.

Which producer's Detroit group Slum Village preceded his acclaimed final album Donuts?

J Dilla formed Slum Village with two high-school friends; Donuts came out on his 32nd birthday, three days before he died, and his mother later gave his MPC sampler to the Smithsonian.

Masked rapper Daniel Dumile modeled his metal mask on which Marvel villain?

Doctor Doom's metal face was the model for the mask Daniel Dumile wore as MF DOOM, the persona he returned with after his brother's death and a shelved album kept him out of music for years.

Which Philadelphia hip hop band became Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show house band in 2014?

The Roots began as Black Thought rapping over Questlove's bucket drums on Philadelphia street corners while both were in high school; they became Jimmy Fallon's house band on Late Night in 2009.

Which production duo formed by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo hails from Virginia Beach?

The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, met as seventh-graders at a Virginia Beach summer camp for gifted students and went on to produce 'Grindin'', 'Hot in Herre' and 'Drop It Like It's Hot'.

Where was producer Timbaland born and raised?

He broke through producing Aaliyah's One in a Million and Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly.

Which rapper's first five albums all debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, a first?

DMX's first five albums all entered at number one; the run ended in 2006, when Year of the Dog... Again debuted at number two, a few hundred copies behind a Now That's What I Call Music! compilation.

Which New Jersey trio won the first Grammy for Best Rap Album, in 1996?

Naughty by Nature won for Poverty's Paradise in the award's first year; the East Orange trio had released a first album as The New Style before a mentor helped them sign to Tommy Boy under a new name.

In the 2002 film 8 Mile, what is the battle-rap name of Detroit factory worker Jimmy Smith Jr.?

B-Rabbit wins the final battle by listing his own embarrassments first and then exposing his rival's comfortable upbringing, which leaves Papa Doc with nothing to say.

Which rap album was the first to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, in 1999?

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won five Grammys that night, then a record for a woman; Hill had begun writing it while pregnant with her first child, the subject of its song 'To Zion'.

Which Outkast album won the 2004 Grammy for Album of the Year?

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below began as two solo albums, one by Big Boi and one by André 3000, that their label had them release as a pair; 'The Way You Move' then replaced 'Hey Ya!' at number one.

Which teen drama gave Drake his first fame, playing Jimmy Brooks?

Degrassi: The Next Generation cast Drake, then Aubrey Graham, as Jimmy Brooks, a basketball star who uses a wheelchair after a classmate shoots him; he put out three mixtapes before signing with Young Money.

Nicki Minaj was born in which country?

Trinidad and Tobago is where Nicki Minaj, born Onika Maraj in Port of Spain, lived with her grandmother until her mother brought her to Queens, New York, at the age of five.

Which Lil Wayne album was the best-selling US album of 2008?

Tha Carter III sold over a million copies in its first week in June 2008, even though so many of its early songs had leaked online that Lil Wayne put five of them out as an EP called The Leak.

Which Kanye West debut single was recorded two weeks after a near-fatal 2002 car crash broke his jaw?

Through the Wire takes its title from the wires that held his jaw shut as he rapped; it also plays on the Chaka Khan song it samples, 'Through the Fire'.

Where did the teenage Tupac study acting, jazz and ballet alongside Jada Pinkett?

Baltimore School for the Arts is where Tupac acted in Shakespeare plays and danced the Mouse King in The Nutcracker; he left when his family moved to California in 1988.

Which 1992 film gave Tupac his first starring role, as Roland Bishop?

Juice (1992), directed by Ernest Dickerson, gave Tupac his first starring role as the volatile Roland Bishop; he had been a roadie and dancer for Digital Underground before going solo.

The Notorious B.I.G.'s double album Life After Death yielded which two Hot 100 number ones?

'Hypnotize' and 'Mo Money Mo Problems' both reached number one after his death; the album had been finished and titled weeks before he was shot on a trip to promote it.

Which Chicago drill rapper's 'I Don't Like' was remixed by Kanye West in 2012?

Chief Keef was a teenager under house arrest at his grandmother's home when 'I Don't Like' spread online; the remix soon followed, and a label bidding war ended with Interscope signing him.

Ol' Dirty Bastard famously interrupted whose 1998 Grammy acceptance speech?

Shawn Colvin was accepting Song of the Year for 'Sunny Came Home' in February 1998 when Ol' Dirty Bastard took the microphone, complained that Wu-Tang had lost Best Rap Album to Puff Daddy and declared 'Wu-Tang is for the children'.

Which LA rapper sold his 2013 mixtape Crenshaw for $100 a copy, and had Jay-Z buy 100 of them?

Nipsey Hussle's $100-a-copy gamble worked, and Jay-Z's $10,000 order was the headline; his only studio album, Victory Lap, was Grammy-nominated before he was killed outside his store in 2019.

Who was the first female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2023?

Missy Elliott entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, her first year of eligibility, and marked the night by performing a medley of her hits that included 'Get Ur Freak On'.

At which festival did a 'hologram' of Tupac appear on stage in April 2012?

Coachella's 'hologram' was not one: the moving image of Tupac performing 'Hail Mary' was made with a version of Pepper's ghost, a stage illusion from the 19th century.

Which rapper's 'Old Town Road' spent 19 weeks at number one in 2019?

Lil Nas X bought the beat online for $30; after Billboard pulled 'Old Town Road' from its country chart, a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus helped carry it to 19 weeks at number one.

Snoop Dogg was a torchbearer and closing-ceremony performer at which Olympics?

Snoop Dogg carried the Olympic torch through Saint-Denis before the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, worked the Games as an NBC correspondent and performed in the closing ceremony's Los Angeles handover.

Which character does Ludacris play in the Fast & Furious films?

Tej Parker was created for 2 Fast 2 Furious after Ja Rule passed on a $500,000 offer to return from the first film; Ludacris took the new role, a Miami garage owner, and stayed for the sequels.

Which rapper hosted MTV's car-makeover show Pimp My Ride from 2004 to 2007?

Xzibit's show was not all it seemed: some of the cars' wilder additions were taken out again straight after filming because they were not safe on the road.

Which Houston group scored a 1991 hit with 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me'?

Geto Boys got 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me' because their label took it from Scarface, who had written it for his solo album; built on an Isaac Hayes sample, it reached number 23 on the Hot 100.

Which Los Angeles group reached the Hot 100 top 20 in 1993 with 'Insane in the Brain'?

Cypress Hill were the butt of a 1996 Simpsons gag in which they book a famous British symphony orchestra by mistake; in 2024 the group and that orchestra played a real concert together.

Which group featuring CeeLo Green released the album Soul Food in 1995?

Goodie Mob, the quartet of CeeLo Green, Big Gipp, Khujo and T-Mo, released Soul Food in 1995; its track 'Dirty South' helped name the region's sound.

Outkast's 'Ms. Jackson' is an apology to the mother of which singer, André 3000's former partner?

Erykah Badu has said the song hit a sore spot with her, but her mother loved it so much that she bought herself a 'Ms. Jackson' licence plate.

In 2009, where did Lin-Manuel Miranda first perform the rap that became Hamilton's opening number?

The White House had invited him to an evening of poetry and music and suggested a number from In the Heights; instead he tried out a new rap about Alexander Hamilton.

Which streaming platform gave its name to the late-2010s wave of rappers such as Lil Pump and XXXTentacion?

SoundCloud let unsigned teenagers post rough, distorted tracks the moment they were finished; in 2017, as its rappers reached the charts, the company itself was cutting staff to stay afloat.

Which 1991 film takes its title from a rap song whose writer made his acting debut in it as Doughboy?

Boyz n the Hood was John Singleton's first film: just out of film school, he insisted that nobody but him would direct his script, and the studio agreed.

Rakim is credited with pioneering which lyrical technique in hip hop?

Rakim's internal and multisyllabic rhymes replaced the simple end-of-line couplets of earlier rap; he had played the saxophone, and his unhurried flow is traced to his love of John Coltrane.

Which New York rapper, discovered by Fat Joe, was the first Latino solo rapper to earn a platinum album?

Big Pun met Fat Joe in 1995 and appeared on his next album; his own debut, Capital Punishment, then became the first release on Fat Joe's Terror Squad label and went platinum.

Which Migos single hit number one in January 2017 after Donald Glover praised it at the Golden Globes?

Bad and Boujee gave Migos their first chart-topper, though Takeoff does not rap on it, an absence that became a meme of its own.

Which artist won three Grammys in 2017 with Coloring Book, a mixtape released only on streaming services?

Chance the Rapper made Coloring Book the first streaming-only release to win a Grammy, then pledged $1 million to Chicago's public schools a month later.

In 2017 hip hop and R&B became America's most-consumed music for the first time, overtaking which genre?

Rock still sold far more albums, but streaming tipped the scales: Nielsen's mid-2017 report gave R&B and hip hop 25.1% of American listening to its 23%.

Logic's 2017 hit '1-800-273-8255' takes its title from the phone number of which American service?

A suicide prevention lifeline lent the song its number, and calls to it rose 27% in the three weeks after the release.

Before 'Bodak Yellow' topped the Hot 100 in 2017, Cardi B starred in which reality series?

Love & Hip Hop: New York made Cardi B a television name from 2015, and she quit after two seasons to chase the music career that paid off within a year.

Which 2017 Tupac Shakur biopic, starring Demetrius Shipp Jr., shares its title with one of his albums?

All Eyez on Me opened in American cinemas on June 16, 2017, the day Tupac would have turned 46.

Which Miami hitmaker's 2017 album Grateful listed his baby son Asahd as its executive producer?

DJ Khaled gave Asahd, born in October 2016, both the credit and the album cover, and the single 'I'm the One' debuted at number one.

Which Lil Pump single became, in 2017, the shortest song to reach the Hot 100's top ten in 42 years?

Gucci Gang peaked at number three, the shortest top-ten hit since Dickie Goodman's novelty record 'Mr. Jaws' reached number four in 1975.

Drake marketed his 2017 release More Life, which broke streaming records, as what kind of project?

A playlist was Drake's own label for More Life: he said he wanted a collection of songs that could become the soundtrack to a listener's life.

In March 2017 Nicki Minaj broke which singer's record for the most Hot 100 entries by a woman?

Aretha Franklin lost the record when Minaj charted three new songs at once, and in 2018 Minaj became the first woman with 100 Hot 100 entries.

Which Drake hit, built on a 1972 Timmy Thomas sample, won two rap Grammys at the 2017 ceremony?

Hotline Bling had peaked at number two in 2015, held off the top by The Weeknd and Adele, and its much-memed video drew on the light art of James Turrell.

Which rapper's 2017 top-ten hit 'XO Tour Llif3' was inspired by a break-up with Brittany Byrd?

Lil Uzi Vert first posted the song online in a four-track EP, a month before its full release, and it climbed to number seven on the Hot 100.

Which audio-sharing platform lent its name to the distorted, lo-fi rap wave that swept hip hop in 2017?

SoundCloud rap was, to one 2017 New York Times critic, the most vital and disruptive new movement in hip hop, yet the company behind the site failed to turn the craze into profit.

Which rapper's 2017 diss track 'Shether' borrowed the beat of a Nas song to attack Nicki Minaj?

Remy Ma struck two days after Minaj needled her on the single 'Make Love', the public end of a friendship that had soured behind the scenes.

Which rapper, jailed in November 2017 for a probation violation, went on to co-found the Reform Alliance?

Meek Mill was freed pending appeal the following spring, and his long fight with the courts became the 2019 documentary series Free Meek.

Which 2017 Tyler, the Creator album includes 'See You Again', a song first written for Zayn Malik?

Flower Boy kept the song after Malik turned it down twice, and the album, produced entirely by Tyler, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.

Which producer released the surprise Halloween 2017 album Without Warning with 21 Savage and Offset?

Metro Boomin had a prolific 2017: he also produced the top-ten hits 'Tunnel Vision' for Kodak Black and 'Bounce Back' for Big Sean.

French Montana shot the video for his 2017 hit 'Unforgettable', featuring Swae Lee, in which African country?

Uganda supplied the video's stars, the young Kampala dance troupe Triplets Ghetto Kids, and the song became his biggest hit, peaking at number three.

Which hip hop collective, founded in Texas and styled as a boy band, released three Saturation albums in 2017?

Brockhampton grew out of a post by 13-year-old Kevin Abstract on a music fan forum, asking who wanted to form a collective.

Playboi Carti's 2017 single 'Magnolia' takes its name from a housing project in which American city?

New Orleans is home to the Magnolia Projects, and the track nods to the city a second time with a beat built on its bounce style.

In Epic Rap Battles of History, a William Shakespeare played by rapper George Watsky battled which children's author?

Dr. Seuss vs. William Shakespeare has been watched more than 100 million times since 2011, and Watsky later returned to the series as Edgar Allan Poe.

Which hip hop buzzword has its earliest recorded uses in Shakespeare plays including A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Swagger makes its earliest recorded appearances in three of his plays, meaning to strut in a defiant or insolent manner, and probably grew from 'swag', to sway.

Which Shakespeare play has a king rally his outnumbered army with a speech on St Crispin's Day?

Henry V speaks before the battle of Agincourt, promising that any man who bleeds beside him will be his brother.

In which Shakespeare tragedy does Mark Antony, alone over a murdered ruler's body, prophesy bloody civil war?

Julius Caesar has Antony foretell that the dead dictator's spirit will return for revenge, a speech Frederick Forsyth mined for the title of his novel The Dogs of War.

Which director of a Leonardo DiCaprio Shakespeare film later made The Get Down, a drama about hip hop's birth?

Baz Luhrmann's Shakespeare film beat Titanic to the BAFTAs for direction and music, and two decades later he set his Netflix series among New York teenagers of the late 1970s.

Which singer made a big-screen debut in Romeo Must Die, which moved Shakespeare's feuding families to gangland Oakland?

Aaliyah also sang the soundtrack's lead single, 'Try Again', which topped the Hot 100, and the film became a Hollywood breakthrough for her and co-star Jet Li.

Which tragedy is performed as a rap song in the stage parody The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)?

Othello becomes a rap in the three-actor romp, which also stages the history plays as an American football game with the crown as the ball.

Which Shakespeare farce about two sets of twins was retold off-Broadway as a hip hop theater show?

The Comedy of Errors became The Bomb-itty of Errors, whose run at the Bleecker Street Theater was shortlisted by the Outer Critics Circle for outstanding new off-Broadway play.

Which British rapper founded The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company and fitted 27 of the Bard's play titles into one rap?

Akala wrote that minute-long rap in under half an hour on a dare from a BBC radio show, later released it as a single, and has billed himself as the Black Shakespeare.

Which British acting knight lent his support to the launch of The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company?

Ian McKellen backed the launch, and the company has since toured as far as Africa, India and Australia with workshops in which pupils rewrite the plays as lyrics.

Which Mercury-winning rapper and singer is the older sister of The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company's founder?

Ms. Dynamite won the Mercury for her 2002 debut album A Little Deeper, and she is the eldest of twelve siblings.

Which rapper topped a 2014 study of hip hop vocabularies, out-wording Shakespeare and Moby-Dick alike?

Aesop Rock builds that stock by jotting down interesting words from the news and science articles he reads; the study counted the unique words in each artist's first 35,000 lyrics.

Which British actor and rapper, a member of Swet Shop Boys, played the prince in a 2025 film of Hamlet?

Riz Ahmed once battled as Riz MC in freestyle contests, and his Hamilton Mixtape track 'Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)' won an MTV Video Music Award.

In which Shakespeare comedy does lovesick Orlando trade polite insults with the gloomy Jaques in the Forest of Arden?

As You Like It has Orlando wish the two of them were less acquainted, and Jaques begs him to stop spoiling trees with love songs carved in their bark.

Which Shakespeare father insults his eldest daughter by comparing her to a string of skin diseases?

King Lear aims the insult at Goneril, yet admits in the same breath that she is his own flesh and blood, a disease he must call his.

In which Shakespeare tragedy does a new king hire embittered men to ambush his friend Banquo?

Macbeth recruits the killers in person, and the Second Murderer tells him that life's knocks have left him not caring what he does.

Which Shakespeare tragedy has Aaron answer an accusation with what is often called an early your-mother joke?

Titus Andronicus has Aaron turn the insult back on Chiron, who has just accused him of ruining the brothers' mother, the empress Tamora.

Which rapper, a pioneer of 'lit-hop' who studied Shakespeare at Oxford, fills his songs with Poe and Melville?

MC Lars took English literature at Stanford before Oxford and describes his own sound as post-punk laptop rap.

In the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song, the hero is sent away after a fight during which playground game?

Basketball lands him in trouble, and Will Smith wrote the lyrics himself after reading the scripts for the pilot episode.

Outkast's chart-topper 'Ms. Jackson' is addressed to a girlfriend's mother; which singer's mother partly inspired it?

Erykah Badu, André 3000's former partner, later said her mother loved the apology, which topped the Hot 100 and won a Grammy.

In Skee-Lo's 1995 hit 'I Wish', the rapper dreams of sporting stardom and of being what?

Taller is the wish everyone remembers, and the underdog anthem reached number 13 on the Hot 100 and the top ten in five European countries.

Which Sir Mix-a-Lot hit opens with two Valley girls passing judgement on another woman's figure?

Baby Got Back spent five weeks at number one in 1992 despite a brief MTV ban, and the song began as a retort to a Budweiser commercial full of thin models.

Salt-N-Pepa changed the lyrics of 'Let's Talk About Sex' for an alternate radio version about which disease?

AIDS got its own version, 'Let's Talk About AIDS', which was sent to radio as a promotional single and tucked onto B-sides of the original hit.

What excuse does Afroman give in his 2001 signature hit for every plan he fails to carry out?

He got high, the chorus admits each time; Afroman wrote the song in a few minutes, and Napster and The Howard Stern Show made it famous.

Wiz Khalifa's number one 'Black and Yellow' honours his car and the sporting colours of which hometown?

Pittsburgh never gets named in the lyrics, yet the Steelers adopted the song for Super Bowl XLV, where the Packers answered with a remix called 'Green and Yellow'.

In the chorus of Flo Rida's chart-topper 'Low', the woman on the dance floor wears which brand of jeans?

Apple Bottoms earned months of free advertising: 'Low' spent ten straight weeks at number one, the longest run of any single in 2008.

Which Queen Latifah single confronts street harassment and slurs against women, and won her a Grammy?

U.N.I.T.Y. made its point so plainly that many radio and television stations played it without bleeping the slurs it throws back.

In the lyrics of Tone Lōc's 1989 hit 'Funky Cold Medina', what does the title turn out to be?

A love potion is what a stranger at the bar swears by, claiming it makes whoever drinks it irresistible, and the single climbed to number three.

Which 2017 Migos album, home to the singles 'T-Shirt' and 'Slippery', debuted at number one on the Billboard 200?

Culture also entered the Canadian chart at number one, and the trio turned the title into a series with two sequels.

Which British rapper's 2017 debut Gang Signs & Prayer became the first grime album to top the UK Albums Chart?

Stormzy's debut also won British Album of the Year, and two years later he became the first British rapper to headline Glastonbury.