Rip Micheals, Michael Blackson, Maddy Smith, Justina Valentine, B. Simone, Dj D, Fabolous, Zeddy Will, Soulja Boy, Boosie Badazz, and Bobby Shmurda

Born on 18 November, 1977, Jackson was musical from a young age. His career actually began in high school in the 90s when he was spotted as a rapper an subsequently signed by the DJ Clue to his record label Desert Storm, which led to Fabolous being secured a deal with heavyweights Elektra records. Fabolous has since signed with giants Atlantic Records and, in present day, is signed with the label Def Jam whilst simultaneously founding his own record label, Street Family.

Fabolous’ first album was released in 2001 and was named ‘Ghetto Fabolous’ in an attempt at clever word-play. Despite the name, the album spawned a number of big hits including singles ‘Can’t Deny it’ and ‘Young’n (Holla Back)’. This provided the platform for Fabolous’ career to take off. His next album was 2003’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ and produced two top ten singles, ‘Can’t Let You Go’ and ‘Into You’. Besides these, Fabolous has released a whole stream of successful singles and has collaborated with a number of high profile artists such as Lil’ Mo, Christina Milian, Trey Songz and Hollywood legend turned part time rapper Jamie Foxx. Fabolous has a handful of albums under various record labels to date and has enjoyed enormous success from them all.

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 Ackquille Jean Pollard in Brooklyn, New York City, Shmurda was raised by his mother since his father was pretty much constantly in and out of jail. He took solace in his music, becoming a devoted hip-hop fan while also skirting dangerously close to a life of crime, selling crack by the time he hit fifth grade. Music was always his true passion though, not to mention his ticket away from a life in. By the age of ten he was remixing songs by his idols Lil Wayne, Jay Z and Juvenile, and began rapping at the age of 10. However, it wasn’t until 2014, when he sample the beat of Lloyd Banks’ track “Jackpot” to create his own track “Hot N*gga”, that he started to create some serious buzz for himself. At first it was localized, becoming huge among the projects of his native Brooklyn, then a video was made for it and the song, along with its “Shmoney Dance” went viral.

The track was a huge hit, hitting number six on the Billboard Hot 100, getting freestyled over by Lil’ Kim, Jeezy and T.I, and Beyoncé herself performed the dance at a show of hers in July 2014. His debut album “Shmurda She Wrote” was released in November of the same year, and ever since then Shmurda has remained one of the hottest (no pun intended) talents in American hip-hop. He’s leapt to stardom quickly, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t have staying power. For that, he comes highly recommended.