Lisa Raye, Doug E. Fresh, Bobby Shmurda, Scrappy, Shawnna, Onyx, Bun B, David Banner, Spliff Star, Dj Self, Tweet, Trina, CeeLo Green, and Marc Nelson

There's an argument to be made that Douglas E Davis is responsible for the term beatboxer becoming an expression at all. It was he who coined the nickname “The Original Human Beatbox” while he was making a name for himself as a rapper and performer around Harlem, and while others might have enjoyed more commercial success than him with their skills, they still own one hell of a debt to Doug E. Fresh. His first recorded appearance was on the Spoonie Gee and DJ Spivey single “Pass The Buddha”, and after that, his most notable early performance was with The Treacherous Three for their track “Beat Street”. This exposure meant that Fresh began building up some hype around himself, and began to release solo singles with the labels Enjoy and Vinetertainment.

By the end of 1985, Fresh was one of the biggest names in hip-hop with his group The Get Fresh Crew (which featured a young Slick Rick in its line up). He was having hits on both sides of the Atlantic with his single “The Show” hurtling into the top ten of the UK singles chart at number 7. By 1988, he had gone some way of earning the title he gave himself on his second solo album “The World's Greatest Entertainer”, which is a title he keeps to this very day. Remaining an influence even today, it was even Fresh's dance moves that inspired the Cali Swag District to record the smash hit single “Teach Me How To Dougie” in 2010, a good couple of decades after Fresh's last charting hit. Some talents never truly die, and as long as true hip-hop is still a cultural force, Doug E. Fresh will still be one of the men to thank for that. Highly recommended.

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.

Fellow rapper Pimp C founded the rap duo Underground Kings in the late 1980s with friend Mitchell Queen. The lineup didn’t last long however and Bun B ultimately joined, alter securing a record deal with independent Houston label Bigtyme Records. The pair’s debut output was the well-received EP “The Southern Way”, which raised the duo's exposure and led to them signing with Jive Records. Unable to release much of their hardcore, explicitly content on their debut full-length, the EP “Banned” was issued in 1993 to satisfy fans. The studio album “Too Hard to Swallow” arrived in 1993 on Jive Records, succeeded by “Super Tight” in 1994, “Ridin’ Dirty” in 1996, and “Dirty Money” in 2001.

Following the arrest of his UGK partner Pimp C, Bun B began making appearances on songs by Paul Wall, Webbie, and Yung Joc, before releasing the mixtape “Legends” in 2005. The same year Bun B issued his debut solo album “Trill”, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 aided by the singles “Draped Up”, “Git It”, and “Get Throwed”. In 2007 UGK partner Pimp C was found dead in a hotel room, and Bun B’s sophomore album “Il Trill” was in large part a tribute to his former colleague. Debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the album proved his most successful to date, spawning the singles “That’s Gangsta”, “You’re Everything”, and “Damn I’m Cold”.

Two years later Bun B’s third studio album “Trill OG” hit the shelves featuring 2Pac, T-Pain, Trey Songz, Drake, and Slim Thug. Led by the single “Countin’ Money”, the record earned favourable reviews and charted at No. 4 upon release. “Trill OG: The Epilogue” followed in 2013 once again featuring a host of high-profile contributions from the likes of Big K.R.I.T, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, and Redman. Debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200, the record received positive reviews and cemented Bun B’s position as one of the most celebrated rappers in hip-hop.

Before Charlene Keys assumed the moniker Tweet in the early '90s, she had sung in her local church alongside her parents and four siblings. Inspired by the powerful diva images and sounds of Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Tuna Turner and Whitney Houston, the singer enrolled at Rochester’s School of the Arts to pursue a career in music. After graduating, Tweet became one third of the female R&B trio Sugah alongside Susan Weems and Rolita White. The group was also a part of Devante Swing’s Swing Mob collective, which is where the singer became affiliated with rapper and producer Timbaland and “guardian angel” Missy Elliott, among others.

Towards the tail-end of the ‘90s with Sugah’s prospects not looking too promising, Tweet left the group and fell into somewhat of a slump. This however lasted until a phone call from Missy Elliott who invited Tweet to contribute backing vocals on her upcoming album “Miss E… So Addictive”, providing the singer with a glimmer of hope. Following her contribution to five of the albums' tracks, the singer met up with Timbaland, Magoo, Playa, and Ginuwine, later recording vocals on Timbaland and Magoo’s “Welcome to Our World” and Timbaland’s solo effort “Tim’s Bio: Life from da Basement".

Tweets debut album “Southern Hummingbird” was released in April 2002, led by the single “Oops (Oh My)” featuring Missy Elliott. The single peaked at No. 3 in the U.S and No. 5 in the UK, and was proceeded by the singles “Call Me” and “Boogie 2nite”. After years of nearly earning a breakthrough, Tweet became a recognised singer in her own right, later appearing on the albums of Karen Clark Sheard, Ms. Jade, Whitney Houston, and Meshell Ndegeocello.

The singer’s sophomore album “It’s Me Again” arrived in 2005 largely produced by Missy Elliott. The record was led by the singles “Turn da Lights Off”, "When I Need a Man” and “Cab Ride”, following which Tweet signed with Matthew Knowles of the management company Music World. After a significant hiatus, Tweet released the five-track EP “Simply Tweet” in 2013, and marked the first of the singer's releases not to feature Missy Elliott in any form.

During her free time in high school, Trina began writing rhymes until she caught the eye of Miami rapper Trick Daddy who offered the rapper a guest spot on his single “Nann Nigga” in 1998. The song became Trick Daddy’s lead single from his sophomore album “www.thug.com”, which reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100, and exposed Trina to huge audience. Due to the success Trina signed with Slip-n-Slide Records who issued her debut album “Da Baddest Bitch” in March 2001. Although the rapper failed to maintain creative control the album debuted at No. 33 on the Billboard 200, and stayed there for 29 weeks.

Working alongside Missy Elliot for her sophomore album, Trina had complete creative control over the release, which was released in August 2002. “Diamond Princess” debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the singles “Told Y’all” featuring Rick Ross, “No Panties”, and “B R Right” featuring Ludacris. The same year Trina launched her own label Diva Enterprises, which later became DP Entertainment, and signed the nine-year-old rapper Lil Brianna.

Trina’s third full-length album “Glamorest Life” was issued in October 2005 and out-performed both its predecessors, debuting at No. 11 on the Billboard 200. The album was led by the single “Don’t Trip” featuring Lil Wayne, and aided by the single “Here We Go” featuring Kelly Roland. After signing with EMI in 2007, Trina released two mixtapes “Rockstarr Royalty” and “Baddest Chick 2: Reloaded” ahead of her fourth full-length “Still da Baddest” in 2008. Reaching No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart, the album sold 47,000 in its first week.

Led by the single “That’s My Attitude”, Trina’s fifth studio album “Amazin’” was released in May 2010, and later spawned the hits “Million Dollar Girl”, “White Girl”, and “Always”. In 2011 Trina released the mixtape “Diamonds Are Forever”, which featured the singles “Ghetto”, “Waist So Skinny”, and “Can I”. The single “Beam” arrived in July 2012 featuring GunPlay, as well as the single “Bad Bitch” featuring Lolo Monroe and Shawnna.

Green’s musical career began in the mid-nineties with the southern hip hop group Goodie Mob; they rose to prominence by appearing on two tracks on Outkast’s classic debut album ‘Southernplaylisticadillacmuzik’, and released three full-length records that met with critical acclaim within the hip hop community in their native U.S. Green left the group after the release of ‘World Party’ in 1999, and after decidedly mixed fortunes for the next few years in which he pursued a solo career, Green would achieve worldwide fame when he hooked up with super-producer Danger Mouse to form the duo Gnarls Barkley.

Their single ‘Crazy’, from their debut album ‘St. Elsewhere’, became a number one smash around the globe in 2006, and would eventually be named song of the decade by rolling Stone magazine. Both ‘St. Elsewhere’ and the follow-up, ‘The Odd Couple’, met with critical and commercial success, but Green would go on to prove that he was no one-hit wonder; in 2010, when his solo record ‘The Lady Killer’ became one of the albums of the year, the lead single ‘Fuck You!’ - renamed ‘Forget You’ for radio reasons - topped the charts worldwide and scooped a clutch of Grammy nominations for the singer.