B.O.B

B.O.B was always a big music hunter. He always strived to mess with new sounds and beats to find create something new. He sold his first beat when he was only 14, and from there he was noticed that he is going to grow up and be sesnsation in the industry. He first started to get recognition in 2007 where he released his first single called haters everywhere. With the single he put himself on the map, but had a quick down fall. In 2010 he started to rise to the occasion again, with the single airplanes. Creating a song with Haley Williams from Paramore once again shot him straight to the top of the charts. This was one of those songs that people literally couldnt get away from. Every where you tuned into, BOOM!, that song was on. Ever since he mad songs with artist such as Bruno Mars, Tech Nine, Eminem, T.I, and a personal favorite of mine Hopsin. Talk about being at the top of the game, those artist are an elite group of people to work with, and he had the honor of doing so. 

Yelawolf

 In 2005 Yelawolf competed in the show road to stardom, so he could showcase his talents. This later got him inspired to release an independent album titled Creek water. Two years after the realize he was noticed by Colombia Records and they wanted to sign him ASAP. He jumped at the opportunity looking for it to change his career in music for the long term. When signing he dashed out an extended play of his songs along with four mixtapes. But then Shady Records came along and wanted him on the label as well. Seeing that CEO of the label Eminem wanted him on the team Yelawolf couldn't refuse. His long time idol just asked to join him and be apart of the Shady Record movement. This movement was to create the new team Slaughter House. this included Royce Da 5'9, Joe Budden, and even Eminem himself. He is very popular with many people, but still has not hit the scene has a major artist just yet. In my opinion he will soon be there and have everybody on watch for his unique style of rapping and unique style of fashion.

Wiz Khalifa

Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Wiz Khalifa was born into a family where both his parents were serving in the military. Due to a divorce Wiz had to move constantly because of the military duties his parents had. Living in the United Kingdom, Germany, and finally settling back in Pittsburgh. He loved music and decided to pursue it right out of high school. He came up with the name Khalifa because it is the Arabic term for successor and wisdom. Which was shortened to "Wiz" during his early stages in his life and this played off the word wisdom. 2005 -2008 he combined the nickname wiz and khalifa together which created his name he still used today. He put out self albums just to try and get his name out there. He didn't really hit the scene until 2009 with his album Deal or no Deal. Here is when he introduced himself as being much more lyrically gifted and playful. This album included songs such as In the cut, This Plane, and Name on a Cloud, which were all hits from the start. He also introduced a new group he was working with which was called Taylor Gang. Everyone putting their lyrical gifts together they were able to make it the big scene with Wiz Khalifa as the the leader of the pact. The song black and yellow which was a song to represent his love for his hometown Pittsburgh put him at the top of the charts. Every time flipping to a radio a station or music channel this song was playing non-stop. The success he had gave him enough publicity to put out his next album released in 2011 titled Rolling Papers. Ever since Khalifa has risen above or below the hype he once had. Still very well known, he will continue to make a splash in the game for years to come.  

big sean

Big Sean was born in Santa Monica California and moved to Detroit when he was two years of age.  Being raised by his mother and grandmother, he graduated high school with a 3.7 GPA. In Detroit he managed a relationship with a Detroit radio station which later allowed him to showcase his music abilities during the weekly rap battles which they would show case live. Kanye west was invited to the station for an interview, and when hearing this Big Sean chased the opportunity to meet him and perform some of his talents to him. Kanye at first did not want to bother with him, but he gave him an chance by letting him preform only 16 bars to showcase his talent. Two years down the road, Big Sean receives a phone call from west saying he wants to sign him to him label G.O.O.D Music. 2007-2009 where the years where Kanye had to experiment with Sean to see where he fits into musically. Here is where multiple mix tapes were put out and adjusted till Kanye felt his was ready. In 2010, Big Sean was ready. His Debut album which was available in stores hit the scene, and it featured multiple artist such as Rick Ross, Pharrel, and even Kanye himself. Big Sean is now one of the biggest new artist today, and looks at Kanye as more then a friend but as a mentor.

Tyler the Creator

Tyler the creator was born in Los Angeles, California in a Nigerian family. In his young years he had a hobby which would take album covers out of its case and make art covers of his own, which should his sense of imagery and creativeness. At the age of 14 tyler had taught himself how to play the piano which would be the start of his love and desire to play and be apart of music.
He started to write songs on his own, until he realized that he felt he was good enough to go big with this talent he started. Being in love with the world of hip-hop he decided to release his self produced album titled "Bastard." Even though he was in the group "Odd Future," he wanted to make this album his own. In 2010 it ranks 32nd on Pitchfork medias top albums list. For it being his first album, it got great publicity and and showed he was going to be a force in the industry. In 2011 he released his second album "Goblin," which featured the song "Yonkers." The song was a smash hit and it sooner or later became Tylers first music video to air on channels such as MTV and VH1. The video involved him eating a cockroach, throwing up, and wearing creepy black contacts. This actually worked in his benefit because it helped him be weird which overall helped him standout in a crowd of great musicians. He also dissed artist B.O.B and R&B artist Bruno Mars. This did start controversy between the artist but eventually passed over. The video also helped him win the Best New Artist award at the MTV Music Video Awards, and this helped put not just Tyler the Creator on watch, but Odd Future on everybody's radar as well.      

Iron Solomon

Iron Solomon is a NewYork born rapper, who grew up in Lower East Side Manhattan in a Jewish Heritage back Ground. He first wanted to get into the hip hop game early in his life, and it all started when his father brought home a N.W.A album titled "Straight of Compton." The album contained soulful beats, heavy bass, and a rock guitar. These key elements is what laid out the blue print for his career and what he wanted to strive for.
 His family consisted of multiple musicians so he spent his days in jazz studios all the time. Being around multiple instruments all the time he learned how to play the guitar at the age of 10, and from there he formed a garage band, but most importantly formed a rap group with a few of his friends from the neighborhood. He always stood out to the crowd because of his skin color which is white. He looked up to people such as biggie smalls, tupac and jimi hendrix. He took elements of these artist and formed his own type of style which made him have a unique style in rapping which helped him stand out rather then standing out because of his skin color.
With time and practice he developed his skill to the point where he felt comfortable doing rap battles. All of his opponents he faced were of some colored nationality which he used to his advantage. Every rapper would rap and diss about his skin color, which didnt make them different from any other rapper, but solomon steered away from race. He would diss people because of their appearance, name, etc. His ability to make up a diss on the spot and rhyme it declared him at the battle rap champion, which sooner or later lead to him giving him the self proclaimed named "The King."

How to video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsmnVDKRXn8

Kid Cudi

The man known as Kid Cudi actually not so underground, but is massively underrated in the Hip-Hop industry. Scott Mescudi was born January 30th 1984 in Cleveland Ohio. He is not only an musical artist, but an actor as well. With his release mix-tape album, "A kid named Cudi," he hit the scene right away. But it was hit single Day and night which put him on the map since it landed on the top 5 songs on the bill-boards charts early in his musical career. This song was on his later album "Day & Night: the end of the day," and critics called this album to be "Gold."

His second album was titled "Man on the Moon: The legend of Mr. Rager." This album released his two hit singles titled 'Erase me" and "Mr. Rager." He got a little bit more creative with this album but turning it into his own story. Every song was considered a chapter rather then a song on a track list. The story was telling the story of Kid Cudi turning into Mr. Rager which is his alter ego. He becomes Mr. rager at times when he i depressed or angry. It is basically his "demonic" self.

After his second album was released he announced he would be working with Dot da Genius rock band, which was also known as "Wizard." This led to his third album titled "Man on the Moon: return of the Wizard." When creating songs for this album Cudi also announced that he would be quitting something he was known for which was marijuana. Many of his fan felt this was going to be his down fall because they felt the drug was what mad his music amazing. After quitting, he started to write and suffered from writers block. Being off of the drug, it truly did have an impact on him and his music. The third album came out, and there was no publicity about it which lead to his early downfall. But he is currently determined on rising back up and becoming the massive star he was at one point.

Hopsin

One of My favorite artist in the rap industry today, Marcus Hopson is an underground rap artist who has had his ups and downs in his young career so far. The reason I respect this man is because of those struggles he had to go through which came mostly with a music label he signed with which was ruthless records. This label was once owned by the legend in hip-hop, Eazy-E.

After Eazy E's, death his widow Tomica Wright took over the label and decided to sign Hopsin, which would be his first signing with a label. After multiple promises telling Hopsin he would get exposure and financial support  from Mrs.Wright, she simply never came through with them. Getting completely frustrated with Tomica and the label, he lashed out at them by saying the most negative things about the company and the owner. According to Marcus himself he wasn't able to listen to the finally product of his album called Gazing at the Moonlight, every decision was up to the company and left Hopsin with no say. Making him feel the product was not even his.

When leaving the company, he met an artist known as SwiZz, who's brother Dan Ritter was starting an independent record  label called Funk Volume. Hop wanted to listen to SwiZz's rap style and flow to see if the signing would be for him. Instantly falling in love the the style, Hopsin signed ASAP. Since being with the label he released an album called Raw, and is currently finishing up his album titled Knock Madness which will release in March.

But other then his ups and downs in the rap game,  a few keys points people should understand about Hopsin is what he is all about:

1)   So far, his career has been defined by the way he makes fun of mainstream rappers that you see everyday. Artist such as Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Soulja Boy, and Lupe Fiasco, have all been made fun all in one song, called "Sag My Pants." Also in this song he talks about his signing with Ruthless Records and how he got screwed over. In the Ill mind of hopsin track he speaks his mind about Tyler the Creator who won the breakthrough artist of the year at the MTV music video awards.
2)The name "Hopsin" is obviously a play off of his last name "Hopson." But the name he created came from the thought of him being the future "Hip-Hop Sinister." Adding the two words to make one, he came with the final creation Hopsin.
3) Everyone is always confused about his white eye contacts. The reason for his is because he wanted to stand out from the rest of the African American rap artist. By putting in the contacts, he had a style, image, something people could remember him by. And by remembering him, he would one day get his name out there to multiple people and one day become a star.
4) He has two styles of rapping which he tries to play off of. The first style is called "Raw." This is something he actually created and eventually titled his album from it. He describes it as just being different from the rest and when you hear the styles its so good it hurts you like messing with an open wound. The second is called "Horror-Core." This is simply having a scary style and use of words. He developed this style from the artist Tech N9ne in there recent song together featuring B.o.B. "Am I a Psycho?"

Here are a few videos of songs i personally enjoy, hope you do as well. 

Playlist in order of videos:

1) Ill mind of Hopsin 4
2) Sag My Pants
3) How You Like Me Know feat SwiZz
4) Pans in the Kitchen
5) Am I Psycho feat Tech N9ne and B.o.B

Machine Gun Kelly

Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, Machine Gun Kelly is an up and coming artist who is hitting the scene at a fast pace as of late. Richard Colsan Baker received his lyricist name, because of his rapid fire type of flow that hits you so fast you end up wanting to replay the song to fully understand it. Best known for his three mix tapes, Lace up, 100 words and Running, and Rage Pack he his making a statement in the industry.

The reason he even started to rap was he ended up with a kid at a young age, got fired from his fast food job, and ended up being homeless. Him and his friends decided to let their talents shine and build their success from the ground up. Taking popular beat and making it his own, and recording recording booth built in his friends house, which he likes to call the "Rage Cage," he started to get attention of fellow Cleveland people. With the talent everyone saw in front of their eyes they decided to get him out to NYC to perform at the Apollo Theater. He went and performed his material, and became to be the first white rapper to win a contest at the Apollo in 2009.

Finally getting the exposure he felt he deserved to get, he was offered the opportunity to to premiere on MTV's SuckaFree Freestyle show. Presenting a verse from his go to song "Chip Off The Block" it was his television debut. While staying true to his dream, he kept coming out with videos to advertise himself to the public. P-Diddy finally got his eye on him and wanted him to sign to his label. So he flew him over to sign with Bad Boy Entertainment. This being his first label he signed, MGK finally reached what he wanted all these years. His video "Wild Boy"  was his 1st televised music video. I want everyone to keep their eye out for this artist because i promising him to rise to fame and be a big start in this industry.

What its all about

In this blog, i would like to talk about hip-hop music, both main-stream and underground. Many people may know about mainstream hip-hop, or what i like to call "radio" rap which i do like, but i would also like to inform everyone about artist from the underground, who are moving up in this particular genre, and share certain songs and news I feel are hot topic and hits. Hope you all enjoy.