Hip-Hop

John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is a Grammy award nominated American rapper, actor and designer signed to Def Jam Records. He released his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous in 2001 and has since released 2003's Street Dreams, 2004's Real Talk and 2007's From Nothin' To Somethin', all of which have collectively sold over four million copies in the United States. His fourth studio album, Loso's Way, was released in July of 2009 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is a Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop artist and producer. He first became known to the mainstream hip-hop community in 2005 when he appeared on Kanye West's album Late Registration on the track "Touch the Sky." In 2006 Lupe released his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor on Atlantic Records, and in December 2007 he released his second full length album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool.

New Zealand producer Daimon Schwalger has released music under the name The Nomad for many years. The first album Movement was drum'n'bass, but subsequent releases have been downtempo releases with (obligatory in New Zealand) dub influences. Prior to his solo project he was performing drum'n'bass as part of trio Locust with Pearl Runga (sister of Bic Runga) and Ryan Smith (aka The Silversmith). They had no official releases.

De La Soul is a massively influential hip hop group, hailing from Amityville, New York, United States. They are best known for their eclectic sampling and quirky, surreal lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz hop subgenre. They are the best known of the early alternative hip-hop acts. The members are Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos, Mercenary, Plug Wonder Why, Plug One), David Jude Jolicœur (Trugoy the Dove, Dave, Plug Two) and Vincent Mason (Pasemaster Mase, Maseo, Plug Three).