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hip hop

Lil' Kim

Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1975 in Brooklyn, New York), better known as Lil' Kim or Queen Bee, is a Grammy Award winning American rapper and actress signed to <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Jay-Z" class="bbcode_artist">Jay-Z</a>'s Roc Nation label. She is known for her sexually explicit lyrics and for being one of the most prominent female rap artists of her time. She began her career with <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Junior+M.A.F.I.A." class="bbcode_artist">Junior M.A.F.I.A.</a>, whose album Conspiracy generated three hit singles.

House of Pain

House of Pain was an Irish-styled American hip-hop group who released three albums in the early to mid 90's before lead rapper Everlast decided to pursue his solo career again. The group is best known for its 1992 hit single Jump Around. The band's history starts with a failed short solo career, Everlast teamed up with DJ Lethal and high school friend Danny Boy to form House of Pain. The group was signed to Tommy Boy Records, and their self-titled debut album (1992) went multi-platinum, spawning the successful DJ Muggs produced single Jump Around.

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Xzibit

Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan), better known by his stage name Xzibit, is an American rapper, actor, and host of MTV's Pimp My Ride. He began his music career as a member of the Likwit Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers including King Tee, Defari, and Tha Alkaholiks. He released his solo debut album 'At The Speed Of Life' in 1996 and has since released 5 more albums, his latest being Full Circle, released in 2006. His new album MMX is expected to be released sometime in 2011.

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Tech N9ne

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne or Tecca Nina is an American rapper, co-owner of Strange Music Records and actor. His career has spanned over 24 years, during which he has released eleven albums. According to the He's a Mental Giant Songfacts, his stage name originated from the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, given to him by rapper Black Walt due to his fast rhyming style.

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Buck 65

Richard Terfry, better known as Buck 65, is a Canadian hip hop artist, MC and turntablist. However he has recently moved away from hip hop in a stylistic context, and is moving closer to blues, country, rock, folk and avant-garde genres. That said, his new direction is seemingly still underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his trademark rhyme-phrasing and lyrical aspiration evident in the altered timbre vocal delivery displayed in his more recent releases. Buck 65 has also introduced his style as crap, a mixture between country and rap.

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Rahzel

Rahzel, born Rahzel M. Brown, is an American musician. He is a hip hop MC who specializes in beatboxing (he calls himself a 'vocal percussionist'). He is probably best known as a member of The Roots. He is also called "the Godfather of Noyze". Growing up in the Bronx, Rahzel went to Grandmaster Flash's shows regularly and later became a roadie of the Ultramagnetic MCs. He was also influenced by artists like Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, Bobby McFerrin, Buffy of the Fat Boys, and Al Jarreau.

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Blacastan

You will never catch BLACASTAN rocking a mullet or a neon cardigan. Blacastan will never duet with a boy band or auto-tune his lyrics. His sound is not only the past, but a glimpse of an unpaved lane on the highway to hip hop's holy land, the physical embodiment of this rap shit the way it was meant to be heard. The second coming of the shit you used to watch @ 4:30 PM on BET in 1994. Classic material.

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Das Racist

Das Racist is a hip hop group, formed in 2008 and based in Brooklyn, New York, comprised of Queens-born Himanshu Suri and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez. Suri and Vazquez met in 2003 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where Victor was Himanshu's resident advisor in a "Students of Color for Social Justice" theme dormitory. Suri was a member of the Eclectic Society and is also an alumnus of School of Oriental and African Studies.

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Das EFX

The duo “Das EFX” emerged in 1991 from the well-established East Coast Hip-Hop scene. The group is composed of Willie “Skoob” Hines and Andre “Krazy Drayz” Weston. With their first album “Dead serious” released in 1992, the group creates a mini-revolution by using an ultra-fast rap associated with funky beats. The album was a commercial success. The following year, Das EFX released their second LP “Straight up Sewaside", “Hold it down” in 1995, and “Generation EFX” in 1998. Their last album was "How We Do" which was released in 2003.