Best Rappers From New York

By Olivia Cross


The hip hop music industry is filled with talent, but some of the best talent in the rap game rose to the top during the 1990s, when the feud between the West coast and the East coast was rife. The best rappers from New York are now well into their forties, and some of them are no longer living. However, they all had a strong influence in shaping the industry thanks to their experiences and hardships.

Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is perhaps the world's most successful rap star to date. He is 45 years old but shows no signs of slowing down, either in the music industry or with any of his lucrative businesses and entrepreneurial skills. Married to Beyonce Knowles, who is an icon on her own in the industry, Jay Z often works with his wife to create chart topping music. He also has a song glorifying New York, NY called 'Empire State Of Mind', which is a collaboration with R&B royalty Alicia Keys.

Shawn Carter has nineteen Grammys under his belt and has been at the top of the charts consistently for years. On the Rolling Stone's list of five hundred greatest albums of all time, there are three by Jay Z. As well as his music career, he is the owner and creator of Rocawear, Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation.

Tupac Shakur is legendary in the music industry, particularly when discussing the rivalry between the East coast and West coast in hip hop. A number of publications have named 2pac as one of the greatest artists of all time. His record sales worldwide have landed him a spot as one of the all-time bestselling artists as well.

Tupac Shakur was an incredibly influential rapper. He was born in 1971 in East Harlem. His life ended abruptly in 1996, where he suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a drive by shooting. Many will attest to the conspiracies surrounding his tragic death.

One cannot talk about Tupac Shakur without making mention of hip hop's other influential artist of the same time, Christopher Wallace. Better known as Notorious B. I. G., Biggie Smalls or Biggie, Wallace was raised by his mother in Brooklyn. Jay Z, Busta Rhymes and Biggie all attended the same high school. In 1997, Biggie was shot to death in a drive by shooting, just like Tupac Shakur.

Li'l Kim, Biggie's girlfriend for some time, also comes from Brooklyn. She got her start thanks to Biggie Smalls after giving him a freestyle, which impressed him immediately. After spending a lot of her younger years on the streets, Li'l Kim is the only other female rapper besides Missy Elliott with 3 albums at platinum status.

Biggie's best friend, Sean Combs, is very much a mogul and entrepreneur like his fellow rapper Jay Z. Raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Puffy - or Diddy, as he is more recently called - paid tribute to Notorious B. I. G. On a monster track entitled 'Missing You'. The single featured the voice of Biggie's wife, Faith Evans, as well. Sean Combs has been listed in Forbes Magazine as the richest man in hip hop.




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