Flo Rida

Flo Rida is an American rapper and singer. He released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. His debut single "Low", featuring T-Pain, was a #1 hit for ten weeks in United States in early 2008. Two other singles resulted from Mail on Sunday: "Elevator" and "In the Ayer". In 2009, his second album R.O.O.T.S. was released; its most successful single "Right Round" was at the top of the Hot 100 for six weeks. Since then, he has released his third studio album titled Only One Flo (Part 1), which will see a sequel titled Only One Rida (Part 2).

Tags: dance, hip hop

Rescue Me

Tags: alternative, hip hop, indie

Akon

Akon is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.
According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first single from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination of the single "Smack That". He has since founded two record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution.
Akon often sings hooks for other artists and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has worked with numerous performers such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Quincy Jones, Eminem and Whitney Houston. He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. He has had six Grammy Awards nominations and has produced many hits for artists such as Lady Gaga, Colby O'Donis and Leona Lewis. Lady Gaga and T-Pain are two artists who were given their chance at fame by Akon. Akon is betting on his new signed artist Jeffree Star on being the next biggest pop star.

Tags: hip hop, pop, R&B

Rain

Rain is a South Korean pop and R&B singer, dancer, model, actor, businessman, and designer.
Rain's musical career includes seven albums (six Korean, one Japanese), 19 singles and numerous concert tours around the world. His acting career began in 2003, when he won the KBS Best New Actor award for his role in the drama Sang Doo! Let's Go To School. In 2004, Rain won the KBS Excellence in Acting award for his role in the drama Full House. After starring in A Love To Kill, he acted in his first Korean film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006), which won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Rain has acted in the American films Speed Racer (2008) and Ninja Assassin (2009), the latter of which made him the first Korean to win an MTV award.
In 2007, Rain left the management of JYP Entertainment and started his own company, J. Tune Entertainment.

Tags: hip hop, pop, R&B

Kanye West

Kanye West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synth-pop, and classical music.
West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. His five albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2011, West is the most honored rapper in Grammy history with a total of fourteen awards. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive #1 album in the U.S. upon release. As of May 2011, West currently has 4 songs above the 3 million mark with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,363,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000 and "E.T." selling 3,157,000 making him the top selling male digital artist of all time.
West also runs his own record label GOOD Music, home to artists such as John Legend, Common and Kid Cudi. West's mascot and trademark is "Dropout Bear," a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as various single covers and music videos.

Tags: hip hop, rap

Nuttin' But Stringz

Nuttin' But Stringz, also known as N.B.S., consists of brothers Damien and Tourie Escobar who both play violin. The musicians from Jamaica, Queens play a blend of classical music, hip-hop, jazz and R&B.

The brothers began studying violin at ages 8 and 7, respectively, and eventually studied at the Juilliard School.
In 2005, the duo entered and won a talent competition at the Apollo Theatre in New York. Their victory on Showtime at the Apollo led to media attention and appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show with Katie Couric, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Around the same time the duo showcased their talents at Carnegie Hall and performed for President George W. Bush at The White House.
On January 8, 2006, the Escobars performed their song Thunder at the debut of the redesigned Cadillac CTS at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Nuttin' But Stringz performed after a classical string quartet. General Motors Corp. executives used the two performances as an analogy, to demonstrate that what used to be good enough (the quartet) needs to be reinvigorated (N.B.S). A video for "Thunder" is also featured on the website for Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin. The exposure continued when they were featured in the first of five commercials featuring local artists on New York's local news channel, NY1.
NBS gained some national attention when their unique brand of music secured the brothers a small part in the 2006 dance movie Step Up, and shortly after CBS featured "Thunder" during the 2007 NCAA Tournament. "Thunder" was also featured in the pilot episode of the television series The Black Donnellys, and was sampled in various television commercials.
In spring 2009, NBS announced via the group's My Space pages that a new album was in the works, Struggle From the Subway to the Charts, and was followed later in that year by a hugely successful tour.
Their music has sold platinum.
They debuted their song "Winner" on "The Debrief with David Ushery" on New York Nonstop on July 23.
On February 13, 2011, Nuttin' But Strings performed "Winner" for The Boeing Company at the introduction ceremony of their new airplane, the Boeing 747-8.

Tags: Classical, hip hop, instrumental, Jazz, R&B

Craig David

Craig Ashley David, singer and songwriter from Southampton, England. He has released five studio albums: Born to Do It, Slicker Than Your Average, The Story Goes..., Trust Me, Signed Sealed Delivered and a Greatest Hits album.

David's earliest exposure came when he worked on a b-side to British group Damage's cover of "Wonderful Tonight". He then started doing vocals for a few tracks with garage act Artful Dodger. The song "Re-Rewind", from the Artful Dodger album It's All About the Stragglers, hit Number 2 on the UK charts in 1999; thus, paving the way for a solo career. David's first single, "Fill Me In", released on Colin Lester's and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar Records made him the youngest solo male artist ever to reach Number 1 in the United Kingdom (he was 18 years old at the time). This was the first of a string of four Top 10 singles from his debut album Born To Do It, which eventually sold more than seven million units worldwide, earning multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries.The song "Key To My Heart", taken from the US version of the album, was also featured on the award-winning Warner Brothers animated film Osmosis Jones.

Tags: dance, hip hop, R&B, UK garage