Angel Haze, born Raeen Roes Wilson in 1991, grew up in Detroit in a religious household. In fact, she has gone on record as saying that her family belonged to what she has called a cult, a religious organization called Greater Apostolic Faith. She reported that the cult told her and other members what to … Read more
Hip hop recording artist and actress Eve set her sights on making music in high school. Born in 1978 in Philadelphia, she began focusing on becoming a legitimate performer by forming her own hip hop groups and writing music well before she graduated from school. She also gained experience by joining her school’s choir and … Read more
Born in Harlem in 1991, Azealia Banks grew up in a self-described abusive household. When she was two years old, her father died from pancreatic cancer. His death left Azealia’s mother so distraught that she became emotionally and physically abusive to both Banks and Banks’ older sister. Both girls endured years of physical torment until … Read more
Born Paul Michael Slayton in Houston in 1981, Paul Wall seemed destined at first to join a different career path than a hip hop and rap star. In fact, when he attended college at the University of Houston, he majored in Mass Communications instead of music. Nonetheless, while he was working for the station KBXX, … Read more
Born to a teenage mother in 1979, Yelawolf spent most of his childhood in poverty. In fact, because of his mother’s addiction to cocaine, he and his mother moved often, sometimes staying in poor neighborhood and projects. It was during his time in the projects in Nashville that Yelawolf, born Michael Wayne Atha, first came … Read more
MC Lyte, whose birth name is Lana Moorer, is hailed as one of the leading hip hop feminists in the world of music today. She came onto the music scene in the 1980s at a time when women had few female hip hop stars to look up to and model themselves after personally and professionally. … Read more