55 Facts for all you Hip-Hop heads :
1. Biz Markie produced most of EPMD's first album.
2. The original four elements of hip-hop are emceeing, B-boying (breaking), DJing and graffiti.
3. Big Pun hit Jay-Z over the head with a bottle in a club ( Rumour )
4. The original 50 Cent ( Not Curtis jackson ) ran with Eric B. & Rakim back in the day and he is pictured in the "Paid In Full " 1987 album back cover, he is at the front with the red adidas hat. 50 Cent ( Curtis Jackson ) actually got his name from him his real name Kelvin “50 Cent” Martin, A criminal infamous for robbing rappers.
5. Rakim recorded a diss cut aimed at Big Daddy Kane for "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em" and had a verse on the title track itself aimed at him. 'Kane heard about this and called Rakim to squash it and Rakim went on to scrap the track and remove the verse.
6. Eric.B did security for Mike Tyson throughout much of the 90's.
7. Eric. B beat down Large Professor and ran Kool g rap out of New York to Arizona after 'G. Rap revealed Large Pro produced most of the beats Eric B was supposed to have done on the Eric B. & Rakim albums.
8. Ghostface Killah wore a mask in early Wu Tang photos and Da Mystery Of Chessboxin video cause he had a warrant for his arrest.
9. Dj Quik engineered most of All Eyes On Me and Dogg pounds album. He didn't use his name because he was under contract with Profile records, so he used his real name David Blake.
10. LL Cool J song I Shot Ya was a dissed towards 2pac because he started dating Quincy Jones daughter whom he use to date.
11. Nas got dissed by Biggie on Kick In The Door because he sided with Raekwon & Ghost on the track Glaciers.
12. Ice T was a hustler and a pimp before he picked up the Mic
13. Mf grimm was supposed to be on "Live at the Barbecue" but he was arrested on the way to the studio.
14. The mercede's ladies were the first all-female rap group.
15. LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee came to blows one night backstage.
16. Eminem only sold 1,000 copies of his 1996 debut album Infinite.
17. Da Brat was the first female solo rapper to have a platinum-selling album.
18. P.diddy/Mr. Combs was once a back-up dancer for Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D.
19. Nas co-wrote Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," and it was the only Grammy Award-winning project of his career.
20. As they sat in a movie theatre for the opening clip of "Killing Me Softly," The Fugees are watching the original rejected version of the song's video.
21. Eazy-E signed a pre-Fergie Black Eyed Peas to his own Ruthless Records in 1992.
22. Before she hit the mainstream, Queen Latifah started out beatboxing for the female rap group, Ladies Fresh.
23. Grandwizard Theodore is credited as the "creator of scratching.
24. The late '80s and early '90s are referred to as hip-hop's "golden era."
25. The first project released by Bad Boy Records was Craig Mack's single "Flava In Ya Ear."
26. Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg and Warren G were once in a local rap group named 213, which was L.A.'s original telephone area code.
27. Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell was the first hip-hop DJ. He's credited with originating the modern hip-hop genre in the early 1970s at a party in the Bronx.
28. Afrika Bambaataa was the first rap artist to record a song with James Brown--"Unity" in 1984.
29. Kurtis Blow became the first rapper to appear on national television.
30. Nas' intro to "NY State of Mind" ("I don't know how to start this shit") was a mistake, and he spat the entire first verse in just one take.
31. Yo! MTV Raps hits the TV airwaves in 1988.
32. Tupac launched his career as a roadie and dancer for Digital Underground.
33. Jazzy Jay first introduced Rick Rubin to Russell Simmons.who joined forces to launch Def Jam Records in 1984.
34. A significant amount of hip-hop heavyweights died in their 20s: Aaliyah (22), Left Eye (25), Tupac (25), Biggie Smalls (24), Big L (24) and Big Pun (28).
35. Jay-Z's "99 Problems" was originally Ice-T's single. The song appears on Ice's 1993 album Home Invasion.
36. Dr. Dre was in a group called the World Class Wreckin Cru before he was in N.W.A.
37. Producer Large Professor showed DJ Premier how to use the SP-1200 drum machine.
38. Interscope Records severed their ties with Death Row back in 1997.
39. Jay-Z and Nas had a nasty rap battle where Jay details his sexual relationship with Nas' baby mama. The two have since made up
40. Slick Rick’s characteristic eyepatch was acquired after being blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant. In a VH1 special, it was revealed the broken glass was caused during a holiday dinner gunfight.
41. Big L was murdered as revenge for something his brother did. He was shot 8 times, including in the head, because the killer had a beef with his brother, who was in jail at the time.
42. LL Cool J wanted to do a song with Ol’ Dirty Bastard but when ODB arrived at the studio he ripped off one of LL’s plaques and pissed on it, which resulted in him being thrown out the building by security.
43. Rakim wrote a vast majority of his verses for the legendary Eric B & Rakim album “Paid in Full” 2-3 years before the album was released, meaning that he was only 15/16 years of age when he wrote the verses hence his nickname ‘The God MC’
44. At the time N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988, Eazy-E was the only member of the group with a criminal record and a drug-dealing past.
45. “Music Man” was the first Masta Ace song Eminem recollects hearing. He’s one of Em’s biggest influences.
46. Tupac’s Me Against the World was originally called Out on Bail.
47. MF Doom was born in London.
48. Busta Rhymes sampled the Psycho score for his track “Gimme Some More.’”
49. Outkast was booed when they won their 1995 Source Award for Best New Rap Group.
50. Tupac auditioned for the role of Bubba in Forrest Gump.
51. UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty was hugely influenced by 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me album.
52. Pete Rock’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” was written for a childhood friend, T-Roy, who died in 1990. When the track was complete, everyone in the studio cried after listening to it.
53. Eminem recorded all three verses of “Lose Yourself” in one take during a break from filming 8 Mile. He also wrote the entire song on the set.
54. Nate Dogg’s vocals to “Regulate” were recorded in a closet due to lack of furniture in Warren G's apartment.
55. Nas’s father did the trumpet solo at the end of his track “Dance.” The song was dedicated to Nas's mother who died of cancer in 2002
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