Styles P, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, und Dave East

Born and bred in Yonkers, New York, alongside childhood friends and fellow rappers Jadakiss and Sheek, Styles P formed hip-hop group, The Lox, in 1994. With very little time passed the trio recorded a demo which subsequently landed into the hands of R&B singer Mary J. Blige. Impressed with the street influenced, East Coast rap style Blige gave the demo to Sean “Diddy” Combs who immediately offered the group a publishing deal. The deal allowed the group to collaborate with the likes of Diddy, the Notorious B.I.G., and Mariah Carey, and raised the group's profile and notoriety in the hip-hop mainstream. Styles P released two full-length albums with the group, “Money, Power & Respect” in 1998 and “We Are the Streets” in 2000, before focusing on his solo pursuits.

In 2002 Styles P issued his debut full-length album “A Gangster and a Gentlemen” through Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records. Climbing to No. 6 on the Billboard 200, the record earned positive reviews from the press, led by the No. 22 single “Good Times”. Despite earning more favourable reviews and production from The Alchemist, Styles P’s follow-up, “Time Is Money”, peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard 200. In a split release between Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Koch Records, the rapper’s third album “Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentlemen)” was released in December 2007. Rising to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, the record was led by the singles “Blow Ya Mind” and “Gangster, Gangster”.

In 2009 alongside D-Block, Styles P released the album “No Security”, followed a year later by the collaborative album “The Green Ghost Project” with DJ Green Lantern. The solo full-length “Master of Ceremonies” arrived in 2011, which was greeted with critical acclaim, and showcased a rapper determined to stick to his roots. The following year the talented performer issued the album “The World’s Most Hardest MC Project”, before releasing his sixth studio album to date “Float” in April 2013. Featuring Sheek Louch, Vado, Jadakiss, and Rocko amongst a host of other rappers, Style P released “Phantom and the Ghost” in April 2014, led by the single “Sour”.

The Philadelphia native Dwight E. Grant’s earliest hip-hop excursions came in 1994 when the rapper made appearances on a number of DJ Clue!’s mixtapes. Able to nurture an image and rising career for himself, Grant subsequently appeared on Jay-Z’s “Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life” and signed with Roc-a-Fella Records. Named after a street in South Philadelphia where Grant called home, Sigel’s debut album, “The Truth”, was released in 2000. Introducing Beanie Sigel’s smart, gritty, and hard-hitting rap delivery to a national audience, the record peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured the likes of Jay-Z, Eve, Memphis Bleek, and Kanye West on production. Earning a host of critical acclaim the album spawned the singles “Anything”, “Remember Them Days”, and “The Truth” and catapulted Sigel to rap notoriety.

A year later the rapper released his sophomore album “The Reason” this time with guest appearances from Daz Fillinger, Freeway, and Young Chris. Whilst not earning as favourable reviews as its predecessor the record peaked once again at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, after which Sigel starred in the Dame Dash-produced movie “State Property”. The film paved the way for the group State Property to form, who produced the film’s soundtrack in 2002 and subsequently “The Chain Gang Vol. 2” in 2003.

Despite the splintering of Damon Dash and Kareem Burke away from Roc-a-Fella, Sigel’s third full-length “The B. Coming”, released on Dame Dash Music Group, still featured a host of artists from the Roc-A-Fella roster including The Neptunes and Just Blaze. The record spawned the hit single “I Feel it in the Air” and generated a spread of rave reviews. Following a year’s prison sentence for a drugs and weapons possession charge, Sigel signed with Roc-A-Fella Record again and issued his fourth studio album “The Solution” in May 2007. Featuring guest appearances from Jay-Z, Ozzy Osbourne, R. Kelly and Ghostface Killah, the record was led by the single “All the Above” and charted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200.

Two years later the full-length “The Broad Street Bully” arrived marking Sigel's first independently released album. In 2010 he released the State Property collaborative album, “The Roc Boys”, alongside rapper Freeway, which hosts features from Wale, Young Chris and the Young Gunz. The rapper subsequently issued his sixth studio album “This Time” in 2012, following which he returned to prison for a two year sentence for tax evasion.