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Yo Gotti is among the many hardcore rappers who came out of hip-hop's Dirty South school in the late '90s. He is also one of the hip-hoppers who derive part of their stage names from the late New York Mafioso John Gotti; others have included Big Gotti, Don Gotti, and Juan Gotti, among others. Not all Dirty South recordings are gangsta rap, but Yo Gotti has favored this thugged-out gangsta style, and he gets his inspiration from both Southern and non-Southern rappers. Master P and his New Orleans-based No Limit posse are an influence; so are N.W.A., Dr. Dre, and the late Tupac Shakur. Gotti's more sexually explicit lyrics also owe something to Oakland native Too Short, who was never a gangsta rapper but did a lot to popularize X-rated rap lyrics. Yo Gotti, however, isn't from the West Coast any more than he is from New Orleans; his stomping ground is Memphis, the city that gave us the Three 6 Mafia, Gangsta Blac, Eightball & MJG, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, and quite a few other Dirty South artists. When Gotti boasts that he is "straight from the North," he doesn't mean the northern part of the United States; he means the northern part of Memphis, where he lived in the infamous, crime-ridden Ridge Crest housing projects. And Memphis' more dangerous neighborhoods have inspired many of Gotti's lyrics, which often describe the dangers of life in the 'hood. Gotti, however, doesn't always rap about crime and inner-city thug life; he also raps about sex quite a bit. After performing around Memphis in the '90s, Gotti started building a catalog in the early 2000s. His first album, From da Dope Game 2 da Rap Game, came out on the Inevitable label in 2000; his subsequent Inevitable releases included 2001's Self Explanatory and 2002's Block Burnin', Vol. 1. After that, Gotti signed with TVT and recorded Life, which came out in 2003. TVT released "Dirty South Soldiers" (a duet with Atlanta crunk star Lil' Jon) as Life's first single. After having his track "Full Time" featured in the film Hustle & Flow, he released Back 2 da Basics in 2006. A series of Cocaine Muzik mixtapes carried the rapper to 2012 when his first major-label release, Live from the Kitchen, landed on RCA. The album I Am followed in 2013 and featured the singles "Act Right" with YG and Jeezy, plus "King Shit" featuring T.I. In 2015, he returned with the single "Errrbody" plus the mixtape Chapter One, both of them promotional tools for his fifth studio effort, The Art of the Hustle. ~ Alex Henderson Follow @YoGottiKOM on twitter! Follow @NICKIMINAJ on twitter! http://yogottimusic.com http://smarturl.it/TheArtofHustle

Durk D. Banks, aka Lil Durk, is a rapper and singer from the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois' South Side. He started issuing mixtapes through OTF (Only the Family) in August 2011 with I'm a Hitta and quickly followed it with I'm Still a Hitta (April 2012) and Life Ain't No Joke (October 2012), the latter of which came out just after the typically melodic and kicked-back "L's Anthem," his debut single for Def Jam. The same year, he was featured on a string of tracks with fellow Chicago natives and close associates like Lil Reese, Fredo Santana, and Chief Keef. "Dis Ain't What U Want," his second Def Jam single, came in May 2013, just before his affiliation with French Montana's Coke Boys was made official. His debut album, Remember My Name, followed in 2015 and featured Logic, Jeremih, and King Popo as guests. ~ Andy Kellman Follow @lildurk_ on twitter! Follow @DeJLoaf on twitter! http://officiallildurk.com

After a false start with 50 Cent's G-Unit label, the career of O.T. Genasis truly took off when Busta Rhymes caught the Atlanta-born, Long Beach-raised rapper performing the early-2014 single "Touchdown" not once, not twice, not three times, but four consecutive times for a demanding but rapt crowd. O.T. Genasis subsequently joined Busta's The Conglomerate Entertainment label and signed to parent label Atlantic for distribution. Together they released a version of "Touchdown" with verses from Busta and French Montana. The relatively relaxed follow-up single "CoCo," another ode to dealing cocaine, was released that November and swiftly became a bigger hit. Genasis plans to release his major-label debut album in 2015. ~ Andy Kellman Follow @otgenasis on twitter! otgenasis.com smarturl.it/CutIt

Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate hit potential in subsequent years (e.g., "S.O.S." in 2006; "Umbrella" in 2007; "Disturbia" in 2008). However, it was the singer's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, that made her a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presence atop the charts. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, she exhibited a certain star quality as a young child, often winning beauty and talent contests. Because she lived on the fairly remote island of Barbados in the West Indies, however, she never foresaw the sort of stardom she would later attain. That stardom came courtesy of a fateful meeting with Evan Rogers. The New Yorker was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island, when he was introduced to Rihanna. Rogers had spent years producing pop hits for such superstars as *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Laura Pausini, and Rod Stewart, and he offered the talented Rihanna a chance to record. Along with Rogers' production partner, Carl Sturken (the other half of Syndicated Rhythm Productions), Rihanna recorded several demos that sparked the interest of the Carter Administration — that is, the newly appointed Def Jam president Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. This led to an audition, and Rihanna both received and accepted an on-the-spot offer to sign with Def Jam. Come summer 2005, Def Jam rolled out "Pon de Replay," the lively leadoff single from Music of the Sun. Produced almost entirely by Rogers and Sturken, the song synthesized Caribbean rhythms with urban-pop songwriting. "Pon de Replay" caught fire almost immediately, climbing all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and contesting the half-summer reign of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" atop the chart. The debut album spawned one other hit, "If It's Lovin' That You Want," which also broke the Top 40. Rihanna's follow-up effort, A Girl Like Me, saw even greater success and spawned three sizable singles: a chart-topper ("S.O.S.") and two Top Ten hits ("Unfaithful," "Break It Off"). Rihanna's third album, 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad, continued her success while signaling a change of direction. Whereas her past two albums had been imbalanced — often weighed down by faceless balladry and canned Caribbean-isms — Good Girl Gone Bad was a first-rate dance-pop album, stacked with several chart-topping singles and boasting collaborations with Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and StarGate. The lead single, "Umbrella," shot to number one, as did "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia." Its success turned Rihanna into one of the planet's biggest pop stars. Rated R was released in 2009 during the wake of a physical altercation with romantic interest Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to felony assault. The album's lead single, "Russian Roulette" — written with Ne-Yo — was one of the year's most controversial singles, and it set the tone for the singer's new, dark direction. Rated R peaked within the Top Five of the Billboard 200, while another one of its singles, "Rude Boy," topped the Hot 100. Rated R: Remixed was released in the spring of 2010 and featured ten tracks from the album revamped for the dancefloor by Chew Fu. Loud, Rihanna's fifth studio album, followed in November and was led by the StarGate-produced "Only Girl (In the World)." That song, as well as the follow-up singles "What's My Name?" and "S&M," all topped the Billboard Hot 100. In November 2011, shortly after Loud's "Cheers (Drink to That)" entered the Top Ten, the singer released Talk That Talk. The single "We Found Love" with Calvin Harris earned the top spot in the Hot 100, and the album peaked at number three. Unapologetic, Rihanna's seventh studio album, featured some of her brashest material and was led by "Diamonds" — her 18th Top Ten single. Unapologetic became her first number one album, and eventually produced further Top Ten hits in "Stay" and "Jump." By the fall of 2013, another record had fallen: her feature on Eminem's "The Monster" helped it hit number one on the pop charts, tying her with Michael Jackson for the most chart-toppers in Billboard chart history. The song won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. In early 2015, Rihanna released "FourFiveSeconds," a stripped-down single featuring the unlikely duo of Kanye West and Paul McCartney. It topped the Hot 100 and was followed by the cruder "Bitch Better Have My Money," which led the way to Anti several months later. Follow @Rihanna on twitter! Follow @Drake on twitter! https://www.antidiary.com/