Philip Douglas Jackson is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive. A power forward, Jackson played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning cham…
Henry Charles Bukowski (born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was a German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of hi…
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an American Black Muslim minister and a spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he mad…
A cofounder of the musical group Talking Heads, David Byrne has also released several solo albums in addition to collaborating with such noted artists as Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, and Brian Eno. His…
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death. Born to slavery and freed by the…
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima was born in Guyana, South America. He was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University) and the Rutgers Graduate School and held degrees in African St…
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA, is an American music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, rapper, actor, director, composer, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in hi…
Dan Charnas is the author of the definitive history of the hip-hop business, The Big Payback (NAL/Penguin). He’s also the author of Work Clean (Rodale/Harmony), a book detailing applying chefs’ techni…
Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and e…
AJ Mendez Brooks is an author with The Leshne Agency and The Crown Publishing Group. As a former professional wrestler with the WWE under the ring name AJ Lee, she has won numerous championships and a…
Albert Johnson, better known by his stage name Prodigy, was an American rapper and entrepreneur who, with Havoc, was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep.
Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the story-teller, Boccaccio, and the poet, Petrarch, he forms…
Rakim reigns as one of hip-hop’s most transformative artists. Along with his partner Eric B., he recorded 1987’s Paid in Full, the landmark recording that MTV named "the greatest hip-hop album of all …
Joseph Antonio Cartagena, better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is a rapper, actor, and entrepreneur from the birthplace of hip-hop, the Bronx. He released his first solo album, Represent, in 1993, …
Born Lamont Jody Hawkins, U-God is an American rapper and hip-hop artist and one of the founding members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. A native New Yorker, Raw is his first book.
Kenan Thompson is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's his…
Chris Herring is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He previously spent five years covering the NBA for ESPN and FiveThirtyEight, and prior to that spent seven years at The Wall Street Journal, w…
