GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVEThere may have been other noteworthy DJs in the early days, like Kool Herc and Pete DJ Jones, but Joseph Saddler was the one who started to really scratch and spin.
SUGARHILL GANG
A couple of hip-hop wannabes were assembled in the studio just to make Rapper's Delight for the Sugarhill label and suddenly, rap was on the radio.
SCHOOLLY D
The original gangsta. Schoolly D emerged from Philadelphia in '85 rapping about being a Parkside Killer and hip-hop had a new way of talking loud.
RUN DMC
Hip-hop's first superstars. The trio from Queens took the sound onto MTV when they hooked up with Aerosmith for Walk This Way and went on to raise hell on a global level.
RUSSELL SIMMONS
Simmons may be a lousy rapper but his Def Jam label showed you could make millions from hip-hop, while the entrepreneur's Phat Farm fashion line provided an A to Z guide for nascent rap moguls.
PUBLIC ENEMY
No-one has ever managed to match PE's first three albums in terms of impact, power and panache. Even now, Yo! Bum Rush The Show, It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back and Fear Of A Black Planet sound like nothing else around. Still in business, they're now hip-hop's most revered heritage act.
NWA
The West Coast killers. NWA's Straight Outta Compton remains one of hip-hop's most startling albums with its nihilistic state-of-the-block address.
TUPAC
Hip-hop's doomed, misunderstood street poet. Tupac Shakur penned some of the genre's most potent rhymes (see the All Eyez On Me album) before he was shot dead in 1996.
EMINEM
The suburbs strike back. In 2006, Eminem appears to be all played out, but he put a hugely controversial spin on hip-hop when he went global in 2000. Also proved that rappers could act with Eight Mile. Fiddy should have taken notes.
KANYE WEST
The new superstar on the block. A hugely influential producer, West has shown with his College Dropout and Late Registration albums that he can also rock the mic.
