Nathaniel Thomas Wilson, better known by his stage name Kool G Rap, is an American rapper. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time, and a pioneer of mafioso rap/street/hardcore content and multisyllabic rhyming. On his album The Giancana Story, he stated that the "G" in his name stands for "Giancana", but on other occasions he has stated that it stands for "Genius".
Kool G Rap performing in 2004
Rapping is an African-American artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and [commonly] street vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The components of rap include "content", "flow", and "delivery". Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that it is usually performed off-time to musical accompaniment. It also differs from singing, which varies in pitch and does not always include words. Because they do not rely on pitch inflection, some rap artists may play with timbre or other vocal qualities. Rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music, and so commonly associated with that genre that it is sometimes called "rap music".
American rapper 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) sporting a hip-hop look at Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, June 3, 2010
Ekow, part of The Megaphone State rap duo, performing at the Sello Library in Espoo, Finland, in 2011
Nicki Minaj, a female rapper, is sometimes regarded as the “Queen of Rap”.
Russian rapper Oxxxymiron is one of the most viewed battle rappers in the world.