Birdman, Lil Boosie, Master P, Silkk the Shocker, Mia X, Fiend, Mac, Mr. Serv-On, Cash Money, Mannie Fresh, e Boosie Badazz

To give you an indication of the degree to which hip hop and the business world now cross over, consider the fact that Birdman - or Bryan Williams, when he’s at home - has released four solo records, all of which met with a lukewarm critical reception and did reasonably well commercially; the highest chart peak for one of those records was at number nine in the U.S. Now consider the fact that he is worth an estimated $160 million. This is a man so rich that once gave Lil Wayne a million dollars in cash for his birthday. Quite rightly, too, though, because Wayne is a big part of why Birdman is so wealthy; he’s the founder of Cash Money Records. Accordingly, he’s spent more time recently working on his label and on the music of the label’s stars than his own material, but plans to release a new record of his own, Bigga Than Life, in the not-too-distant future; similarly, he only makes sporadic live appearances, and is often accompanied by some of his Cash Money proteges in order to augment his own back catalogue. The chances of new UK dates soon, then, are slim, with anybody lucky enough to catch his Shepherd’s Bush show with Drake in 2010 left to cherish the memory.

I would say that Lil Boosie is known as Torrence Hatch when he’s at home, but in fact, he’s probably been officially known by an identification number for the past few years; you won’t have seen him on stage since before 2009, since he’s been serving a prison sentence since for a variety of drug charges. He was released in March of this year, though, and now he needs to make up for lost time - it wasn’t just his impressive five records to date that carved out his reputation as one of the most promising prospects in hip hop prior to his incarceration, it was also his genuinely wild live shows. Boosie comes over like southern hip hop’s very own cross between, say, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Lil Wayne; there’s youthful exuberance in his unpredictable stage presence, sure, but a hint of the unhinged as well. With his comeback album Touchdown 2 Cause Hell released the same day I type this, his return to the road - a welcome one - is surely only around the corner.

Just like any other musical movement, hip hop in the nineties was dominated by a sound that was very much of its time; whilst many of the genre’s biggest acts, like Nas and Jay Z, adapted to the fact that the noughties saw a real shift in sonic terms - others, of course, like Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. never made it out of the decade - it wasn’t the case for plenty of other nineties artists. Master P is a fine example of what I’m talking about; a massive success in the nineties, he saw his star begin to wane once the decade was over, but his business dealings have guaranteed him the title of the world’s third richest hip hop figure, with a net worth of $350 million. His focus on the world of business these days has prevented him from touring to the same degree that he used to during his multi-platinum days, but he still makes sporadic performances from time to time, such as a slot at Insane Clown Posse’s Gathering of the Juggalos festival in 2012; he played a quickfire, twenty-minute set that was thrillingly energetic, with a DJ dropping P’s iconic beats and the man himself ripping through a slew of his own nineties classics; when you hear this man rap about money, you know he knows what he’s talking about.