Continuing the Legacy: 10 Legendary Rappers Who Put Their Children On
Originally created as a means of entertainment to help cope with the poverty and other sociopolitical strains that weighed heavily on the urban community, hip-hop culture has long been considered an art for the disenfranchised.
And as rap began to grow into the culture's most popular form of expression, these sentiments were shared on wax, with acts like Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five and others speaking to the life and times of one trapped inside the matrix that is ghetto America. This continued throughout the '80s, with both socially-conscious and street-wise acts touching on the issues that plagued the inner-city, whether it was drug addiction, violence, lack of education or a lack of opportunities overall.
However, during this time, hip-hop gradually gained the attention of the mainstream and began to bloom into a cultural force, translating into more profits for the industry and prosperity for its artists, producers, and executives. The '80s may have been the calm before the storm of hip-hop's cultural explosion, but the '90s would change the entire landscape of hip-hop and birth countless moguls and millionaires. These hip-hop moguls have gone on to infiltrate the world of business and become bosses in their own right, helping break the cycle of poverty in their family and communities.
While these figures may have gotten into hip-hop out of sheer desperation as much as they did for their love of the art, their success has afforded their children a better lifestyle and a direct entrance into the music industry many of them never had.
With this in mind, The Boombox highlights 10 legendary rap stars that used their power, influence and connections to help put their children on in the rap game.