106 KMEL Block Party

David Banner
One half of the rap duo Crooked Lettaz, David Banner helped put Mississippi on the map in 1999. In 2000, he released his first solo album in Them Firewater Boyz, Vol. 1. Originally on Penalty Records, he realized quickly that a New York-based record label just didn't know how to handle the south.

Rick Ross
Tattooed with pictures of AK-47s, Miami's six-foot, 300-pound rap figure known as Rick Ross embraced his city's reputation for drug trafficking on his debut single, "Hustlin'," in 2006.

Ashanti
With hitmaker Irv Gotti at the helm, Ashanti blasted into the urban music scene in 2002, topping the charts with multiple singles at once. She quickly became a sensation, gracing the covers of magazines and dominating urban radio.

Trey Songz
He loved hip-hop growing up, but the only R&B he could get into was R. Kelly. But when his friends heard his perfect tenor voice, they pushed Trey Songz to drop rap and start crooning.

Pretty Ricky
Outrageously raunchy Miami-based quartet Pretty Ricky -- Spectacular, Diamond, Slick, and Pleasure -- make a bouncing hybrid of rap and R&B coated in at least 30 layers of sleaze. They debuted in 2005 with Bluestars, released by Atlantic.

Ne-Yo
Songwriter, arranger, and vocalist Ne-Yo was born Shaffer Smith in Arkansas and raised in Las Vegas, NV. His start in the music industry came as a songwriter. Prior to exiting his teenage years, he penned material for Youngstown and broke through in 2004 with Mario's "Let Me...

Lloyd
Urban crooner Lloyd topped BET's play list singing a steamy duet with Ashanti, but he got his first spins on the anything-but-steamy Radio Disney. Born January 3, 1986, in New Orleans but raised in Atlanta, Lloyd joined N-Toon -- the teen pop group put together by Klymaxx's Joyce...

Yung Berg
Chicago native Yung Berg sat in the music industry background for the first half of the 2000s before his "Sexy Lady" jam blew up in 2007. At 15 years of age, he already had a record deal, signed to DMX's fledgling Bloodline Records, but his parents hastily pulled him out...

The-Dream
R&B singer/songwriter Terius Youngdell Nash, better known as the-Dream, was born in Rockingham, NC, but moved down to Atlanta, GA, with his mother at the age of three. He first learned to play trumpet in elementary school, later picking up the drums and guitar.