After the group broke up, they all went their separate ways and did their thing. Eazy-E did his solo thing, and also went on to sign, Bonethugz-N-Harmony, one of the most commercially successful rap groups in Hip Hop history. Ice Cube went on to do his thing, and also form another rap group, Westside Connection with Mac 10 and WC. He also helped female rapper, Yo-Yo start her career. Dr. Dre went on to find Snoop Dogg, and their chemistry together gave birth to G Funk sound on the west. Dre also helped with Tupac's career. After falling out with Pac and Death Row Records, he went on to work with Nas, and put together a rap group; The Firm, back in 1996. The group consisted of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega...Mega was later replaced with Nature.
You can see that Dr. Dre really has a legendary track-record. The Firm didn't do so well commercially, so the group was dismantled. And Dre went solo for a while, helping rappers and R&B acts with his legendary production, but never really working fully with anyone. And then he signed Eminem in 1998, and things have been popping for him since then. Eminem released his debut album in 1999, and The Slim Shady LP went on to sell 4 million copies. Eminem's second album, The Marshall Marthers LP was released the following year and sold 1.76 million copies in its first week...and went on to sell 10 million copies in the U.S. Eminem and Dr. Dre jointly signed 50 Cent to Shady Aftermath in 2002, and Dre, created another rap phenomenon. Dre also went on to sign Compton rapper, The Game to Aftermath records in 2003...and now, he has Kendrick.
50 Cent carried on tradition, and developed his own artists, Tony Yayo, Young Buck and Lloyd Banks who were also very successful at a point. Lets go to the East Coast- Jay-Z was once a protege of Big Daddy Kane in the early 90s, but Jay has gone on to birth a hundred other Jay-Z's. More rappers follow Jay-Z's footsteps than any other rapper in Hip-Hop history. Lets examine his family tree- he went from being with Jaz-O (in the late 80s), to being Big Daddy Kane's protege in the early 90s, to forming his own label (Rocafella Records) with Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs , to signing Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, and Kanye West. Kanye West went on to sign Kid Cudi, John Legend, Common, Pusha T, Big Sean, and 2 Chainz. And he definitely influenced a lot of the rappers on the scene currently...Drake has stated Kanye as an influence many times.
So, you see that every rapper has roots connected to older rappers one way or the other. Who else is popping right now, Lil Wayne? Although from the south, he has stated many times that he was heavily influenced by Jay-Z. Who else? During an interview, when Lupe was asked where he got the "fiasco" in his name from and he said he was heavily influenced by Nas, and liked the title of one of The Firm's (nas's group back in the mid 90s) songs titled Firm Fiasco, so he just picked the name from there. Nas got a lil bit of Rakim and also a lil bit of Slick Rick (the greatest story teller rapper) in him...Jay-Z got a lil bit of Big Daddy Kane in him. Raekwon, Big Pun, Mobb Deep, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem, Big L and Fat Joe were all influenced by Kool G Rap. Eminem is one of the the greatest rappers in hip hop history, but he too has rappers he was influenced by. Ice T, Beastie Boys, Redman, LL Cool J, Esham and Master Ace influenced Em's style...all these names came directly from Eminem's mouth at one point or the other.
Every rapper has one influence or two; And, if you don't understand some old school rappers, note that they might be your favourite rapper's favourite rapper. Hip-Hop has evolved through the last three decades, but it is cool to note the fore-fathers, and how they have influenced the rappers of today.
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