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Houston-born rapper and producer Travis Scott's psychedelic trap style makes him one of the more distinctive talents to have risen to the height of mainstream commercial popularity. His heavily processed, half-sung/half-rapped style set him apart early on, and he grew from affiliations with Kanye West's GOOD Music and T.I.'s Grand Hustle in the early 2010s to chart-dominating popularity before the close of the decade. After his first studio album, 2015's Rodeo, debuted in the number three position, Scott followed with a pair of number one full-lengths, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016) and Astroworld (2018), all the while assisting on platinum singles headlined by the likes of Rihanna ("Bitch Better Have My Money"), SZA ("Love Galore"), and Drake ("Portland"), and working extensively with Quavo as Huncho Jack. Whether leading or supporting, Scott's presence was unmistakable, and he quickly accumulated Grammys, endorsement deals, and appearances in more than 80 charting songs. By the 2020s, Scott was one of the most successful living artists on the planet. This level of fame played into both extreme success and profound tragedy, with Scott being at the center of controversy surrounding the deaths and injuries of hundreds of fans at his 2021 Astroworld festival before debuting his genre-crossing, Grammy-nominated fourth album, 2023's UTOPIA. He was then featured on a variety of tracks with 21 Savage, Metro Boomin, Asake, and others.

Born Jacques Webster, Travis Scott grew up in a suburb of Houston and began making music as a teenager. He formed a duo called the Graduates with Chris Holloway, and they released an EP in 2009. The following year, he formed another duo, the Classmates, with OG Chess. Scott produced the pair's two full-lengths, Buddy Rich and Cruis'n USA, but they broke up near the end of 2011. After dropping out of college, Scott moved to Los Angeles and began recording music on his own. He met T.I. and eventually Kanye West. Scott was hired as an in-house producer for GOOD Music, and appeared on the label's Cruel Summer compilation in 2012. Scott's debut, Owl Pharaoh, was originally scheduled to be released as a free mixtape in 2012, but as his profile grew (including a placement in XXL Magazine's Freshman Class of 2013), and sample clearance issues, the album wasn't released until May 2013. Featuring guest appearances by T.I. and 2 Chainz (on the single "Upper Echelon") as well as Toro y Moi and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Owl Pharaoh eventually garnered a nomination for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.

The buildup to Scott's first proper studio album involved the Days Before Rodeo mixtape, promoted with the singles "Don't Play" and "Mamacita," and the March 2015 U.S. Rodeo Tour, headlined by Scott and supported by Young Thug and Metro Boomin. Several of the dates sold out. The same month, Rihanna's Scott-produced hit single "Bitch Better Have My Money" was released. "3500" and "Antidote" were issued ahead of Rodeo, Scott's second full-length, which followed in September on Grand Hustle/Epic and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Toward the end of the year, "Antidote" peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100 and became Scott's first platinum single.

Chatter regarding a follow-up, along with numerous delays, ensued throughout much of 2016. Meanwhile, Scott extended his commercial presence with featured spots on Wiz Khalifa's "Bake Sale," Rihanna's "Woo," and Kanye West's "FML," as well as a collaboration with Young Thug and Quavo, "Pick Up the Phone," a mid-year hit issued as the lead single of Young Thug's JEFFERY. Three months later, after "Bitch Better Have My Money" earned platinum certification, Scott's second proper album arrived. Titled Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight after one of Quavo's lines in "Pick Up the Phone," the woozy, mostly midtempo set featured that hit and contributions from the likes of André 3000, Kid Cudi, and Kendrick Lamar. It went straight to the top of the Billboard 200.

Leading up to his third LP, Scott was featured on a slew of tracks, including platinum singles headlined by SZA ("Love Galore"), Drake ("Portland"), Miguel ("Sky Walker"), 2 Chainz ("4 AM"), and Trippie Redd ("Dark Knight Dummo"). Scott's own "Butterfly Effect" arrived during this torrent of hits in May 2017 and promptly went platinum as well. Seven months later, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, a collaborative full-length with Quavo, entered the Billboard 200 at number three. The following May, Scott released "Watch," a non-album track featuring Kanye West and Lil Uzi Vert, and within three months released Astroworld, which he considered the true follow-up to Rodeo. Featuring "Butterfly Effect," the album -- named after a demolished Houston amusement park -- debuted at number one and was supported with a second single, "Sicko Mode." Scott closed out 2018 by appearing on multiple tracks of Metro Boomin's Not All Heroes Wear Capes album.

After collaborating with Young Thug and J. Cole on 2019's "The London" and being featured on Ed Sheeran's "Antisocial," Scott issued his own solo single, "Highest in the Room." JackBoys, a brief compilation showcasing artists from Scott's Cactus Jack Records label, appeared at the end of the year. The release subsequently became the first number one album of the 2020s. Another Young Thug collaboration, "Franchise," also featuring M.I.A., debuted in September 2020 on top of the Billboard 200.

In January 2021, Spanish DJ HVME released a deep house reworking of Scott and Kendrick Lamar's song "Goosebumps," eventually topping Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart. Two more tracks appeared that November, with both "Escape Plan" and "Mafia" arriving concurrently and hitting the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

On November 5, 2021, there was a fatal crowd crush during Scott's performance at his third annual Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas. The event resulted in the death of 10 people with over 300 being treated for injuries. The rapper apologized and the rest of the festival was canceled. Scott and others involved in the festival were investigated, though a Texas grand jury ultimately declined to indict them.

In May 2022, Scott performed at the Billboard Music Awards, his first live appearance since the Astroworld Festival tragedy. He also contributed to four tracks on Metro Boomin's Heroes & Villains album. In July 2023, he released his fourth studio album, UTOPIA. An ambitious, genre-crossing concept album in the vein of Kanye West's Yeezus, it featured a bevy of producers, including Scott, James Blake, WondaGurl, and others. Also featured were many guests, such as Bad Bunny and the Weeknd on the lead single, "K-pop," and Beyoncé and Bon Iver on "Delresto (Echoes)." UTOPIA topped both the Billboard 200 and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Scott's work throughout much of 2024 largely consisted of features on records by 21 Savage, Future and Metro Boomin, Mustard, and Asake. ~ Paul Simpson & Andy Kellman

Flouting hip-hop conventions while defying gender and sexuality stereotypes, Young Thug has been one of the most distinctive contemporary rap artists since attaining his chart debut with "Stoner" (2014). The eccentric rapper's first of many gold- and platinum-certified recordings arrived amid a barrage of mixtapes that led to the Top Ten entries JEFFERY (2016) and Beautiful Thugger Girls (2017), and eventually his chart-topping debut studio album, So Much Fun (2019). A keen collaborator, Thug has been featured on dozens of tracks, including pop hits such as Camila Cabello's "Havana," Childish Gambino's Grammy-winning "This Is America," and Post Malone's "Goodbyes," and he has hit the upper reaches of the charts with the co-headlining commercial mixtapes Super Slimey (with Future) and Slime & B (with Chris Brown), as well as the crew compilation Slime Language 2. In 2021, he offered his second chart-topping studio album, Punk, followed in 2023 by Business Is Business.

An Atlanta native, Young Thug (born Jeffery Lamar Williams) released three volumes of his mixtape series I Came from Nothing before joining Gucci Mane's 1017 Brick Squad crew in late 2012. His mixtape 1017 Thug followed in early 2013, featuring the quirky street single "Picacho." Later in the year, his "Stoner" single appeared, but it didn't catch fire until 2014, when an authorized remix featuring Wale opened the floodgates for a series of unauthorized remixes from artists like Jim Jones, Iamsu!, and Trick Trick. The original track peaked that April and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA.

That same year, Thug signed to 300 Entertainment, the Atlantic-distributed imprint co-founded by Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles, and continued recording mixtapes. His first release for the label, 2015's Barter 6, climbed to number 22 on the Billboard 200 album chart. He began 2016 with I'm Up, the first of many mixtapes that year, which debuted at the same position as Barter. Months later, he dropped the Top Ten hit Slime Season 3. Before his next release, he was awarded a platinum certification for his 2015 track "Best Friend." At the end of the summer, he unexpectedly issued his third tape, originally titled No, My Name Is Jeffery and changed a week later to simply JEFFERY. With its provocative cover art and concept (each track was named after one of Thug's idols), JEFFERY featured reggae/dub flourishes and appearances by Migos' Offset and Quavo, Gucci Mane, Travis Scott, and Wyclef Jean.

Veering unexpectedly into new sonic territory, Beautiful Thugger Girls arrived in June 2017. Though it flirted with country and pop, the set retained Thug's trademark weirdness at the fore. In 2017, he issued a pair of collaborations, first with producer Carnage on the Young Martha EP, which saw release that September, and then with Future on the October mixtape Super Slimey, and he was also featured on Camila Cabello's number one pop hit "Havana." The single "Ride on Me," featuring A-Trak, arrived in early 2018 ahead of the release of the Hear No Evil EP, which was issued that April. After he appeared on another number one hit, Childish Gambino's "This Is America" (subsequently the Song of the Year winner at the 61st Grammy Awards), he issued the Young Stoner Life Records compilation Slime Language, which featured Lil Duke, Gunna, and Lil Uzi Vert. The next month, Thug released his third EP, On the Rvn. Debuting in the Top 20 of both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/hip-hop charts, the set featured guests 6LACK and Jaden Smith, as well as Elton John, who gave Thug his seal of approval on the "Rocket Man"-sampling "High."

Thug's first output in 2019 arrived in the form of a collaboration with J. Cole and Travis Scott titled "The London." The single became his first Top 40 pop hit as a headliner -- it peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100 -- and was featured on his proper debut album, So Much Fun, which followed in August and topped the Billboard 200. Before the album's second single, "Hot," reached number 11 on the Hot 100, Thug was the featured artist on yet another hit, Post Malone's Top Three "Goodbyes." "The London" was later nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Rap/Sung Performance. Thug's work throughout 2020 included appearances on charting tracks by Migos, Gunna, DaBaby, and JackBoys, and a commercial mixtape collaboration with Chris Brown, Slime & B. He later reached the number one position for a second time with an appearance on Travis Scott's single "Franchise."

Kicking off 2021, Thug scored his first chart-topper of the year with the Young Stoner Life compilation Slime Language 2. The set featured Travis Scott, Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Big Sean, Skepta, Future, Kid Cudi, and over a dozen more famous friends. By the end of the year, Thugger delivered his second studio LP, Punk, a slight return to his more experimental side that featured guest spots from Doja Cat, Post Malone, Gunna, J. Cole, and many others. The album debuted at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2022, Thug was arrested along with multiple Young Stoner Life affiliates for gang activity and racketeering. Released while still in jail, Business Is Business, his third long-player, appeared the following year, with features from Travis Scott, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, and Drake. "From a Man" rounded out the year, and numerous collaborations or features appeared in 2024, including "pop ur shit" (with 21 Savage and Metro Boomin), "Lightyears" (with Juice WRLD), and "Dope Boy" (with Nigo). ~ David Jeffries & Andy Kellman

Pioneering rapper, singer, producer, and activist M.I.A. ignores musical and geographical boundaries in favor of an outspoken, globally minded perspective. Her innovative fusion of hip-hop, electronic, punk, and sounds that criss-cross the globe reflect her rootless upbringing as a Sri Lankan refugee who grew up in London and provide a vibrant soundtrack to her commentary on identity, war, immigration, and politics. A digital trailblazer, M.I.A. was one of the first artists to gain viral popularity online with her 2004 singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers." They sounded celebratory and confrontational at the same time, an approach that extended to her widely praised 2005 debut Arular. She remained restless despite her acclaim, emphasizing the hip-hop and electronic aspects of her music on 2007's Kala and its multi-million selling single "Paper Planes" and incorporating abrasive industrial textures into her explorations of technology's impact on everyday life on 2010's /\/\/\Y/\. Later in the decade, she scored another hit with "Bad Girls" from 2013's Matangi, and eventually reached the top of the U.S. charts with her 2020 Travis Scott collaboration "Franchise." Though her accolades include being appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and Grammy, Oscar, and Mercury Prize nominations, she continued to challenge conventions on albums such as 2022's spiritually minded MATA.

Maya Arulpragasam spent the early years of her life in a number of places. Born in London, England, she moved to her parents' native Sri Lanka at the age of six months, only to relocate to Madras, India. During a return stay in Sri Lanka, the civil war taking place within the country escalated to the point where Arulpragasam began to lose family members and friends. She didn't see her father -- a devout and active separatist as part of the Tamil rebellion, which has clashed with the Sinhalese majority -- often throughout these years, but her life stabilized once she, her mother, and brother were able to make it back to London just before she turned 11.

Arulpragasam attended the Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon and Central Saint Martins College of Art, from which she graduated in 2000 with a degree in fine art, film, and video. After befriending Elastica's Justine Frischmann, Arulpragasam designed the artwork for the band's 2000 album The Menace. The following year, she had the first public exhibition of her paintings, which were heavily influenced by the Tamil rebellion as well as the consumerism of life in London. Nominated for an Alternative Turner Prize, the collection was also published as the monograph book M.I.A. in 2002. While on the road documenting Elastica's American tour, Arulpragasam learned about the Roland MC-505 sequencer from opening act Peaches, who encouraged her to make music. Taking inspiration from artists spanning Michael Jackson, Björk, Public Enemy, the Slits, the Clash, and Malcolm McLaren and adopting the name M.I.A., she used the MC-505, a four-track tape recorder and a radio microphone to create a demo tape. Her songs caught the attention of Ross Orton and Pulp's Steve Mackey, who tweaked "Galang," song that was then pressed into 500 copies and released by the Showbiz label in 2003. It didn't take long for the song -- a bold, righteous amalgamation of hip-hop, electro, dancehall, grime, and baile funk -- to make an impact with DJs. M.I.A. began sharing her music online, and the viral popularity of "Galang" attracted label attention. She soon signed a contract with XL, which issued the single "Sunshowers" in July and re-released "Galang" that September.

At the end of the year, M.I.A. released Piracy Funds Terrorism, a mixtape she put together with Diplo. He, along with Switch, Richard X, and other producers, contributed to her debut album, March 2005's Arular. Named after the political code name of M.I.A.'s father, the album won rave reviews for its danceable, socially conscious songs. Reaching number 98 on the U.K. Albums Chart and 190 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S., Arular was nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Shortlist Music Prize. To support the album, M.I.A. toured with LCD Soundsystem and Gwen Stefani; not long after Arular's release, an online mixtape of remixes made by fans dubbed Online Piracy Funds Terrorism appeared on XL's website.

In the wake of Arular's success, M.I.A. appeared on Missy Elliott's 2005 album The Cookbook and started work on her own second album. However, U.S. visa issues thwarted her plans to make the album largely with Timbaland. Instead, she and co-producer Switch recorded in countries including India, Liberia, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Japan as well as the U.K. before finishing the album in the U.S. once her visa was approved in late 2016. While in Liberia, M.I.A. hosted a televised documentary series about the country's post-war situation and helped rehabilitate former child soldiers. Appearing in August 2007, Kala -- named for M.I.A.'s mother -- also featured contributions from Diplo, Blaqstarr, Timbaland, and Afrikan Boy and paired its themes of immigration and capitalism with influences from Bollywood, funk carioca, and African music. The album was another critical success and a bigger commercial hit than Arular: A Top 40 hit in the U.K. and a Top 20 hit in the U.S. and Sweden, it was certified gold in the U.S., silver in the U.K., and platinum in Canada. Along with extensive touring that included opening dates for Björk, the Kala era also saw M.I.A. release 2008's How Many Votes Fix Mix EP, which featured a remix of "Boyz" with a cameo by Jay-Z, and the Paper Planes -- Homeland Security Remixes EP, which along with its placement in the film Pineapple Express, helped make "Paper Planes" a multi-million selling smash hit that earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Also in 2008, M.I.A. collaborated with Buraka Som Sistema on the song "Sound of Kuduro" and filmed a documentary with Spike Jonze that also featured Afrikan Boy. Late in the year, the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire featured new music from M.I.A. and was the first disc issued on her N.E.E.T. label. Her contribution to the soundtrack, "O… Saya," was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, making M.I.A. the first person of Asian descent to be nominated for an Oscar and Grammy award in the same year. She continued her charity work, donating her performance fee from the 2008 MTV Movie Awards to building schools in Liberia.

By mid-2009, M.I.A. was at work on her third album in her home studio in Los Angeles. Inspired by her motherhood as well as the threats directed at her and her family because of her activism, /\/\/\Y/\ appeared in July 2010. Preceded by the single "Born Free" -- which featured a violent video portraying genocide that was ultimately removed from YouTube -- the album included contributions from Diplo, Switch, Blaqstarr, Rusko and M.I.A.'s brother Sugu Arulpragasam. Featuring industrial influences as well as more sung vocals, /\/\/\Y/\'s critical reception was more polarized than that of her previous albums. However, it became her highest-charting effort, cracking the Top Ten in the U.S. and Canada, reaching number 21 on the U.K. Album Chart, and entering the Top Ten in several European countries. That December, M.I.A. issued her second mixtape, Vicki Leekx, and released the EP Internet Connection: The Remixes in January 2011. That year, she also appeared on SebastiAn's album Total and completed her tour in support of /\/\/\Y/\.

Along with working on her fourth album, M.I.A. co-wrote songs for and appeared on Madonna's album MDNA. In February 2012, she performed one of the songs, "Give Me All Your Luvin'," with Madonna and Nicki Minaj at Super Bowl XLVI's halftime show; during the performance, she extended her middle finger at the camera. A month later, the NFL responded by suing her for $1.5 million, claiming that she breached her contract and tarnished the organization's image (the lawsuit was eventually settled in 2014). Around this time, M.I.A. released the single "Bad Girls," a reworked version of a Vicki Leekx song that featured production by Danja. Charting in several countries around the world and earning nominations for Video of the Year at the 55th Grammy Awards and the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, it became one of her most popular songs. Later in the year, M.I.A. signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation management and published M.I.A. , a book featuring the artwork she created during the Arular, Kala, and /\/\/\Y/\ years as well as essays she wrote. Several other singles, including "Bring the Noize" and "Come Walk with Me," were released before the November 2013 arrival of Matangi. Recorded in locations including New York City, Miami, and Hollywood, the album was named for a Hindu goddess (as well as a variation of M.I.A.'s real first name). Featuring co-production by Sugu, Switch, and Surkin as well as Danja, Matangi emphasized the mix of western hip-hop and eastern musical influences in M.I.A.'s style. In the U.K., the album peaked at number 64; in the U.S., it reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart, becoming her third consecutive album to do so. At the end of 2013, M.I.A. left Roc Nation.

Late in 2014, M.I.A. began a period of prolific creativity that included several collaborations as well as the release of politically charged tracks that heralded her fifth album. She appeared on A$AP Ferg's 2014 mixtape Ferg Forever, following it with cameos on A$AP Rocky's 2015 album A.L.L.A. and Baauer's 2016 effort Aa. "Can See Can Do," her first new music since Matangi, arrived in March 2015. That July, she released the video “Matahdatah Scroll 01 Broader Than a Border,” which featured traditional dancers from India and Côte d’Ivoire dancing to the Matangi track "Warriors," and "Swords," a song from the provisionally titled Matahdatah album. "Borders," which was inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis, appeared that November. Even more new material surfaced in 2016, including April's "Rewear It," a part of M.I.A.'s Global Recycle Week campaign with retailer H&M; May's "MIA OLA" and "Foreign Friend"; and June's "POC That Still a Ryda." That July, she released the single "Go Off," which featured production by Skrillex and Blaqstarr. A.I.M., which also included collaborations with Diplo and Zayn Malik, arrived in September 2016. The album reached number 63 in the U.K. and number 66 in the U.S., and also topped Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart. In February 2017, she issued the A.I.M. outtake "P.O.W.A." The following year, the documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award and found a wider release later in 2018. When the film appeared on streaming services that December, M.I.A. presented the video for "Reload," a song she co-wrote with Frischmann in 2004 that appeared on the soundtrack.

In 2019, M.I.A. was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire. She delivered her first new music in three years in March 2020 with "OHMNI 202091." That September, she released another single, "CTRL," on her website, and appeared alongside Young Thug on Travis Scott's "Franchise," which topped the singles chart in the U.S. In November 2021, M.I.A. issued the single "Babylon," releasing it and Vicki Leekx as NFTs to benefit the Courage Foundation, an organization that raises funds for the legal defense of whistleblowers. The following May, she returned with "The One," the easygoing first taste of her next album, October 2022's MATA. Featuring production assists from Diplo, Rick Rubin, Rex Kudo, and more, the album explored the conflict between ego and spirituality and reflected M.I.A.'s newfound Christianity. ~ Heather Phares & Andy Kellman