UPROXX is a Los Angeles-based digital media and entertainment company that grew from a music and pop-culture website into a connected-TV and social-video powerhouse reaching more than 160 million monthly viewers. Founded by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, it owns brands including UPROXX, HipHopDX and Dime Magazine, produces original music and culture programming, runs a content studio for brand campaigns, and - after going independent again in 2024 alongside will.i.am and Rich Antoniello - sells media across YouTube and CTV while folding AI into how it makes and monetizes content.
Jake One (Jacob Brian Dutton, born May 11, 1976) is a Seattle-bred hip-hop producer whose beats have moved from underground cult status to pop-culture ubiquity - he's the man behind John Cena's WWE entrance theme 'The Time Is Now,' the iconic De La Soul / MF DOOM collaboration 'Rock Co.Kane Flow,' and production credits across albums by Drake, J. Cole, The Weeknd, 50 Cent, Freeway, Brother Ali, Travis Scott, and dozens more. Operating under the Snare Jordan brand, he has released solo instrumental albums, collaborated on the funk duo Tuxedo with Mayer Hawthorne (Stones Throw Records), and built a parallel career as a sample-kit and beat-tutorial educator. He remains one of hip-hop's most versatile and quietly prolific producers, still releasing acclaimed work in 2024-2025.
Noel Miller is a Canadian-American comedian, YouTuber, podcaster, rapper, and studio founder who built a media empire from a web development day job. Best known as co-founder of the Tiny Meat Gang (TMG) comedy-rap duo with Cody Ko, Miller now runs TMG Studios solo as its sole owner — a podcast network boasting 300M+ YouTube views and 175M+ audio downloads. With 3.8 million combined YouTube subscribers, a sold-out stand-up career, and a debut comedy special on YouTube, Miller has carved out a lane where internet culture commentary meets genuine artistic ambition.
Nasir Jones - known simply as Nas - is one of hip-hop's most decorated lyricists, the Queensbridge-raised MC who turned a dropped-out eighth-grader's street poetry into Illmatic, a 1994 debut so precise it became a benchmark for the entire art form. Three decades later he's still dropping critically acclaimed records, co-founded Queensbridge Venture Partners (early Dropbox, Coinbase, Lyft, Robinhood), holds a Harvard-named fellowship, and released Light-Years with DJ Premier in late 2025. His pen never stopped; neither did his portfolio.
Will Smith is a Philadelphia-born actor, rapper, and producer who built a $350 million empire spanning music, film, television, and digital media. With over $10 billion in worldwide box office receipts, four Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award for Best Actor (King Richard, 2021), he is one of the most commercially successful entertainers in history. Known as 'The Fresh Prince,' Smith transitioned from teenage rap star to global movie icon before a 2022 Oscars incident with Chris Rock triggered a career reckoning - one he has been navigating with characteristic resilience through his 2025 album comeback, a National Geographic travel series, and an upcoming I Am Legend sequel.
Ben Horowitz is the co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most influential venture capital firms in the world managing over $90 billion in assets. A former CEO who took Loudcloud public during the dot-com winter and sold Opsware to HP for $1.65 billion, Horowitz brings an operational depth to VC that most investors lack. He's also a bestselling author, a genuine hip-hop head who wrote his famous management blog posts with rap epigraphs, and one of the most candid voices in Silicon Valley on the psychological realities of leadership.
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is the most decorated rapper in Grammy history, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the architect of West Coast hip-hop's cultural dominance. Born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987, he rose from Section 8 housing to headlining the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history (133.5M viewers, Feb 2025). His 2024 Drake beef produced 'Not Like Us' — a diss track that won five Grammys including Record and Song of the Year — and his surprise-dropped GNX album cemented his status as rap's reigning voice. Co-founder of pgLang, fiancé of high school sweetheart Whitney Alford, and father of two, Lamar remains one of music's most private and intellectually rigorous artists.
Kehlani Ashley Parrish is an Oakland-born R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter who turned a childhood of hardship into one of the most compelling careers in contemporary music. After finishing fourth on America's Got Talent as a teen, surviving homelessness, and years of near-misses with mainstream recognition, she finally broke through with 'Folded' - a Grammy-winning hit that charted in the top 10 for 33 weeks in 2026 and led to her landmark self-titled album. Known for radical emotional honesty, political outspokenness, and a voice that channels Brandy and Erykah Badu simultaneously, Kehlani has become both a commercial force and a genuine cultural touchstone for queer communities and R&B lovers worldwide.
Lexa Gates (born Ivanna Alexandra Martinez) is a Queens-raised rapper, singer, and performance artist blending jazz-soul atmospheres with spoken word rap and stream-of-consciousness lyricism. Known for a calm, unhurried delivery packed with emotional density, she broke through with the viral single 'Angel' (2023) before signing to GoodTalk/Capitol Records and releasing her acclaimed label debut *Elite Vessel* (2024), followed by the 18-track solo statement *I Am* (2026). A Colombian-Puerto Rican artist who dropped out of school at 15 and started recording at 17, Gates has become one of New York's most distinctive emerging voices - equal parts Sade and Mac Miller, with a flair for conceptual stunts like locking herself in a glass box in Union Square for 10 hours on album release day.
Lil Baby is one of Atlanta's most commercially dominant rappers, born Dominique Armani Jones on December 3, 1994. He went from dealing drugs in Southwest Atlanta to releasing four consecutive number-one Billboard 200 albums between 2020 and 2025. His 2020 album 'My Turn' was the best-selling album of the year across all genres, and 'Drip Too Hard' with Gunna is RIAA Diamond certified. In his Trendsetter era (2025-2026), he released the birthday mixtape 'The Leaks' and the charting singles 'Mrs. Trendsetter' and 'Mr. Trendsetter,' continuing to define Atlanta trap for a new generation.
REI AMI (born Sarah Yeeun Lee) is a Korean-American singer, rapper, and genre-bending artist from Germantown, Maryland, who blends hip-hop, R&B, alternative pop, and pop-punk aggression into a sound entirely her own. After breaking through with Sub Urban's viral 'Freak' (2020) and debuting with her mixtape FOIL (2021), she catapulted to global stardom in 2025 as Zoey in Netflix's animated film KPop Demon Hunters, voicing and performing as part of the fictional K-pop trio HUNTR/X. Their single 'Golden' became Netflix's most-watched film's signature track, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and won both a Grammy and an Oscar — firsts for any K-pop song.
Post Malone (born Austin Richard Post) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for pioneering a genre-less sound that fuses hip-hop, pop, rock, country, and R&B. Rising to fame with his 2015 debut single 'White Iverson,' he has become one of the best-selling digital artists of all time, with six studio albums, nine Diamond-certified songs, and six Billboard Hot 100 number-ones. His 2024 country album F-1 Trillion debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and featured collaborations with Tim McGraw, Morgan Wallen, Dolly Parton, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, and others, cementing his cross-genre appeal.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, entertainer, and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas, who turned a childhood in recording studios into one of hip-hop's most commanding careers. Known for anthems of self-confidence and female empowerment, she graduated college while topping charts, built her own label (Hot Girl Productions), made her Broadway debut in Moulin Rouge!, and runs a foundation in honor of her late parents. Off stage she is an anime devotee, horror movie enthusiast, and tireless mental health advocate whose 'Hot Girl' philosophy has become a genuine cultural movement.