Fabolous

Fabolous is a Grammy-nominated East Coast rapper who was able to attain platinum status by balancing hardcore hip-hop with pop-rap and punchlines, similar to fellow NYC stars JAY-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., and Ma$e—who Fab drew comparisons to due to their “slow flow.” Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 18, 1977, John David Jackson grew up in the borough’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood and began rapping in high school. In 1998, he showed up to NYC radio station Hot 97 for a meeting with DJ Clue, which instead ended up being an on-the-air freestyle between him and N.O.R.E. on Clue’s radio show. While freestyling, he misspelled the word “fabulous” as “fabolous,” which became his stage name from then on. Following this, Clue signed him to his label Desert Storm Records and Fabolous was featured on several Clue mixtapes. His debut single “Can’t Deny It” was released in the summer of 2001 and was positively received, with it peaking at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and its music video reaching #1 on MTV that fall. His debut album Ghetto Fabolous would follow on September 11, 2001, a date that not only saw releases by JAY-Z, Mariah Carey and Babyface among others, but was also plague…