Doug E. Fresh

A pioneering figure in the development of hip-hop music, rapper-beatboxer Doug E. Fresh recorded two early classics of the genre with 1985's "The Show" and "La Di Da Di," both in collaboration with fellow trailblazing artist Slick Rick. The singles, which would receive tribute from dozens of rap artists in the decades that followed, from Snoop Dogg and the Roots to The Notorious B.I.G. and Will Smith, would mint Fresh as one of hip-hop's earliest superstars, but he was unable to parlay their success into a substantive career. Fresh would spend much of the 1990s and beyond reviving his greatest hits in concert while enjoying an odd secondary degree of fame as the inspiration for "The Dougie," a dance craze which rose to national prominence in 2007. Though his career largely sputtered out after "The Show," Fresh's contributions to the growth of hip-hop from an underground sound to part of the mainstream music scene made him one of the genre's most significant artists.