Paying Homage
A verified registry of the people building, making, and shaping what shows up on black.wiki. Over time, verified entries will receive plaques, certificates, and contributor cards — a durable record of who put in the work.
Jay Z — The Blueprint
Musicians
2001 Jay Z album released on September 11, 2001.
Jimi Hendrix — Star Spangled Banner
Musicians
Jimi Hendrix's 1969 Woodstock performance of the national anthem.
Kendrick Lamar — DAMN.
Musicians
2017 Kendrick Lamar album that won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city
Musicians
2012 Kendrick Lamar's major-label debut, a sprawling Compton coming-of-age story.
Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
Musicians
2015 album mapping racial trauma, Black mental health, and the cost of fame.
Killer Mike — Michael
Musicians
Killer Mike's 2023 solo album exploring fatherhood, faith, and the Black Southern interior.
Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Musicians
1998 album — first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Mariah Carey — Daydream
Musicians
Mariah Carey's 1995 fifth album — her commercial and creative peak.
Marvin Gaye — Let's Get It On
Musicians
1973 album that redefined R&B sensuality and Black male vulnerability.
Marvin Gaye — What's Going On
Musicians
1971 concept album about a Vietnam veteran returning to a country tearing itself apart.
Mary J. Blige — My Life
Musicians
Mary J. Blige's 1994 sophomore album — the album that made her the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.
Megan Thee Stallion — Traumazine
Musicians
2022 Houston rapper's third studio album following her testimony in the Tory Lanez trial.
Nas — Illmatic
Musicians
Nas's 1994 debut album recorded at age 19.
Notorious B.I.G. — Ready to Die
Musicians
The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 debut album.
NWA — Straight Outta Compton
Musicians
NWA's 1988 debut album that established gangsta rap as a major American genre.
OutKast — Aquemini
Musicians
1998 album from the Atlanta duo that proved Southern hip-hop could be experimental, lyrical, and chart-topping at the same time.
Outkast — ATLiens
Musicians
1996 OutKast sophomore album that pushed Southern hip-hop into Afrofuturist territory.
Outkast — Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Musicians
2003 double album — first hip-hop release to win Album of the Year at the Grammys.
OutKast — Stankonia
Musicians
2000 OutKast album that broke Southern hip-hop into national pop consciousness.
Patti LaBelle — Burning Hot
Musicians
Pittsburgh-born R&B icon Patti LaBelle's 1979 solo establishment after LaBelle disbanded.
Public Enemy — Fight the Power
Musicians
1989 song featured in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.
R. Kelly — 12 Play
Musicians
R. Kelly's 1993 debut album — a difficult legacy artist with an undeniable commercial impact at the time.
Ray Charles — Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Musicians
1962 album that broke the country-music color line.
Sade — Promise
Musicians
1985 sophomore album from Sade Adu that consolidated her as one of the era's defining vocalists.