It was in Chicago that Armstrong met his future second wife, Lil Hardin. She had him play classical music in church’s to strengthen his skills and got him to wear more fashionable clothing as well. Lil also convinced him to leave Chicago and make it on his own, which is how he ended up in New York City for the first time in 1924. Louis joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and switched to the trumpet during this time. A year later, he was back in Chicago and working for his wife who had started the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band. He then started his first jazz band, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, which was followed up years later with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven.
Louis’ famous voice came to the forefront around the 1930s. After moving back to New York, he recorded versions of Hoagy Carmichaels “Stardust” and “Lazy River”. His innovative delivery and unique vocal style influenced generations of singers and the genre of jazz as a whole.
In 1943, Armstrong finally settled in Queens with his fourth wife. He and Lucille lived in Corona, Queens and their former house is now The Louis Armstrong House Museum. Armstrong became the first jazz musician to grace the cover of Time Magazine in 1949 and at the age of 62, Louis recorded “Hello, Dolly!,” a track that would go on to become his biggest selling record. When this song went Number 1, he became the oldest person to have a number one record.
For the last 30 years of his life, Armstrong was playing 300 shows a year. In 1971, he was hospitalized for a heart attack after a two week run at the Waldorf-Astoria. Upon his release, he got back to practicing trumpet in hopes of getting back on the road. Two months later, Armstrong passed away in his sleep from another heart attack just before his 70th birthday.
NAS
Although he was born in Brooklyn, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones moved to the Queensbridge Houses with his family while he was still young. During his teenage years, Nas went by the name “Kid Wave” before settling on “Nasty Nas.” At the age of 17, Nas would go to the same studio that Rakim and Kool G Rap would record at and use the booth when they weren’t recording. Unfortunately, none of this material was ever released.
1992 was a game-changing year for Nas as his best friend and DJ, Willy Graham, was gunned down in May. Later that year, Nas scored a record deal with Columbia, thanks to his manager MC Serch. His debut single “Halftime” was featured in the soundtrack to the movie Zebrahead. Over the next 8 months, Nas would work on nine additional songs which would become his debut album, Illmatic.
Released on April 19, 1994, Illmatic debuted at Number 12 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album has since sold over two million copies and is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Earlier this year, Illmatic was picked by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
The following year, Nas had a number of guest spots on other albums from rappers such as AZ, Kool G Rap, Mobb Deep and Raekwon. His appearance on Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx would make him the first non-Wu-Tang member to appear on one of its solo albums. During this time, Nas was working on his second record, It Was Written. Released in July of 1996, it would go on to be Nas’ best-selling album and featured the hit single, “If I Ruled The World (Imagine That).”
The second-half of the decade would see Nas star in the film Belly and in 1999 hr would release his third album, I Am… as well as his fourth titled Nastradamus. As the new millennium began, Nas and Jay-Z would begin a highly publicized feud. Jay-Z criticized Nas in his song “Takeover” and Nas responded on his 2001 album, Stillmatic, with the song “Ether.” This album and 2002’s God’s Son would begin a comeback in Nas’ career and the latter album would feature one of Nas’ most popular tracks, “I Can.”
The hip-hop feud between Jay-Z and Nas would last until 2005 when Nas joined Jay-Z on stage at his “I Declare War” concert. After this show, Nas signed with Def Jam Records and would release his next four albums through them. His most recent album, King’s Disease, would earn Nas his first Grammy award when it won Best Rap Album in 2021.
JA RULE
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins was born in Hollis, Queens in 1976 and started his rap career at the age of 18. While rapping with the group Cash Money Click, he started using the name “Ja Rule.” The group put out two sides games that were featured on Yo! MTV Raps, but Cash Money Click disbanded after being dropped by their record label. Ja Rule was able to get a contract through Def Jam thanks to his relationship with DJ Irv, who was now working with the label.
Irv founded Murder Inc Records in 1997 and brought Ja Rule on as the labels lead artist. Leading up to Ja’s debut album release, he was appearing as a guest on other artists songs. Most famously, he wrote the hook for a song called “Can I Get A…”, which was set to be his debut single until Jay-Z asked for the song after hearing it for the first time. He was credited as “Jah” when the single released on the soundtrack for Rush Hour in 1998.
The following year, Ja Rule released his debut album, Venni Vetti Vecci. Prior to its arrival, the single “Holla Holla” was released and it became an instant hit, which fueled sales of the album when it came out. Ja Rule followed up this album with 2000’s Rule 3:36 and the songs “Between Me and You” and “Put It on Me” became enormous hits.
As the new millennium began, Ja Rule stayed busy by recording tracks for his third album, Pain Is Love. This record went triple platinum like his previous album thanks to hit singles such as “Always on Time” and “I’m Real (Murder Remix).” His contract with Murder Inc stipulated that he release one album a year and he did just that over the next few years with The Last Temptation, Blood in My Eye and R.I.L.E. The release of 2005’s Exodus was his last release before an extended hiatus during which he looked to sign with a new recording company.
After being signed by Universal Records, he released Pain Is Love 2 in 2012. Ja Rule was serving a two-year prison sentence while this released for tax evasion and gun possession. Four years later, he would announce the name of the album which he claimed would be his last. Coup De Grâce still hasn’t been released, but news of this album was overshadowed by Ja Rule’s involvement in the Fyre Festival and the backlash that came from the failed event.
50 CENT
Curtis Jackson is known for his lyricism and for the trouble his past self has gotten into. Tracks like “In Da Club” and “P.I.M.P.” were huge hits in the early 2000s and became as famous as the gunshot wounds he would frequently rap about. 50 Cent would on to lead the group G-Unit and star in multiple movies throughout his career.
Curtis was born in 1975 and grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. His teenage years were marred by dealing drugs and subsequent arrests for this behavior. While incarcerated in 1996, he earned his GED and took on the nickname “50 Cent” because “I provide for myself by any means”.
In 1996, Jackson was introduced to Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay. Jay taught Jackson how to make records and how best to write them and he would use these lessons to write his first few albums. The first albums he would record, Power of the Dollar, was set to feature “How to Rob” and “Thug Life” (with Destiny’s Child), but the album release was cancelled by Columbia Records after 50 Cent was shot nine times outside his grandmothers former house in Queens.
Jackson survived the attack and despite being dropped by his record label, he released a number of mixtapes prior to 2002. That year, his CD titled Guess Who’s Back? got into the hands of Eminem who introduced Jackson to Dr Dre. With a new record deal worth $1 million, he released his debut album in February 2003.
Due to his many mixtapes and troubled past, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ had a massive amount of hype surrounding it, which helped it to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 charts. The album went 9x Platinum thanks to hits such as “In Da Club,” “P.I.M.P.” and “21 Questions”. Later that year, 50 was given his own record label by Interscope Records. G-Unit records would release albums from G-Unit, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, Tony Yayo and of course, 50 Cent. His second album, The Massacre, was released in 2005 and would sell over a million records in its first four days thanks to “Candy Shop” and “Disco Inferno.”
Two years later, 50 Cent’s third album, Curtis, would be released on the same day as Kanye West’s album, Graduation. Curtis would debut at number two behind Graduation. Jackson would release his fourth album, Before I Self Destruct, the following year and the release would include a direct-to-video crime film of the same name that Jackson wrote, directed and produced. 50 Cent’s most recent album, Animal Ambition, was released in 2014 and although he has spoken about his sixth album many times over the last decade, Street King Immortal still has not been released.
As the 90s began, elements of hip hop culture reached mainstream audiences as groups included references to their local influences in their work. One example of this is how 4 rappers from Queens were able to introduce the slam dancing style into the genre. Onyx was first formed by friends Fredro Starr, Sonny Seeza and Big DS in 1988 and the lineup grew to four when Fredo’s cousin Kirk joined the crew in 1991. Their debut album, Bacdafucup, was released in 1993, went platinum and reached the #10 spot on the Billboard Top 200 charts. Three of the singles, “Slam”, “Shiftee” and “Throw Ya Gunz”, also charted. This album introduced the world to the groups grimy style, bald heads and mean faces; characteristics that would define Onyx for decades to come. ‘
Two years later, Onyx would follow up their debut with the release of All We Got Iz Us, which featured tracks such as “Last Dayz”, “Live!!!” and “Walk In New York”. As the decade progressed, Onyx recorded Shut ‘Em Down in 1998, Bacdafucup Part II in 2002 and Triggernometry the following year. It would be 11 years before fans would receive a new album with 2014’s “”# WakeDaFucUp”” and after this, Onyx would begin releasing albums at a decent once again with 2018 and 2019’s Black Rock and SnowMads. Their 9th and most recent release, Onyx 4 Life, debuted on April 9, 2021.
Whether you’re into music, history, sports or amazing food, Queens County has a lifetime’s worth of things to check out. From the punk scene originating in Forest Hills, the hip hop scene blossoming in Hollis and St. Albans, and everything in between, Queens has created the framework for art and music to blossom from its streets. Next time you’re down in the city, be sure to take a ride through this incredible borough.
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