Main Page

Welcome to the Chicago Hip-Hop History Project

A jumping-off point for research into the history, people, places, music, and culture of Chicago hip-hop.

About

The List

News

Data + Analytics

The Elements

Genre

Recently Updated Pages

For Researchers

Contact

Search

The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project is an ongoing effort to document and preserve the people, places, and stories that shaped Chicago's hip-hop culture.

About

Learn about the project, its goals, contributors, and institutional partners.

Read More →

Explore

Browse artists, DJs, producers, crews, venues, organizations, recordings, and historical topics.

Browse The Encyclopedia →

Research

Access datasets, analytics, methodologies, and resources for scholars and students.

Research Resources →

The Elements

✶ Graffiti Writing

• Graffiti Artists (42 members)

✶ DJing

• Disc Jockeys (DJs) / Turntablists (96 members)
• Radio Personalities
• Producers (104 members)

✶ Street Dancing

• Street Dancers (19 members)
  • Lockers
  • Poppers
  • Breakers
• Street Dance Groups

✶ Beatboxing

• Beatboxers (3 members)

✶ MCing

• EmCees (MCs) (682 members)
• Hip-Hop Groups (111 members)
• Hip-Hop Collectives (16 members)

✶ Knowledge

• Philosophies
• Writers

More Elements

Click here for a full list of categories including:

• Entrepreneurs (4 members)

• Fashion Designers (1 members)
• Music Video Directors (1 members)
• Singers (12 members)
• Recording Studios
• Record Labels
• and many others...

Genres

The following hip-hop genres are associated with Chicago and have an article on Wikipedia:

  * Chicago hip-hop
  * Drill music
  * Midwestern hip-hop
  * Chopper (rap)
  * Comedy hip-hop
  * Freestyle rap
  * Hipster hop
  * Mumble rap
  * Political hip-hop
  * Progressive rap

EchoNest (Spotify) includes Chicago artists in each of the following genre maps:

  * Hip-Hop
  * Rap
  * Gangster Rap
  * Melodic Rap
  * Golden Age Hip-hop
  * Hip-house  
  * Chicago Bop
  * Chicago Rap
  * Chicago Drill

Recently Updated Pages

• Main Page (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 04:24:06)
• About (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 04:21:34)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: News (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 04:11:22)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Museum: Women in Hip-Hop Exhibit (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 04:08:11)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: Timelines (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:57:50)
• For Researchers (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:50:48)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: Contact (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:38:26)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: The List (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:09:03)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: Genre (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:04:27)
• The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: The Elements (Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.: 3 September 2026 03:03:13)

... further results

Public Submissions (coming soon)

We are currently developing structured public submission forms using Page Forms to allow community members to contribute information for administrative review. This system will support accurate, well-documented additions while maintaining curatorial standards. In the meantime, if you would like to submit information, corrections, or supporting materials, please email rdifaz2@uic.edu. All submissions will be reviewed by the project administrator before inclusion.

For Researchers

This digital encyclopedia is a Semantic MediaWiki project. Semantic properties are used to add structured, machine-readable data to pages within this project. This allows for enhanced search capabilities, data extraction, and the creation of specialized views based on semantic information.

Contact

This site is administered by the CHHHP team.