Beanie Sigel

Unlike his contemporaries, Beanie Sigel didn't pay his dues by performing on the underground open mic circuit or appearing on mixtapes. No, this thoroughbred MC skipped the demo-making process and went straight from rocking ciphers on the streets of his native South Philly to rocking mics alongside his Roc-A-Fella brethren, Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek. "I ain't into battling people and all that," says Sigel. "You come at me like that and I might slap you. I ain't trying to hear that. Man, I'm gangsta, nigga." Which is why, in many ways, Sigel's debut album, last year's The Truth, was his demo tape.