Yung Joc

If nothing else, Yung Joc should be commended for translating the violent, cocaine-coated subgenre of trap music into radio-friendly pop music fare. Sure, rappers such as T.I. and Young Jeezy are pop by virtue of their sheer popularity, but they're not pop in a stylistic sense: Their songs are more roughhewn and, unlike Joc's, their lyrics don't exhort people to meet them at the mall. Saying that the ATL native is able to meet mainstream audiences halfway isn't to say that he's not hard. Growing up in the College Park/SWATS area, the rapper accumulated the usual dope boy resume points: school fights, a dealer rep and the inevitable incarceration. Music was ultimately Joc's salvation. After bringing the house down at the historic Royal Peacock in 2004, Joc was scooped up by Block Entertainment, an ATL label connected to P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records. Joc released his ridiculously popular single, "It's Goin' Down," in the spring of 2006, and the equally popular album, New Joc City later that summer. With "Coffee Shop" as its lead single, Hustlenomics was released in August 2007.