- After a life-long battle with crack addiction, Cowboy, a member of Grandmaster Flash’s Furious 5 dies at the age of 28.
- A group of high school friends join the Native Tongues as promoters of the Afrocentricity Movement to make African-Americans aware of their heritage.
- These Manhattan-based friends would later form A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife Dawg, and Jarobi).
- A Dallas-based protégé of Dr. Dre known as D.O.C releases No One Can Do It Better. While the album was making rounds on the charts, D.O.C. found himself in a severe car crash.
- While D.O.C. survived the accident, his rap career didn't.
- 2 Pac joins Digital Underground as a dancer and a roadie.
- The "Stretch & Bobbito Show" is launched.
- Both a Florida record store owner and Luther Campbell are arrested over 2 Live Crew’s controversial album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be.
- N.W.A’s sophomore album N****z For Life sells over 954,000 copies in its first week of release, reaching #1 on the pop charts. The album paves way for many more hardcore rap albums that would follow.
- Busta Rhymes appears on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario.”
- Cypress Hill (B-Real, DJ Muggs, and Sen Dog) release their self-titled debut, and initiate a campaign to legalize hemp.
- The Notorious B.I.G. is featured in the “Unsigned Hype” column of The Source magazine.
- A Tribe Called Quest release their third album, Midnight Marauders, featuring a who-is-who-in-hip-hop album cover.
- Dr. Dre’s The Chronic attains multi-platinum status.
- Wu-Tang Clan release 36 Chambers. The line-up consists of Prince Rakeem (The RZA), Raekwon, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Genius (GZA), U-God, Master Killa and Inspectah Deck.
- Mobb Deep (Prodigy and Havoc) release their debut LP, Juvenile Hell.
- Nas’ first entry, Illmatic goes gold and is widely received as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever.
- Common releases Resurrection and is lauded as an intelligent lyricist.
- Warren G’s Regulate: The G-Funk Era is certified 4x platinum.
- 2 Pac is robbed and shot 5 times in a New York recording studio. He recovers from the shooting. Pac is later sentenced to 8 months in prison.
- Queen Latifah wins a Grammy award in the "Best Rap Solo Performance" category for her hit “Unity.”
- 2 Pac signs a deal with Death Row Records after Suge Knight posts a $1.4 million bail.
- Eric Wright (Eazy-E of N.W.A) dies of AIDS on March 20th at the age of 31.
- The Score, a fusion of conscious lyrics with reggae-tinged soulsonics, becomes The Fugees' biggest album. The album debuts at No.1 and grabs two Grammys, thus, breathing a new life into socially aware hip-hop.
- The Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards are launched in the U.K. The Fugees walk away with two trophies.
- Jay-Z drops his highly-lauded debut, Reasonable Doubt. His "charismatic rapper" approach would later spawn throngs of emulators.
- 24-year old Snoop Dogg and his bodyguard McKinley Lee are acquitted of the murder of Philip Woldemariam, a 20-year-old Ethiopian immigrant gunned down in August 1993.
- On September 7th, Tupac Shakur is fatally wounded after sustaining multiple gunshots as he rode in a car driven by Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight near the Las Vegas strip. Tupac died 5 days later. His death rekindled the debate on whether rap promotes violence or just reflects the ugly side of the streets.
- The Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace), is shot and killed March 9, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Like Pac's murder, Biggie's death is still an unsolved mystery.
- Missy Misdemeanor Elliott redefines hip-hop and R & B with her first album, Supa Dupa Fly. Having broken barriers as a successful female producer, Missy would go on to become the highest selling female rapper of all time.
- Parent company Interscope Records sells its interest in Death Row Records and severes ties with the label.
- Chicago MC Juice defeats Eminem on his way to winning the year's Scribble Jam competition. (Scribble Jam is the largest showcase of underground hip-hop in the United States.)
- Roc-A-Fella sells a 50 percent stake to Island Def Jam for $1.5 million.
- Dr. Dre inks Eminem to his Aftermath imprint.
- Lauryn Hill's solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, scores her 11 Grammy nominations and 5 wins, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
- "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" marks the beginning of Jay-Z's mainstream breakthrough and helps move 5 million units of Vol 2: Hardknock Life. The chorus is sampled from the Broadway play "Annie."
- Shyne (born Jamal Barrow) signs a lucrative record deal with Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment.
