10.The Dream—

Yes, The Dream definitely made the list. ‘Cause as you know (or if you don’t know) he was the writer behind a lot of music that we’ve heard in the past decade (including B2K’s entire album released in 2001). It wasn’t until 2007 when people started realizing The Dream for his writing credit in Rihanna’s “Umbrella”. For the past 5 years, The Dream has written and produced songs for artists like Plies, Mary J. Blige, Young Joc, Mariah Carey, and that’s only to name a few. He has also released 2 albums of his own. The Dream married twice, to Nivea in 2004 who he later divorced, and a couple of months ago he married Christina Millian and they are expecting a baby soon.

9.

T-Pain—

The man that brought back the vocoder to music in the 2000’s. We aren’t sure if we are happy about this or not, but we do know that T-Pain has dropped some serious club banger in the past few years that had us going crazy in the clubs. It wasn’t until 2005 that T-Pain was recognized for his hits like, “I’m Sprung” and “I’m in Luv with A Stripper”. Since 2005 T-Pain has released 2 albums that have had unforgettable hits on them, and he plans on releasing a new album early 2010. We look forward to it.

8.

6.

Mariah Carey—

Mariah Carey’s been out and successful for as long as I can remember, but this past decade has definitely been one of her best. In 2005 she released Emancipation of MiMi which we feel was her strongest album that was released in the past decade (we’re going to skip Glitter [2001] and act like that never existed). The 2000’s was the breakthrough for Mariah where she expressed herself as an independent and free individual. It’s also the decade where she experienced true love and surprisingly married Nick Cannon in 2008. Let’s not forget her breakthrough performance in the movie Precious (2009).

7.

Jamie Foxx—-

Most of us grew up on the Jamie Foxx Show in the 90’s and were completely blown away when we heard him sing the hook of Twista’s “Slow Jam”. (Well if you weren’t shocked, we sure were.) Actor turned singer, Jamie Foxx has definitely had success in the music biz releasing tracks like, “Unpredictable” and “Blame It (on the Alcohol)” and on the hook of songs like Kanye’s “Goldigger” and Plies “Please excuse my hands”. Let’s not forget his phenomenal performance in both “Ray” and “The Soloist.” Not to mention his the various amount of awards he’s won, from Soul Train Awards, to MTV and BET awards…need we go on? Keep it up, Jamie!

6.

Rihanna—

So, honestly, nobody really cared when the shy looking little girl came out with the weird sounding voice singing Pon De Replay (or at least I didn’t care). But with the helps of Jay-Z and a good Stylist, Rihanna became a recognized (and beautiful) artist in 2007 with the release of her 3rd album “Good Girl Gone Bad.” Rihanna quickly became a sex symbol and was labeled People Magazine’s top Ten Best Dressed Stars of 2008 and ranked #8 in Maxim’s 100 list of hot celebs. With Jay-Z having her back full heartedly, good writers, and great stylists, we expect to see a whole of lot of Rihanna for the next few years.

5.

Kanye West—

Way before the release of his first album in 2004—The College Dropout—West was producing hits for artist like Jay-Z, Beanie Segal, Common, and local Chicago rappers. It was when Jay-Z finally signed West that he was recognized as a talented rapper and producer. Most of you are already aware of the amount of hits Kanye has released in the past 6 years, he’s started his own label (GOOD Music), he’s ranked #8 in the top 50 producers in Hip Hop (about.com), won various awards, has released 4 top chart hitting albums, and has had one of the most talked about tours (Glow In The Dark Tour). Kanye West has had his good moments—-and bad/controversial moments. Although he says he’s taking a short break for now, we still expect to see yet another breakthrough from this genius (Yes, we called Kanye a genius) within the next couple of years.

4.

50 Cent—

50 Cent tried his best to come out in the late 90’s, but it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that Curtis Jackson got his big break after meeting Eminem and Dr. Dre and signing a 1 million dollar record deal. In early 2003, 50 Cent released, “Get Rich Or Die Trying” which had tracks that had us all bopping our heads, and had everyone young and old saying “Go Shawty, it’s ya Birthday…” The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts after only 4 days. Since then, 50 has released 3 successful albums The Massacre, Curtis, and Before I self Destruct. Although his record sales have decreased over the decade, 50 is still a rap mogul and entrepreneur—plus he’s huge overseas. 50 is a rapper turned successful actor, starring in movies like “Get Rich or Die Trying” and making guest appearances on popular shows like “Entourage.” He is also head of Thisis50.com, a community blog that gets over millions of views a day.

3.

3.

Lil Wayne—-

The name says enough. Lil Wayne. Whether you are black, Caucasian, Chinese, Indian—-I mean you are going to know who Lil Wayne is and I bet each and everyone knows at least one of his hooks by heart. Lil Wayne was of course recognized as the youngest member in Cash Money in the late 90’s, but he began releasing mixtapes that blew up in the early 2000’s and pretty much made him head of Cash Money. With the success of his mixtapes, fans were so eager for an album to drop; thus, “Tha Carter” and its two subsequent albums Tha Carter II(2005) and Tha Carter III (2008) dropped and record sales proved that Lil Wayne is probably one of the best rappers alive today. There is not an R&B or Rap artist that doesn’t have Lil Wayne blessing at least one of their tracks. We know Lil Wayne isn’t stopping anytime soon.

2.

Beyonce—

What would have the past decade been like WITHOUT Beyonce? It wasn’t until 2003 that she released her debut solo album “Dangerously In Love” and her popularity soared. Since, she’s released 2 very successful solo albums, has had four world wide tours, and has starred in and produced/directed her own movies, started her own clothing line, and married Jay-Z in 2008. Need we go on? Basically Beyonce has ran the past decade, and we look forward to what she’s going to serve her fans for the next decade to come.

1.

Jay-Z.. Need we say more? In the 90’s Jay-Z was on the come up as one of New York’s most recognized MC’s, but this past decade he has proved that he’s not only one of the best rappers alive, but is now the richest rap mogul (according to Forbes). Within the past decade, Jay-Z has ventured off into other businesses such as owning Rocawear, part owner of the Brooklyn Nets, and in the past year he started a new record label Roc4Life. In the past decade Jay-Z has released 7 albums (The Dynasty, The Blueprint, The Blueprint II, The Black Album, Kingdom Come, American Gangster, The Blueprint III) and has received countless awards, and is now known as the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneur in America. He is also the current holder for the record of most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 and has 4 number ones on the Billboard 100.
If we continue to go on about Jay-Z’s success in the past decade, we are going to take up this entire page. So this is why Jay-Z gets number one for being the artist who had the past decade on lock.
As Carson Daily recently said, “Jay-Z IS New York”.

In other news, he is also “accidentally” dropped his album, “Rebirth” early! According to Billboard “Rebirth” pre-ordered CDs began arriving in mailboxes on Monday, Dec. 14, despite a change in the street date from Dec. 21 to February 1.

This guy is just not having a good week.

*Updated* – After the jump, you can find video that The Source captured of Lil’ Wayne entering the courts.