Big Daddy Kane (born Antonio Hardy, September 10, 1968) is a rapper from Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the notorious Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. During his career, he has worked with artists including Biz Markie, Marley Marl, Teddy Riley, Rudy Ray Moore and Barry White. Heavily influenced by Grandmaster Caz in his earlier years, he continued to improve his fast flow and freestyle battle techniques. Part of Marley Marl's legendary Juice Crew, he also penned lyrics for fellow members Biz Markie and Roxanne Shante. Kane was responsible for jump-starting and being the archtype for the career of Jay-Z, now a hugely commercially successful rapper who got his start as Kane's hypeman.

Kane is known for his incredible ability to syncopate over faster hip-hop beats, despite his asthmatic condition (he is acknowledged as one of the pioneering masters of fast-rap.) His sense of style is renowned and set a number of early-1990s hip-hop trends (high-top fades, cuts in the right eyebrow and four-finger rings). Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers during the "golden age" of hip hop (1986-1994), Kane's experimentation with R&B beats and his alignment to the Five Percent faction drew criticism. Later albums, such as Looks Like a Job For..., were acclaimed, but he was never able to return to the commercial and artistic success of It's a Big Daddy Thing. However, he still tours extensively.

In 1996, before the murder of 2Pac, it was said that 2Pac intended to start his own label, Makaveli Records, featuring prominently East Coast acts; one of the artists he intended to sign was Kane, and the two even recorded a song together before the rapper's death, entitled "Wherever U Are".

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