Hollywood Undead could be the new face of rap-rock. Only no one knows what they look like.

Formed in 2005, Hollywood Undead was one of the first bands to build its fan base primarily through its MySpace. Comprised of Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, Deuce, J-Dog, Johnny 3 Tears and Funny Man Kurlzz, the band's Linkin Park-meets-screamo track No 5 was included in the MySpace Records Vol.1 compilation featuring fellow MySpace favorites like Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Tila Tequila. But Hollywood Undead didn't play a live show until this year, when it won Virgin Mobile USA's "Book The Band" contest and opened for artists like Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails.

Known for its crude sense of humor and for wearing eerie masks, Hollywood Undead's politically incorrect approach appears to have as many haters as it does fans. Some praise the band's ability to tell stories about Hollywood's ugly side while others argue the sextet's over-the-top lyrics about sex and partying make it difficult to take them seriously. Hollywood Undead insists its music is no laughing matter: "Elton John was considered a joke. Eminem was considered a joke. The people who are known for something different take a lot of criticism early on."

Hollywood Undead's long-awaited debut, Swan Songs, was released in last September. Its current single, City, is streaming on MySpace.

Call her Amy Winehouse without the drugs or Duffy without the drama. Rising soul and R&B star Jazmine Sullivan calls herself fearless.

Sullivan's first two singles, the smoldering reggae joint Need U Bad and the '60 throwback Bust Your Windows have already earned the 21-year-old comparisons to Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Winehouse. Although her debut album, Fearless, features production from Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse, Nas), Stargate (Ne-Yo, Rihanna) and Missy Elliott, Sullivan's name doesn't just grace the cover. She wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album and is listed as its executive producer.

Raised on the music of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Aretha Franklin, Sullivan began performing at age five. She made her TV debut on "Showtime at The Apollo" when she was only 11 years old. While attending Philadelphia's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts -- the same school that produced acts like Boyz II Men and The Roots - Sullivan signed to Jive Records. She was eventually dropped. After years of trying to secure a major label deal, Sullivan met Missy Elliott, who had been a fan of Sullivan since her days at Jive Records. Determined to get her signed, Elliott teamed up with Timbaland to help Sullivan record the songs that would lead to her current deal at J Records.

When asked what she hopes listeners will take away from Fearless, Sullivan replies: "It’s about empowering young women... if you push me around, I’m gonna push you right back!"

Reik are like any other California pop rock band: three clean-cut guys wearing faded tees and sneakers, singing about love. Only, they're from Baja California and they're singing in Spanish.

For Reik, whose name is literally the English word "rake" written phonetically in Spanish, normal is the new special. Formed in 2003 in the sleepy border town of Mexicali (just across from the U.S. city of Calexico), the group consists of Jesús Alberto Navarro Rosas on vocals, Julio Ramírez Eguía on vocals and guitar and Gilberto Bibi Marín on guitar. Despite being signed to Sony after just one year of playing out, singer Jesús insists they're just "tres dudes," adding: "[w]e like to read, go to the gym, we have many friends and spend a lot of time on the phone."

The rest of the time, they write hits. Songs like Yo quisiera (I wish), Qué vida la mía (What a life I have) and Noviembre sin tí (November without you) pushed their self-titled debut to gold sales in México. Their follow-up didn't disappoint a growing fan-base throughout Latin America with radio-friendly tracks like Invierno (Winter) and De qué sirve (What does it matter).

On their latest album, Un día más (One more day), Reik teamed up with famed producer Cachorro López (Caifanes, Maldita Vecindad, Julieta Venegas, Café Tacuba), for a fuller sound that is just as perfectly… normal as on the lead single Inolvidable (Unforgettable). Not surprisingly, the band isn't about to change their tune: "In general the album is geared towards the positive, happy things, the good side of life."

Does it take a genius to be an R&B star? Well, maybe. Meet John Legend, former consultant for the elite Boston Consulting Group, friend of Kanye West and the real thing. Really.

A piano player at age three, John Stephen graduated high school at the top of his class before going to the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania to study literature by day and perform popular covers of Prince songs by night. It was a pattern he continued after college, working as a high-powered consultant in New York and Boston while moonlighting as an R&B artist, until the stars aligned and his former college roommate, producer Devo Springsteen, hooked him up with Springsteen's cousin, the then up-and-coming Kanye West.

A year later, West signed Legend to his Sony Music-backed G.O.O.D. Music label which subsequently released his Platinum certified and Grammy award-winning debut Get Lifted. On this and his follow-up Once Again, Legend's performances and lyrics bring a grace and confidence unheard of in pop music since Stevie Wonder made the 70s his own. Songs like Ordinary People and Heaven are sincere without being obvious and layered without being complicated.

Not surprisingly, Legend's range isn't just on display in his musical output. Active in charities and politics, he's the spokesperson for the Show Me Campaign, an organization dedicated to fighting world poverty and performed at the National Democratic Convention in support of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In a few weeks, he'll drop Evolver, an album that lives up to its progressive title with club jams like Green Light (featuring Andre 3000) and collaborations featuring Kanye West, Estelle and Brandy. Oozing confidence and class, the man who calls himself Legend says the method to his music-making is to just do it: "I don't really have a huge plan going in… I just go in there and try to write some good songs."

Three years after Chilean rock group La Ley called it quits, frontman Beto Cuevas is finally going solo.

Described by The New York Times as a "Spanish-speaking echo of the 1980's," La Ley rocked Latin America with new wave-influenced hits like Doble Opuesto and Tejedores De Ilusión before transitioning to pop rock. The band's eponymous second album spawned three of its biggest hits: El Duelo, Día Cero and Aquí. By the time La Ley released its final album, the Latin Grammy-nominated band was just as known for its music as it was for its singer's good looks.

When the group went "on hiatus" in 2005, many speculated Cuevas was itching to go it alone. But the handsome rocker instead tried his hand at acting, appearing as a priest in the Mexican flick La Mujer De Mi Hermano and as a cult leader in Zev Berman's Borderland. After guesting on "Loud," an English-language single by house legends Masters At Work, Cuevas began work on his debut, Miedo Escénico (Stage Fright). Produced by Aureo Baqueiro (Motel, Sin Bandera, Pambo), the album features Vuelvo (I Return), a throbbing synth-rock single that will likely delight die-hard La Ley fans.

Cuevas, who directed the video for "Vuelvo" and designed the artwork for Miedo Escénico, says fans shouldn't wait for La Ley to get back together any time soon: "A La Ley reunion is not feasible today, because I am just releasing my album and I plan to develop my career as a solo artist. [I want] to create a parallel road and to construct something for the future."

Conjunto Primavera may not be as "hardcore" as fellow Norteño combo Los Tigres del Norte, but over the last 30 years the Chihuahua band's romantic ballads have made them one of most loved and respected conjuntos in the genre.

Hailing from the bordertown of Ojinaga near Presidio, Texas, Conjunto Primavera was founded by saxophone player Juan Domínguez on the first day of Spring in 1978 – hence the name "Primavera." Dominguez was joined by Tony Melendez (vocals), Félix Contreras (accordion and keyboards), Oscar Ochoa (bass), Rolando Pérez (double bass) and Daniel Martínez (drums) and the group soon distinguished itself with a jazzy, saxophone-driven sound and, at the time, slick matching suits.

After nearly two decades with indies, the band struck a deal with Fonovisa in the mid '90s and quickly grew their fan base and discography. The Latin Grammy-nominated Conjunto Primavera has released over 35 albums (including compilations and live albums) in a little over a decade. The band's latest, Que Ganas De Volver (What Do You Get From Coming Back), includes the hit single Te Lloré (I Cried For You), a dreamy lament about lost love which includes the lines: "Fuiste el alma de mi vida, mi tormenta y mi guarida, mi pecado y mi rosario, fuiste más que un milagro."

When asked how they stay on top of the Norteño scene, the band insists its just giving the people what they want: "We base our sound on what our fans want to hear, the music our public has supported. It's an easy way of knowing which type of songs we'll do and what themes we include in our music. Up to this moment, I think, we haven't faltered."

Don't call Avenged Sevenfold religious rock. Despite the numerous biblical references in their songs, the California natives insist they're just providing food for thought: "[O]ne thing about this band that I love,” says frontman M. Shadows, “is that we never really shove any kind of, like, political or religious beliefs on people."

The members of Avenged Sevenfold were still in high school when they released their debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, nearly a decade ago. The band dropped its sophomore record, Waking the Fallen, on indie Hopeless Records before getting snapped up by Warner Bros in 2004. A year later, Avenged Sevenfold bagged a U.S. radio hit with Bat Country, a melodic metal track from City of Evil. Though that track earned the band mainstream recognition, guitarist Zacky Vengeance insists there's more to them than just one song: "[W]e're selling out arenas in obscure areas around the world where our songs have never been on TV or the radio."

Last year, Avenged Sevenfold delivered the follow up to City of Evil, an eponymous album featuring Afterlife, a single that is pure AX7: catchy choruses, rapid-fire drums and blistering guitars. Although the tattooed quintet is sometimes criticized for abandoning the metalcore sound found on their first two albums, Avenged Sevenfold makes no bones about being influenced by classic (read: mainstream) bands like Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses and Metallica. And AX7’s eclectic brand of new-school-meets-old-school metal has been a hit at various summer tours – all of which cater to different scenes: the Warped Tour (punk), Ozzfest (metal) and Taste Of Chaos (emo and hardcore).

After returning from a recent tour with their idols, Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold has released Diamonds In The Rough, a DVD-CD set featuring covers, unreleased tracks and B-sides.

Only two years in the game, Aliados De La Sierra have enjoyed a quick rise to the top of the duranguense scene. But their beef with fellow Chicago natives Alacranes Musical has left many of their fans divided.

In early 2007, ex-Alacranes vocalist Sergio "Hershey" Federico and drummer Adan Cervantes formed Aliados along with keyboardist Eduardo Navar of Brazeros Musical. The band was later rounded out by vocalist Jose Luis Muro, multi-instrumentalist Roberto Tello, saxophonist Pedro Celis and Juan Alfredo Rosas on tambora. The "splinter" group released its debut Con Los Ojos Cerrados and scored instant hits with covers of two love songs, Te Amo and the album's title track, originally made popular by pop-roquera Gloria Trevi.

But the band soon became fodder for gossip TV when Federico and Navar got into a fistfight with four members of Alacranes Musical at a Los Angeles hotel – and in the middle of an industry gathering. Head Alacrán Memo Ibarra credits the scuffle with helping the former bandmates patch up: "We fixed things, we sat down and talked about it... everything turned out OK."

Curiously, only two months after dropping their debut, Aliados released their Greatest Hits – a live album recorded in Chicago. After touring the U.S. and México, the group are currently working on their sophomore studio release.

Heard the phrase We the best! recently? Chances are it came from Miami's DJ Khaled.

A New Orleans native, the Palestinian-American DJ Khaled (real name: Khaled Khaled) began his radio hustle in the mid '90s. With trademark enthusiasm that sometimes borders on the obnoxious, DJ Khaled became one of the top jocks on WEDR 99 Jamz, the biggest hip hop station in South Florida. The Terror Squad-affiliated DJ eventually moved into production, plying his trade on underground mix-tapes before releasing Listennn... The Album in 2006. But his considerable talent behind the boards may not be as key to his success as the numbers on his cell – from Bun B to Kanye West.

A star-studded affair, DJ Khaled's debut launched his breakthrough single, Holla At Me Baby, with appearances by high-profile homies Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Paul Wall and Rick Ross. Khaled followed a year later with the approriately titled We The Best and scored two major hits: party banger We Takin Over with Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman and Lil Wayne, and the synth-drenched ghetto anthem I'm So Hood, featuring Plies, T-Pain, Trick Daddy and usual suspect Rick Ross. His third album, We Global, is due September 16 but the first single, Out Here Grindin' is a clear sign there's more hyper collabs on the way with verses from Ace Hood, Akon, Lil' Boosie, Plies, Rick Ross, Trick Daddy and Young Jeezy.

Asked how he's been able get so many superstars on his albums, DJ Khaled demurs: "We the best!"

Ernesto "El Chapo" Pérez may be small in stature, but he's quickly become one of the biggest stars in the Mexican regional music scene.

Born in Badirahuato, Sinaloa – reportedly an important hub for narcotráfico – El Chapo first broke through with the narcocorridos Quisieron Tumbar al Jefe (They Wanted to Take Out the Boss), La Tienda Surtida (Well-stocked Store) and La Mafia Del Sinaloense. Not one to shy away from controversy, Pérez shrugged off warnings that singing about the drug trade could be dangerous for his health: "Artists shouldn't be worried about it, because it's not our job to say who works as a narco, who's a delinquent or who does good."

A notorious ladies' man, El Chapo hit the mainstream with Sinaloense love jams like Tu, Yo y la Luna (You, Me and the Moon) and Recostada En La Cama (Lying Down in Bed). His latest album, Mis Rancheras Consentidas, features El Paletero, a flirty single in which El Chapo taunts: "Don't say you don't like me if you haven't had a taste." Pérez, instantly recognizable with his black hat and thick black moustache, often performs on horseback, earning him the title 'El Numero Uno Del Jaripeo.'"

Like many artists on both sides of the border, Pérez has turned his street cred into Grammys by winning over the toughest critics: the ladies.

See: myspace.com/elchapomyspaceoficial