Anthony H. Forté (born March 2, 1968), known professionally as Rappin' 4-Tay, is an American rapper from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Early life

Anthony Forte was born March 2, 1968, and grew up in San Francisco's Fillmore District. He has a twin sister. He has a son as well as three daughters.

Music career

Right after high school, 4-Tay made his debut on the Too Short album '' Life Is...Too Short''. He was later convicted on drug charges and served ten months in prison. Upon his release from prison he released his debut album ''Rappin' 4-Tay Is Back'' in 1991, and followed up in 1994 with '' Don't Fight the Feelin''', which included the hits " Playaz Club" (which sampled the song " Private Number" by William Bell and Judy Clay and hit number 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100), the "Dank Season" featuring Seff Tha Gaffla, and " I'll Be Around" (which hit number 39 on the US Hot 100, number 59 in Australia, and number one in New Zealand ). In 1995, two Rappin' 4-Tay songs—"Problems" and "A Message for Your Mind"—were featured on the ''Dangerous Minds'' soundtrack. "A Message For Your Mind" sampled " I Want You Back" by

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

. Rappin' 4-Tay's mainstream success has been scarce since then, but he was featured on 2Pac's '' All Eyez on Me'' album on the track "Only God Can Judge Me" in 1996 and Master P's ''

West Coast Bad Boyz II ''West Coast Bad Boyz II'' is the fourth compilation album by American hip-hop record label No Limit Records and the third compilation in its ''West Coast Bad Boyz'' series. It was released on January 28, 1997 via Priority Records, serving as the ...

'' compilation in 1997. 4-Tay was also an original member of Bay Area supergroup T.W.D.Y. in 1999. In 2003 Rappin' 4-Tay released the album ''Gangsta Gumbo'' with the single "Burning, Burning", followed up by the album ''That's What You Thought'' in 2007. In 2010 He was featured on R&B Artist E. Broussard's song titled Big Game Droppin'. He was featured on the song "My Alphabets" on fellow Bay Area rap veteran Mac Dre's 2004 album '' The Genie of the Lamp''. In 2011, Rappin' 4-Tay, E-40 and Playalitical collaborated on a song entitled "Bounce It Like a Bad Check" which was featured on the ''Political Playboy Music'' album released by Playalitical. In 2012 Rappin' 4-Tay collaborated on the song "Picture a Nigga" with Lil' Gang$ta, as well as helping with his debut album. In 2013, he headlined the main stage of Seattle Hempfest with artists Ditch, Tony Tag, Brian Meyers and more. In May 2014, he appeared with E Bone415 in a music video about Alcatraz Island.

"Playaz Club" controversy

In 2014, 4-Tay spoke out against Drake for using lyrics from 4-Tay's 1994 song " Playaz Club" in the collaboration " Who Do You Love?" with YG. The artists settled out of court with 4-Tay being promised $100,000 and future credits for the song. However, it was later revealed that Drake had not actually paid 4-Tay the $100,000. 4-Tay eventually received royalties for his contributions to "Who Do You Love?". In 2018, the royalties to both the YG single and "Playaz Club" were auctioned on Royalty Exchange and at one time had bids of upward of $38,250 with the seller reportedly being 4-Tay.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Rappin' 4-Tay Is Back'' (1991) *'' Don't Fight the Feelin''' (1994) No. 174 ''Billboard'' 200; No. 52 R&B/Hip-Hop *'' Off Parole'' (1996) No. 38 ''Billboard'' 200; No. 10 R&B/Hip-Hop *'' 4 tha Hard Way'' (1997) *''Bigga Than Da Game'' (1998) *''Introduction to Mackin (1999) *''Gangsta Gumbo'' (2003) *''That's What You Thought'' (2007) *''The World Is a Ghetto'' (2008) *''Still Standing, Vol. 1'' (2011) *''Strictly Enforced'' (2011) *''Where Is the Love?'' (2011)

Collaboration albums

*'' Derty Werk'' with T.W.D.Y. (1999) *''Ghetto Visa'' with Squirrel (2007) *''Ghetto Visa, Vol. 2'' with Squirrel (2010) *''Exported Game'' with Big Willie & Spike2ms (2011)

Mixtapes

*''Dlk Enterprise Presents Rappin' 4-Tay – Dlk Collabs Vol. 5'' (2022)

Charted singles

Soundtrack appearances

Other certified songs

Other guest appearances

Videography

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rappin 4-Tay 1968 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American rappers African-American Christians African-American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers Chrysalis Records artists Gangsta rappers G-funk artists Hip-hop musicians from San Francisco Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Twin musicians American twins Virgin Records artists West Coast hip-hop musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians