Todd Howard, known professionally as Toddy Tee, is an American rapper based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He is best known for his 1985 protest song " Batterram", which protested against

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

by the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

. He was an influence for prominent Los Angeles-based musicians such as Ice-T and

King T Roger McBride (born December 14, 1968), better known by his stage name King T (formerly known as King Tee), is an American West Coast Hip hop rapper from Compton, California. Emerging as one of Compton's earliest hip hop artists, he was signed ...

, and the

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

hip hop group. Howard first gained notoriety in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

producing parody raps. He was first signed to

Evejim Records Evejim Records was an American independent record label founded in the 1980s by Leon Haywood and based in Los Angeles, California. The label released various soul, blues, hip hop and electro recordings, as well as re-recordings of some of Leon Hayw ...

. His song “Batteram” is described by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' as an "underground success", and was named by the magazine as one of "The 100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time."

References

Rappers from California 20th-century American rappers 21st-century American rappers American male rappers Year of birth missing (living people) Rappers from Los Angeles West Coast hip hop musicians Musicians from Compton, California Living people {{US-hiphop-bio-stub