Rodney Toole (born June 25, 1981) better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Hot Rod (formerly Young Hot Rod), is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

from

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, United States. In 2006, Hot Rod secured a recording contract with

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based rapper

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

G-Unit Records G-Unit Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group. Founded in 2002 by rapper 50 Cent, for the first eleven years of operation, G-Unit ran in conjunction with, and was distributed by, Interscope Records. In February 2014, ...

. In 2010 he was moved to

G-Note Records G-Note Records is a subsidiary record label of 50 Cent's G-Unit Records. The label was formed in late 2010 for pop, dance and R&B artists. The offices for the label are in New York. Origins (2010) After the success of former G-Unit subsidiary ...

, a subsidiary label of G-Unit Records, which focuses on pop,

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and R&B music.

Early life

Raised in

, until the age of 24, Hot Rod worked as mortgage broker until spotted by the

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released th ...

boss

, who signed him to his label in 2006. Hot Rod would send his homemade demo CD to 50 Cent's G-Unit office's in hope the record label would sign him. After 50 Cent heard the CD he thought that Hot Rod's easy flow reminded him of his own. It was December 2005 when the 24-year-old rapper received a call at his day job as a mortgage broker, and it wasn't from any random G-Unit associate but 50 Cent himself.
Hot Rod started in hip-hop as a teenager in the mid ‘90s, making beats. “When my pops made me his assistant music engineer at the church. That's when I realized my passion for music,” he reflects, “I've always had it in my blood so there was no stopping me from that point on”.

Musical career

Solo career

Hot Rod released his first single in August 2006, called "Be Easy" which featured R&B singer

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

under the labels

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...

. The single failed to gain any major chart success and therefore he was dropped from the label

in late 2006. Hot Rod was the first of various rappers to host the Digital Dynasty series.

2010–present: ''My Life''

On December 16, 2010, Hot Rod released his second single in four years, " Dance with Me", also the first single from his planned debut album ''My Life''. Produced by Fuego and co-written by

Tommy Beringer Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

and Milana Leybovich of Nuthin Under a Million. This was the first single to be released under the newly-formed

label. In an interview with ''Vibe'' magazine Hot Rod revealed that his album was slated for a summer 2011 release date. He also stated that he had been working with producers such as

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P) ...

and

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

. Hot Rod had been recording music for his debut album, which was previously called ''Fast Lane'', since he signed with G-Unit in 2006. Hot Rod tweeted that he was working with Snoop Dogg on the album. In early 2011, a preview of Hot Rod's second single from the album, the title track "

My Life My Life may refer to: Autobiographies * ''Mein Leben'' (Wagner) (''My Life''), by Richard Wagner, 1870 * ''My Life'' (Clinton autobiography), by Bill Clinton, 2004 * ''My Life'' (Meir autobiography), by Golda Meir, 1973 * ''My Life'' (Mosley a ...

", leaked onto the internet.

Discography

Singles * " Dance with Me" (2010) * "

" (2012)

Mixtapes

* "Mick Swagger: Life in the Fast Lane: Hosted by 50 Cent" (January 2007) * "The Prequel: The Pre-Fast Lane Mixtape: (March 2007) * "The Hitman: Hosted By 50 Cent & Shadyville" (September 2007) * "Lost In The Middle East' (August 2009) * "G-Note Presents: It Still Feels Good" (December 2011)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hot Rod 1981 births Living people Rappers from Sacramento, California African-American male rappers G-Unit Records artists West Coast hip hop musicians American hip hop singers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people