Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1983), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. He signed to indie label

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label founded in 2004, by CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Terrence "Punch" Henderson is president of the label. There are currently eleven artists signed to the label: the label's f ...

(TDE), in 2005. Under TDE, Rock secured a record deal in 2007 with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

and later

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...

, but mergers fell through and Rock departed from the label shortly after. He then signed with fellow American rapper

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...

Strange Music Strange Music is an American independent record label specializing in hip hop music and founded by Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin in 1999. History In 2009 Skatterman & Snug Brim fulfilled their commitment to Strange Music and left the label. In ...

, in a

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

deal with TDE. Apart from his solo career, Rock is also known for being a member of the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside fellow West Coast rappers and TDE label-mates

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...

Schoolboy Q Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (stylized as ScHoolboy Q), is an American rapper. In 2009, Hanley signed to Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and in late ...

and Ab-Soul. Since 2006, Rock has amassed several TDE-released mixtapes and first gained major recognition following his 2008 commercial debut single, " All My Life (In the Ghetto)" (featuring

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

and

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

). In 2011, after signing his deal with Strange Music, Rock's often-delayed and long-awaited debut album, '' Follow Me Home'', was released in July of that year. The album was supported by the aforementioned single, as well as "

Hood Gone Love It "Hood Gone Love It" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Jay Rock. It was released as the second single from his debut studio album '' Follow Me Home'' (2011). The song features Rock's Black Hippy cohort Kendrick Lamar and was produce ...

" (featuring

). His second album ''

90059 ''90059'' is the second studio album by American rapper Jay Rock. It was released on September 11, 2015 on Apple Music and the iTunes Store; the physical editions were released on September 18, 2015 by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). The album feat ...

'' was released in September 2015 and was supported by the singles "

Money Trees Deuce "Money Trees Deuce" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Jay Rock, released as the first single from his second studio album, ''90059'' (2015). The song, produced by Flippa and J Proof, is a follow-up to Kendrick Lamar's 2012 song, " ...

" (featuring

Lance Skiiiwalker Lance Howard, better known by his stage name Lance Skiiiwalker, is an American singer, rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and his debut album, '' Introverted Intuition'', was released in ...

), "Gumbo" and the title-track. In June 2018, Rock released his third album '' Redemption''. In 2019, Jay Rock received his first

Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance is an honor presented to recording artists for quality rap performances. It was first presented at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989 and again at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1990, after which po ...

for "

King's Dead "King's Dead" is a song by American rappers Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Future and English singer James Blake, from the soundtrack album of the Marvel Studios superhero film ''Black Panther'' and Jay Rock's third studio album '' Redemption''. ...

Life and career

1983–2007: Early life and career beginnings

Jay Rock was born Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. on March 31, 1983. Rock was raised in

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

, a neighborhood in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in the Nickerson Gardens

projects A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

. As a youth, he became a member of the

Bounty Hunter Bloods The Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, also known as the Bounty Hunter Bloods, is a predominantly African American street gang situated in the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles. History The gang was originally established ...

street gang and attended

Locke High School Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy (formerly Locke High School) is a Title 1 co-educational charter high school located in Los Angeles, California, United States, and is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District/ Green Dot Public ...

. During this time, he was jailed on two occasions, due to the area's anti-gang injunction. In 2005, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) of independent record label

(TDE), discovered Rock and signed him to his label, after hearing a verse of his. After signing to TDE, Rock released several mixtapes throughout his neighborhood and via the internet. With the help of TDE, Rock was able to secure a recording contract with

and later a joint venture deal with

, in 2007. At TDE, Jay Rock met fellow labelmate

, and the two would go on multiple tours together, honing their craft. The two often feature on each other's records, and along with Ab-Soul and

ScHoolboy Q Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (stylized as ScHoolboy Q), is an American rapper. In 2009, Hanley signed to Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and in late ...

would form the supergroup Black Hippy.

2008–2013: ''Follow Me Home''

Rock released his commercial debut single, " All My Life (In the Ghetto)" in late 2008, featuring fellow American recording artists

and

. The single was promoted as one of " iTunes's Free Downloads" in early 2009. In 2010, Rock was featured on the cover of ''XXL'''s annual Top 10 Freshmen issue. He was also named by MTV one of 2010's breakthrough MCs. Jay Rock was featured on

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

's song "Hoodie" and was supposed to be featured on Flo Rida's third studio album ''

Only One Flo ''Only One Flo (Part 1)'' is the third studio album by American rapper Flo Rida, which was released on November 30, 2010, through Atlantic Records, and his own label Poe Boy Entertainment. The album was preceded by the singles "Club Can't Handle M ...

'' but was left off the final track listing. Rock's mixtape ''Tales From the Hood 2'' went to iTunes on March 28, 2010, and his mixtape ''From the Hood to the Cover of XXL'' was released to iTunes on July 24, 2010. He also toured with 50 Cent, and other rappers on ''

The Invitation Tour The Invitation Tour was a tour by rapper 50 Cent in support of his latest/upcoming studio albums, ''Before I Self Destruct'', ''Black Magic'' (which was subsequently shelved), and his fifth studio album. The tour also featured G-Unit artists Ton ...

''. Around the same time he left Warner Bros. due to them delaying his album. Jay Rock then signed with indie record label

in the Fall of 2010, on a multi-album deal after leaving from Warner Bros.
span> XXcLusive: Jay Rock Signs to Tech N9ne's Strange Music [VIDEO. Xxlmag.Com. Retrieved on May 3, 2011. Jay Rock then went on tour with

, E-40, Glasses Malone, Kutt Calhoun and

on the "Independent Grind National Tour". His mixtape '' Black Friday'', was released December 7, 2010, to iTunes. On June 21, 2011, Rock released his second single, "

", featuring

. His debut album '' Follow Me Home'' was released on July 26, 2011, under independent record labels Strange Music and Top Dawg. The album debuted at #83 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 5,300 copies in its first week. "

" was featured in the character trailer for Franklin, a main protagonist in the video-game Grand Theft Auto V. The song is also featured in the in-game radio station ''Radio Los Santos''. During 2012, Rock toured with the rest of Black Hippy and MMG artist

Stalley Kyle Alfonso Myricks (born October 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Stalley, is an American rapper from Massillon, Ohio. Music career In 2008, Stalley made his mixtape debut, titled ''Goin Ape'', with fellow Ohio-native rapper Terry U ...

, on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

's Music Matters Tour. In October 2012, Rock's appearance on Kendrick Lamar's major-label debut, ''

good kid, m.A.A.d city ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (stylized as ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'') is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Record ...

'', was highly significant as he was the only other rapper from Black Hippy, to be featured on the standard edition of the album. Rock is featured on the song " Money Trees", for which his verse was highly acclaimed. He would later perform "Money Trees", with Lamar, at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, along with appearing in the TDE Cypher. ''XXL'' named his verse the fourth best of the night.

2013–2017: ''90059''

In November 2013, Rock told

Power 105 WWPR-FM (105.1 FM) is an urban contemporary music radio station licensed to New York City. WWPR-FM is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan; its transmitter is l ...

that his second studio album would be released in 2014. With the release of the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid comp ...

nominations, it was revealed Rock was nominated for Album of the Year as a featured artist for participating on Kendrick Lamar's ''good kid, m.A.A.d city''. After the release of label-mate Ab-Soul's album '' These Days...'' in June 2014, TDE's CEO confirmed that Jay Rock would be the next artist from the label to release an album. In September 2014,

revealed that Rock had left his

imprint and is now only signed to Top Dawg Entertainment. On October 29, 2014, Jay Rock released a song titled " Pay for It", featuring Kendrick Lamar and Chantal Kreviazuk, as a promotional single. On November 15, 2014, Rock appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', alongside the musical guest Lamar, where they performed "Pay For It". On February 15, 2016, Jay Rock was involved in a harsh motorcycle accident according to

's CEO Anthony Tiffith. According to Complex, he recovered very well, however he had a lot of broken bones. He was in surgery and successfully came out of it.

2018–present: ''Redemption''

On January 12, 2018, Jay Rock released the single "

" with

, Future and James Blake. The song was produced by Mike Will Made It and

Teddy Walton Travis Darelle "Teddy" Walton (born July 30, 1992, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American record producer, songwriter and DJ. He began music production by creating songs with his older brother, June, which gained traction on SoundCloud. Teddy has ...

serving as the lead single to his third studio album and as a single from the soundtrack '' Black Panther: The Album''. "King's Dead" became Jay Rock's first song to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On May 16, 2018, he released the single " Win", which served as the second single from his third studio album. After teasing a 2018 release in January, the album, titled '' Redemption'', was announced on May 21, 2018, alongside the cover art and its release date, which was released on June 15, 2018. At the

2019 Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

, both "King's Dead" and "Win" received nominations in the

Best Rap Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance is an honor presented to recording artists for quality rap performances. It was first presented at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989 and again at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1990, after which p ...

and

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...

categories, respectively. In February 2019, Rock won his first Grammy award for "King's Dead".

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are annual awards presented by

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. ! , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, " good kid, m.A.A.d. city" (as featured artist) , Album of the Year , , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="1", , - , rowspan="3",

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, rowspan="2", "

" ,

, , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3", , - , rowspan="2",

, , - , " Win" ,

Discography

*'' Follow Me Home'' (2011) *''

'' (2015) *'' Redemption'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, Jay Living people African-American male rappers African-American songwriters Bloods Gangsta rappers Grammy Award winners for rap music People from Watts, Los Angeles Rappers from Los Angeles Songwriters from California Top Dawg Entertainment artists Warner Records artists West Coast hip hop musicians 1985 births 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Black Hippy members 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people American male songwriters