Troy Lane Birklett (born February 24, 1966), known professionally as Lil' Troy, is an American rapper and songwriter.

Early life

Birklett was born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and grew up there.

Career

Early career

In 1987, Troy Birklett founded Short Stop and joined the group Mass 187 in 1987. Mass 187's song "Gangsta Strut" was featured on local radio. He was arrested in November 1999 and sent to a federal detention center in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

west of Orange. He was there nine months.

''Wanna Be a Baller'' and later career

In the late 1990s, Lil' Troy featured many of Houston's rappers in his songs. He reached national audiences with his single " Wanna Be a Baller". The song reached No. 70 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and propelled '' Sittin' Fat Down South'', his debut album on his Shortstop/Me & Mine Entertainment label, to the Top 25 albums on the ''Billboard'' 200. After the success of the lead single, Lil' Troy was picked up by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, which re-released his debut album in 1999 with national distribution. The debut album was a success; it was certified Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

selling 1.9 million copies in the US. Lil' Troy released a follow up in 2001, titled '' Back to Ballin''. The album did not have a charting single and did not fare nearly as well as his debut. He released his third album, ''Paperwork'', in 2006. Lil' Troy later became a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

, forming Birklett Trucking Company in

Missouri City, Texas Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increas ...

west of Pearland.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Lil' Troy
on YouTube * 1966 births Living people African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers American drug traffickers Rappers from Houston Underground rappers Businesspeople from Texas Place of birth missing (living people) Universal Records artists Gangsta rappers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians {{US-hiphop-bio-stub