T-Rock

T-Rock® (born Antonio Washington on March 26 1981) is an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for his works during his 4 year stint with Three 6 Mafia's label, Hypnotize Minds, mainly for his solo track from Three 6's Choices soundtrack, "Slang & Serve".

History
Washington grew up in College Park on the southside of Atlanta. He began rapping during his early teens, and was able to fund his first record, Throw Yo Neighborhood Up, in 1996. Anthony, friend and former group mate Odd-1, and others helped contribute to the tape. Not too long later, his tape fell into the hands of Three 6 Mafia affiliate MC Mack, who took Washington under his wing and got him, DJ Paul and Juicy J into a meeting to consider the young up-and-comer for a contract. He was later signed to his first major label recording deal at 17.

Music
Washington began rapping on other's records, whether it be for Three 6's albums, or other label mates' records, such as Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, or Indo G, just to name a few, while working on his upcoming major-label debut Rock Solid/4:20. The months went by and by and his debut was constantly delayed, though he was always present on other projects. He became more and more restless, and this was a key reason as to why there was a falling out between him and Paul and Juicy. Also, rumors began arising that Paul and Juicy had gone to a local Atlanta radio station and deliberately dissed young T-Rock. He also claimed that he was never paid for any of the verses that he supplied for any of his label mates. He left Hypnotize Minds shortly thereafter.

Secret Service Inc.
Being free from his former label, Washington was quickly picked up by underground Memphis record label, Secret Service Inc. He quickly began recording for his debut album, Conspiracy Theory, and making appearances here and there. In 2002, his time finally came as he released his long-overdue debut album. Conspiracy Theory contained his first single, "Mr. Big Man", which is a dis track toward DJ Paul. He recorded a video for it, but it was kept under wraps and never saw the public eye. Whilst recording for SSI, he ventured into other ideas and started a label of his own, Rock Solid Music. During his stay at SSI, he released his second album, The Myth of Reality. After its initial release, he again became solely focused on his home label and began works on his third album, second for this label, Defcon 1: Lyrical Warfare.

During the making of this album, he recorded many records lashing out at his former label mates Three 6 Mafia and those whom they had signed after his departure, most notably "Fuck 3-6", "Executive Squad", which was a song featuring all of the rappers signed to SSI, though only T-Rock's verses were devoted to dissing Three 6, and "Who You Scarin'". However, on The Fix DVD, he stated that the dis records were never meant to be put out, and he had already left the label prior to Defcon 1 being released. Regardless of his wishes, Defcon 1 was released in 2003, containing the records that dissed his old label. The records found their way to Paul, Juicy, Lord and Crunchy, which led to a fight in Birmingham, Alabama, in which they allegedly broke his collar bone. DJ Paul references this in Three 6 Mafia's 2003 album, Da Unbreakables on the song "Let's Start a Riot." His entire verse is devoted to belittling T-Rock and uses the line "By the way, nigga, how's ya collar bone doin'?"

Rock Solid Music

Washington left the label in late 2001, having not been paid for either album, most likely due to a contractual issue, to focus all of his efforts to his own label, which had been put on hold while at SSI. To add to his non-payment history, Paul and Juice released Rock Solid/4:20 on a small sub-label, Club Memphis Music in the same year, which ended up being his highest-selling album to date. He began working heavily in the studio, releasing mixtapes, a collab album with Deep South, ATL Badboys, solo albums, and appearing on many people's songs. In 2004, he released the third project on his own label, The Mr. Washington Story. Shortly after, he released Slang & Serve, which was a mixtape featuring other well-known rappers from around his area, including Lil' Scrappy and Bohagon. He has since released numerous mixtapes, and began signing rappers from all around the South to bulk up his roster. Odd-1, whom he had met while in the 8th grade, left Rock Solid Music to pursue his own solo career in early 2007. On May 29, he released his latest effort, Da Kush.

Though he is a predominantly underground and independent artist, Washington has worked with a plethora of many well-known rappers, such as Three 6 Mafia, Pastor Troy, Lil' Scrappy, , and of , Young Buck, and even Bizzy Bone, formerly of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

Upcoming Projects
He is currently working on a collaboration album with Memphis rapper/producer Mr. Sche called Vendetta, which is also slated to come out in 2007. He also has plans to release an album which compiles all of the Rock Solid Music roster onto one album this year as well, called The Royal Family, which is to be released on September 4 2007, prior to "Vendetta". Along with the compilation, he plans to release his first group album Behind Enemy Lines shortly after.

He is also gearing up the re-releases of all of his underground albums throughout his career. They will feature new cover art, enhanced quality, and will contain unreleased tracks from the time when The Mr. Washington Story was made to when Da Kush was.

Discography
Solo
*Throw Yo Neighborhood Up
**Released: 1996; August 14 2006
**Chart positions:
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**Singles:
**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Conspiracy Theory
**Released: June 25 2002
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**RIAA certification:
**Singles: "Mr. Big Man"
**Label: Secret Service Inc.

*The Myth of Reality
**Released: 2002
**Chart positions:
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**RIAA certification:
**Singles:
**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Rock Solid/4:20
**Released: February 18 2003
**Chart positions:
**U.S. sales: 20,000+
**RIAA certification:
**Singles:
**Label: Club Memphis Music

*Defcon 1: Lyrical Warfare
**Released: August 19 2003
**Chart positions:
**U.S. sales:
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**Singles:
**Label: Secret Service Inc.

*Rock Solid 2003 Vol. 1
**Released: 2003
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**Singles:
**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Da Clean Up Project
**Released: 2003
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*The Mr. Washington Story
**Released: March 23 2004
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Slang & Serve
**Released: November 21 2004
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Etched In Stone: The Lost Chronicles Vol. 1
**Released: 2005
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*On da Grind: Rock Solid Edition
**Released: 2005
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Rock Solid 2003 Vol. 2
**Released: April 24 2005
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Universal Mackin
**Released: January 6 2006
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*4:20/Reincarnated
**Released: June 27 2006
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

*Da Kush
**Released: May 29 2007
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**Singles: "Pull Up to da Light"
**Label: Rock Solid Music

*The Burning Book
**Released: 2008
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**Label: Rock Solid Music

Collaborations
*ATL Badboys
**With: Deep South
**Released: October 7 2003
**Chart positions:
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**Singles:
**Label: Deep South/Rock Solid Music

*United Ghettos
**With:
**Released: April 3 2007
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**Singles:
**Label: Ghetto Musik

*The Royal Family
**With: Rock Solid Camp
**Released: September 4 2007
**Chart positions:
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**Singles
**Label: Rock Solid Music

Guest appearance compilation
*Guest Appearances Vol. 1
**Released: August 21 2007
**Chart positions:
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**RIAA certification:
**Singles:
**Label: Rock Solid Music

Trivia
* Washington was in a brief feud over the name of T-Rock with a rapper also using that name which ironically happened to be from Atlanta, Georgia as well (signed to So So Def). Having had the name before the latter, this led to Washington having "T-Rock" trademarked, which can be seen on the cover of Da Kush (there is a TM to the top right of "T-Rock").

References / Sources

* http://www.cinephiles.net
* http://www.iapstore.com/store/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=T-Rock
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See Also

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