Pastor Troy

“Man, that shit there man (Snap music), everybody’s tryin’ to eat. It sounds cool playin’ in the club, but a far as gettin’ in my car and ridin’ around listenin’ to damn “snap ya fingas, do ya step,” man I don’t wanna hear that shit.”

Crunk, Snap, Southern Rap – they are all a sub-genre of the hip-hop style that came from the melding of East and West coast’s rap styles with a little ‘extra’ thrown in for the “crazy drunk” drum heavy, laid back danceable club scene style that blends to commercial Southern Rap.

Pastor Troy - The beginnings

Pastor Troy was born Micah LeVar Troy on November 18, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His education included Creekside High School and Payne College as the street-smart rap music held growing appeal. At 22, as Pastor Troy, he recorded his debut album, We Ready (I Declare War), which was released by Madd Society Records as an “underground” album.

The album got off the ground after the funky hardcore rap artist, Mister P, made mention of the style with an outright dis. Two more underground releases followed in 2000, Book I, and Pastor Troy for President. The underground recordings and features on several rap artist projects, including Lil Jon’s Throw it Up and Ludacris’ Get Off Me albums making chart mentions, set the stage for Pastor to advance to the Universal label.

On to the majors

Augusta, Georgia spawned the Down South Georgia Boys (DSGB) with Pastor Troy at the front with the initial offering of I Am D.S.G.B. in 2000. The 2002 release of Universal Soldier, debuting on Billboard 200 at #13, was considered his most successful, with southern US success, and the Ms. Jade featured single Are We Cuttin’ making the cut for the soundtrack for xXx.

In 2003 the album of Young Jeezy’s Come Shop wit’ Me featured Pastor on the track GA and the D.S.G.B. released Till Death Do Us Part. The 2004 release of By Any Means Necessary, with single spawned Ridin Big hitting R&B chart at #91, was the final for Universal who, naming ‘creativity disputes’, released Pastor Troy from his contract.

Pastor Troy had public disputes with several popular fellow rappers, including issues with Lil Scrappy and The BME Click that he aired on his 2005 release, Face Off, Part II, followed by Hood Hustlin’: The Mix Tape, Vols 1 and 2 with Nino of P.K.O. who also was in on the 2006 Down South Hood Hustlin’ mixtape. 2006 also saw the releases of Stay Tru (SMC label), By Choice or by Force solo albums and the collaboration album with Criminal Manne, Atlanta 2 Memphis (Money and Power Records). 2007 saw solo release of Tool Muziq with the single, Saddam.

The next tow years saw three solo album released each year; (2008) Attitude Adjuster, A.T.L. (A-Town Legend, TROY) (2009) Feel Me or Kill Me, Ready For War, and Love Me, Hate Me and two compilation albums, Still No Play in Georgia and Ready for War (the P.T. Mixes).

2010 is showing the same with 3 solo Pastor Troy releases G.I. Troy, Strictly 4 My Soldiers, King of All Kings, and Be Ready to Kill in the pipeline, as well as D.S.G.B.’s The Return of Cut 3.

Feature releases

Pastor Troy enjoyed lending a helping hand to fellow Dirty South and Gangsta rappers appearing on albums by various artists such as the 2000 Hypnotize Camp Posse’s Big Mouth, Big Talk, Baddazi’s War Face, and Rasheeda’s Do It. Over the next years Pastor appeared on 22 albums and features ending with the 2009 Gucci Mane 17.5.

Did you know that...

...west Atlanta, Georgia is noted as the birthplace of “Snap Music”?
...the Raw Report DVD highlighted Pastor Troy’s F-650 custom truck?
...Notre Dame Football team used Crank Me Up as their pump up music?

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