T La Rock
| T La Rock | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Clarence Ronnie Keaton |
| Also known as | The Lyrical King |
| Born | September 16, 1961 |
| Origin | Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Old school hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, recording artist |
| Instruments | Microphone |
| Years active | 1984–1989, 2008–present |
| Labels |
Def Jam/Partytime/Streetwise Records Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records Virgin/EMI Records (Europe) |
| Associated acts |
Kurtis Mantronik Nice & Smooth Just-Ice L.L. Cool J T.O.N.E-z QDIII Todd Terry |
Clarence "Terry" Ronnie Keaton (born September 16, 1961), known by the stage name T La Rock, is an American old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 single "It's Yours." He disappeared from the hip hop scene after a traumatic brain injury in 1994, but as of 2008, he was back on stage.
T La Rock was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City. A former break dancer, he is the older brother of fellow old-school MC Special K of the Treacherous Three. T La Rock stands 6'4" tall. T La Rock has been a part of hip hop since its birth, having been a DJ, a break dancer, and emcee since the 1970s.
In 1984, Rick Rubin released "It's Yours" 12-inch single (Cat. PT-104), which was the very first release on Def Jam Recordings. Although some might argue that LL Cool J's "I Need a Beat" 12-inch single was the first, this is not exactly true. The "It's Yours" recording was something that Rick Rubin put out a few months before joining forces with Russell Simmons. The song was the first single to feature a Def Jam logo, but it was released through producer Arthur Baker's independent label Partytime, which was the hip hop division of his dance music label Streetwise Records. The recording was never part of Def Jam’s collection of master recordings, however.
In a 1996 interview with The New York Times, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons commented about the effect T La Rock and "It's Yours" had on the early hip hop scene:
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