"Rock City"
"Rock City"
Rock City are a US-based Caribbean-R&B singing, rapping, and songwriting duo, composed of brothers Timothy and Theron Thomas, who go by the stage names of Don't Talk Much and Da Spokesman.
Hailing from St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, they grew up in the Oswald Harris Court Projects (popularly known as Housin'). The talented Thomas brothers graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School (C.A.H.S.) in 2000. They released their first mixtape one year later under the name 2EKwip(2EK).They later changed their name to Rock City because that's what Saint Thomians (people from St. Thomas) call St. Thomas. After struggling, they managed to get to the U.S. mainland where they started performing in talent shows. Rock City was later banned from talent shows because they were winning too much. Rock City is preparing to change the face of music, period. Composed of brothers Theron a.k.a. Da Spokesman and Timothy a.k.a. Don’t Talk Much, the creative duo offers international flair combined with a Hip-Hop aesthetic with their debut, Wake The Neighbors. They later had to officially change their name to R. City because of confusion caused by Detroit's nickname (which is Rock City as well).
Their first major placement as writers was Akon’s “The Rain” from his double platinum CD Konvicted via a connect from their friend Benny D, who happened to be the Senegalese-American singer's DJ. “Ever since then we’ve been getting a lot of work,” adds Timothy, humbly. He’s certainly not giving Rock City enough credit, though. In a short time—they began penning songs for other artists and in 2006, they amassed a staggering number of tunes renowned artist including Mario, Usher, Eve, and Sean Kingston, to name a few.
On top of their singing ability, they have written songs for many artists from Pop to R&B, demonstrating their versatility in the music industry. Many of their written and produced songs have contained the opening lyrics, "Right About Now". Perhaps their most successful songs the Thomas brothers have written include Mario's "Music For Love", Sean Kingston's "Take You There" which reached #7 on Billboard Singles, The Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up" which reached #9 on Billboard, and most recently Iyaz's "Replay" which reached #2 on Billboard. Nicole Scherzinger gave a shout out to Rock City after the Pussycat Dolls won the 2008 VMA for Best Dancing In a Video for "When I Grow Up." The single went double platinum in the US.
Their first single from their debut album Wake the Neighbors, slated for release in second quarter of 2010, is "Losin' It". It was originally intended to be a song for r&b singer Trey Songz.
The hit super-collabo "Forever" (Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem), which was produced by Canadian producer Boi-1da, was originally intended to be used for Kardinal Offishall on his album "Not For Sale." The song featured Rock City on the hook instead of Drake and was leaked in early 2008. Kardinal did not use the song for his album and it was later re-sold to Drake and released in late 2008 as "I Want This Forever" featuring Lil Wayne and Nut da Kidd, then re-made into the current version featuring Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Eminem.