T La Rock

The older sibling of Treacherous Three's Special K, T la Rock's greatest contribution to hip-hop was "It's Yours," a 1984 single produced by Rick Rubin. Special K was originally set to record the song, which was written by both of the brothers, but he convinced his brother to do it instead. Although it's been said that it was the first Def Jam release, it actually wasn't -- it was technically released by Partytime/Streetwise, and the sleeve design only featured an early Def Jam logo. T la Rock went on to record albums for Fresh and Sleeping Bag: 1987's Lyrical King was released on the former, and 1989's On a Warpath was released on the latter. Kurtis Mantronik helped out with production on the debut; Todd Terry leant a hand to the follow-up. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi