Happy Birthday, Pastor Troy!

Today, Nov. 18, is the 41st birthday of College Park, Ga., rapper Pastor Troy.

PT got his start in music at an early age. Though he was attending Paine College in Augusta, Ga., the D.S.G.B. frontman (short for Down South Georgia Boyz), left school to pursue music full time. Troy dropped his debut album, We Ready (I Declare War), in 1999.

He later appeared on many Dirty South classics including Ludacris' Back for the First Time and Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz's Kings of Crunk before hitting his mainstream stride in 2002 with the album, Universal Solider, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 that year. Troy followed that up with the album, By Any Means Necessary. That project, his seventh studio LP, peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and No. 7 on the R&B/Rap charts. This would be Troy's last album released under Universal before going to independent labels like Money & Power Records and SMC Recordings in subsequent years.

Now, with more than 20 albums under his belt, Troy is a reigning king in the Dirty South scene. In April 2016, PT Cruiser was honored with the Legends of ATL Award from BMI for his contributions to music in Atlanta.

At the tail end of September 2018, Troy dropped his lengthy Clubber Lang project, featuring 24 tracks. The lead single is a heavy-hitting turn up joint titled, "The Heavyweight Champ," and is accompanied by a video that was shot at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the home of the Atlanta Falcons.

Happy Birthday, Pastor Troy!

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