King Tee

King Tee, who would later go by King T, stands among the earliest rap artists to emerge from the West Coast. The Compton native put out several albums on major labels during the closing years of the 1980s and the opening years of the 1990s. Despite modest sales, his work is frequently acknowledged as a key inspiration for the wave of gangsta rappers that rose to prominence in the first half of the 1990s. He worked closely with then-largely unknown producers DJ Pooh and E-Swift, both of whom would become leading figures in West Coast rap. King Tee made occasional returns to recording in subsequent decades, appearing on Dr. Dre’s 2001 and issuing independent projects such as Thy Kingdom Come. Even so, his catalog spent long stretches unavailable, leaving him a marginal reference point in West Coast rap history. The sole exception remains Ruff Rhymes: Greatest Hits Collection, a 1998 Capitol anthology that itself proved difficult to locate.