R. City

Siblings Theron and Timothy fused hip-hop, pop, and Caribbean elements while penning successful tracks for Akon, Usher, Sean Kingston, the Pussycat Dolls, Ashlee Simpson, and additional acts under the group name Rock City, later trimmed to R. City. Raised in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, the pair committed after high school to building careers in the music industry. A relocation to the mainland became unavoidable, so they first landed in Atlanta and then established themselves in Miami. There they began supplying material to Akon, who soon placed the brothers on his Kon Live roster. Once their composition “The Rain” appeared on Akon’s platinum-certified album Konvicted, outside writing assignments kept the duo from focusing on their own recordings. Only in 2008 did Rock City unveil the upbeat single “Losing It” together with the mixtape Put the F*cking Album Out. Kon Live announced that the full project Wake the Neighbors would arrive later that year, yet the label never issued it and the album stayed on the shelf while the brothers continued their mixtape series, eventually completing eight volumes of PtFAO. Rock City parted ways with Kon Live in 2011 and launched their own imprint, Rebelution Records, briefly operating as Planet VI for several years before adopting the final name R. City. Although releasing their own work proved difficult, writing hits for others remained straightforward; they supplied major singles to Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus and contributed to Grammy-nominated albums by Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Jennifer Hudson, and further artists. Dr. Luke then signed R. City to Kemosabe Records, resulting in the 2015 album #WhatDreamsAreMadeOf, whose songs reflected the hardships of growing up in the Virgin Islands. The project’s opening track “Locked Away,” which featured Adam Levine, reached the Billboard Hot 100.