Daniel Dimitri Rodriguez (November 10, 1967 - October 6, 1990), alias D-Boy Rodriguez, was a Christian rap artist. He released two albums that received moderate commercial succes, before being murdered in 1990. His third album was released posthumously.

Rodriguez saw rap music

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 as a vehicle to reach inner-city youth in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 through the Street Church Academy, a ministry founded in the Buckner Terrace area of Dallas in 1983 by his parents, former drug addicts Demi and Irma "Cookie" Rodriguez. The ministry was focused on anti-gang activities as well as fighting drug addictions among those who attended. Danny had been the Academy's first graduate.

Debut album

Rodriguez was signed to Frontline Records, who released his debut album Plantin' a Seed in 1989. Christian blue-eyed soul

Blue-eyed soul

Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...

 singer Tim Miner was instrumental in creating the album in a technical role as well as assisting with songwriting, playing various instruments and singing background vocals on the disc. Miner's future wife Cindy Cruse

Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff

Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff is a Dove Award winning singer-songwriter who serves as the senior worship leader at the largest and fastest growing church in the United States, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.-Music career:...

 also sang backing vocals. "Pick Yourself Up", co-written with Miner and Tommy Sims of White Heart

White Heart

White Heart, also listed as Whiteheart, was a Contemporary Christian Music pop-rock band which formed in 1982. White Heart's discography includes thirteen albums, the most recent of which was released in 1997. Original members Billy Smiley and Mark Gersmehl worked with a continually-changing cast...

 hit #8 on Christian radio from the album. It would be the only song D-Boy ever charted.

Second album

Rodriguez' second album, 1990's Lyrical Strength of One Street Poet (street poet was Rodriguez' preferred term for himself rather than 'rapper') was one of the first in Christian rap to make extensive use of sampling

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

, using soundbites from Pee-Wee Herman

Pee-wee Herman

Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his two television series and film series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that quickly led to an HBO special in 1981...

 ("Nobody hipped me to that, dude..") and Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...

 ("Read your Bible..Bible states") along with musical elements from Sly and the Family Stone, Steve Miller Band

Steve Miller Band

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...

, The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...

 amongst others. The album also has an early appearance on backing vocals by Nicole Bruce, who after marrying Christian rocker David Mullen

David Mullen (singer)

David Mullen is a former University of Florida football player, turned Contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter and producer. He released his first album in 1989, and won the GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year in 1990. He later married fellow Christian singer Nicole C. Mullen,...

 would go on to greater recognition as Nicole Mullen. It peaked at #35 on Billboard's CCM album chart in early 1991. Christian radio, however, was not ready for its more raw rap sound and it got little airplay.

Death

Rodriguez died in 1990 after being shot upon leaving his East Dallas apartment. As of yet, no official motive has been revealed for the shooting. According to his mother: "They say it was everything from mistaken identity to a robbery attempt, but nobody really knows." As a tribute to her late son, Cookie renamed Street Church Academy as the "D-Boy Community Center" after his death. Lyrical Strength.. was completed just one week before D-Boy's death and was released in November 1990.

Posthumous career

In 1993 his final album, Peace to the Poet, was released. It contained a collection of outtakes and other scraps put out by his label posthumously. Labelmate Angie Alan recorded "Until We Meet Again" in his memory on her CD The Bottom Line. Rappers including tobyMac

TobyMac

Toby McKeehan , better known by his stage name TobyMac , is a Christian recording artist, music producer, hip-hop/pop artist, singer-songwriter, and author....

 and Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice

Robert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...

. Genie began recording rap music herself to carry on his legacy as MC Gee Gee.

Fellow musicians Corey Red and Precise dedicated the song "Martyr's Anthem" to him. It is found on the 2004 album, Resistance Iz Futile. On April 28, 2006, his mother was in attendance as a concert in West Oak Cliff

Oak Cliff

Oak Cliff is a community in Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town located in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1903...

 was held to mark the release of a Christian rap CD entitled The Fallen Soldier Compilation : A Tribute To D-Boy. The album features contributions from fellow Christian rap pioneer Fred Lynch (of P.I.D.), Dynamic Twins

Dynamic Twins

The Dynamic Twins were a Bronx-born Christian rap group composed of identical twins Noel and Robbie Arthurton.- Origins :The twins moved to California circa 1989. The group's members began to make guest appearances on albums by other Christian rap artists, including J.C...

, IDOL King, Lingo, Heata and others.

Discography

• Plantin' a Seed (Frontline 1989 CD-09082)
• The Lyrical Strength of One Street Poet (Frontline 1990 CD-09216)
• Peace to the Poet (Frontline 1993 FLD-9295)

External links

• http://www.hhhdb.com/index.php?id=50