Rick Rock
Ricardo Thomas, also known as Rick Rock, is an American record producer originally from Montgomery, Alabama and based in Fairfield, California. He is a founding member of the former rap group Cosmic Slop Shop and the Federation with fellow rapper Doonie Baby, and is regarded as a pioneer of the hip-hop subgenre Hyphy. Late 1990s. Rick Rock began to make a name for himself in 1996 when well known Vallejo Producer Mike Mosley invited him to come to the studio to meet E-40. E-40 had originally planned on using a beat produced by Mike Mosley, however due  to Mosley's tardiness, Rick Rock used that time as an opportunity to showcase his talents. He went on to produce two tracks featured on E-40's "Tha Hall of Game" including the song "Record Haters" a diss track directed to NYC rapper AZ (rapper) and basketball player Rasheed Wallace. E-40 then introduced Rick Rock to Tupac Shakur where he and Mike Mosley co-produced two additional tracks "Tradin War Stories" and "Ain't Hard to Find" from the album "All Eyez on Me". Around that time Rick Rock also contributed heavily to fellow bay area artist Spice 1's  Immortalized album. Early 2000s. Rick Rock's popularity grew in the early 2000s after Jay-Z released the hit single "Change the Game". From there, Rick Rock went on to produce "Can't Deny It" for Fabolous, and "I Don't Do Much" by Beanie Sigel. In 2002 Rick Rock reunited with Vallejo producer Mike Mosely and produced the songs "Godzilla" featuring E-40 and Pizzo and "The Sickness" by Federation. Both songs were featured on Mike Mosely's compilation album "Major Work The Soundtrack". In Spring of 2002, Rick Rock produced "Automatic" featuring Fabolous, which became the lead single for  E-40's album "Grit & Grind". In 2003 Rick Rock gained more commercial success working with New York-based artists, producing hits "Make It Clap" for Busta Rhymes "If I Could Go" for Angie Martinez and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" for Mase. Following his commercial success, Rick Rock became a sought after producer on the West Coast producing underground tracks like Keak Da Sneak's "T-Shirt, Blue Jeans, & Nike's", "Back it Up" by Ras Kass, "Whip Appeal" by Bambino Brown and producing over half of the songs featured on B-Legit's fourth album "Hard 2 B-Legit". In 2003  Rick Rock founded his own label Southwest Federation and signed the Federation featuring fellow Cosmic Slop Shop alumn, Doonie Baby and additional rappers San Diego Native Battle Locco and Harlem native El Dorado Red. El Dorado Red is the only rapper other than the Federation to release an album on Rick Rock's label with the release of "East Side Rydah Vol. 1".