Troy Ave

Nicknamed after the street on which he grew up -- in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York City's Brooklyn borough -- rapper Roland Collins started a prolific run of mixtapes toward the end of the 2000s. In 2009, he made his debut as Troy Ave with I'm in Traffick. By the time he was selected as a member of XXL magazine's 2014 Freshman Class, his BSB label had well over a dozen of his releases in its discography. The biggest release was New York City: The Album, Collins' first proper full-length, for many the introduction to the rapper's ruthless hustling narratives. Aided...