Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Watts, California. Rock signed to the independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005.^[2] In 2007, alongside TDE, Rock secured a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records and later Asylum Records, but mergers fell through and Rock ended up leaving the label shortly after. He then signed with Tech N9ne‘s Strange Music, in a joint-venture record deal.^[3] Apart from his solo career, Rock is also known for being a member of the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside fellow West Coast rappers and TDE label-mates Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. In 2019, Jay Rock received a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for “King’s Dead“.