Playaz Circle

All Music Guide:

Attempting to balance club-friendly, Southern crunk with more conceptual lyrics, Atlanta-based rappers Tity Boi and Dolla Boy first teamed up as Playaz Circle (aka the Duffle Bag Boys) in 1997 in adjacent city College Park, GA. Having been friends since high school, the two eagerly began recording street releases and mixtapes. Not soon afterward, another aspiring MC and local radio disc jockey, Ludacris, moved into their same College Park housing complex and started collaborating with Playaz Circle. Each of their respective crews were trying to break into the industry, but Playaz Circle's career halted when Dolla Boy was sentenced to prison, and Tity Boi wound up getting shot. Meanwhile, Ludacris had blown up, becoming one of the South's highest-selling rap artists. Ludacris invited Tity Boi, and later Dolla Boy, to join his newly formed Disturbing tha Peace collective and DTP record label. Tity Boi and Dolla Boy recorded "Play Pen to the State Pen" for DTP's first outing, Golden Grain (2002). DTP executives were not very eager to release any of the duo's music through its Def Jam partnership at first; and so, the two continued to release straight-to-street albums and mixtapes, handing material to Atlanta DJs to play in clubs. Patiently waiting for their already finished album to be released, Playaz Circle made noise with their Top Five Hip-Hop/R&B single "Duffle Bag Boy," featuring Lil Wayne on the hook, in summer 2007. The song's growing popularity helped break down major-label red tape for the two, making it the lead single for DTP's third LP, Strength in Numbers (2008), as well as their debut album, Supply and Demand (2007).

Wikipedia:

Playaz Circle were a rap duo signed to the Def Jam Recordings record label.

Biography

The duo was formed in 1997 by two childhood friends Tity Boi a.k.a 2 Chainz (Tauheed Epps) and Dolla Boy (Earl Conyers) in College Park, GA. They created the acronym Playaz which stands for Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A-Z. The duo put all their money together to release their independent album United We Stand, United We Fall. The album had features from Lil Fate, I-20 and others from the Disturbing tha Peace family. They were introduced to Ludacris by Lil Fate and soon became good friends as they all shared the same dream. Tity Boi played basketball at Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama.

Unfortunately, Playaz Circle ran into bad luck. Tity Boi was shot and Dolla Boy was incarcerated. Their career was at a standstill. After hearing their misfortune, Ludacris reached out and then signed them. They have also been in a commercial with Ludacris for the "Two Miles an Hour" video. Later, Tity Boi started a solo career and created the new alias 2 Chainz.

Their highly-anticipated debut album Supply & Demand was released on October 30, 2007, and featured the hit singles "Duffle Bag Boy" with Lil' Wayne, "Betta Knock" and "U Can Believe It" with Ludacris. In January 2010, Playaz Circle filmed a music video for their single "Big Dawg" featuring Lil Wayne and Birdman at Studio Space Atlanta. 2 Chainz has recently appeared on Nicole Wray's single "I Like It", Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame's "Mud Musik" from the former two's collaboration album Ferrari Boyz, Young Jeezy's "SupaFreak" from Jeezy's fourth studio album Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition, and Gucci Mane's mixtape Trap Back collaborating on the songs "Get It Back" & "Okay With Me".