Shop Boyz

All Music Guide:

Classifying their sound as "hood rock," the Shop Boyz tried to separate themselves from the Atlanta crunk scene, but as their 2007 breakout single, "Party Like a Rockstar", showed, the trio fit right in with its heavy bass and drums complemented by pop-savvy and edgy guitar riffs. Cousins Meany (Demetrius Hardin) and Fat (Richard Stevens) along with their best friend Sheed (Rasheed Hightower) all grew up on the streets of Bankhead, a western Atlanta neighborhood. They each worked on cars during the day in order to fund their growing interest in making music. Things began to fall into place when the three first met a local producer, Richard "Fire" Harris, who provided beats for free, and a local entrepreneur, OnDeck Records CEO Brian "Bingo" Ward, who allowed them to record in his studios. For about three years, the Shop Boyz were releasing straight-to-street albums and mixtapes, but when they recorded "Party Like a Rockstar" in January 2007, they knew they had a hot single on their hands. The song turned into one of Atlanta's biggest hits that year, prompting Universal Republic to pick up the single for national distribution and offer the Shop Boyz a major recording contract. When the single was officially released for digital sales in May, "Party Like a Rockstar" shot up to the number two spot on the pop charts, originating from position number 52. Although their knowledge of rock music was a bit iffy, and the Shop Boyz were constantly questioned about it in interviews, that didn't impede the momentum for their major-label debut, Rockstar Mentality (2007).

Wikipedia:

The Shop Boyz are an Atlanta-based hip hop group, originating from the Kings Glen Trail in Decatur.They relocated to Des Plaines, Illinois during the early nineties. They are most known for their single "Party Like a Rockstar" from their debut album Rockstar Mentality. The group is composed of Demetrius "Meany" Hardin, Richard "Fat" Stevens and Rasheed "Sheed" Hightower. In mid-2008, Rich "Shoo" left the group of a battle with Sheed.

Career

After signing with Universal Republic Records, Shop Boyz began to record their debut album, Rockstar Mentality, which saw them create rock influenced-hip-hop. The album's lead single, "Party Like a Rockstar was released in May 2007 and acheived commercial success, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also topped US rap charts and charted in the top ten on pop and R&B charts, and went on to become the highest selling ringtone of 2007. With its success, their debut, Rockstar Mentality, was released on June 19, 2007. Although it debuted at 11 on the US Billboard 200, it received a negative reception from critics and became a commercial disappointment, selling fewer than 200,000 copies to date The album's second single, "They Like Me", had a similar fate, as it only charted below the top one hundred on US R&B charts. With the group only achieving minor success, they were eventually dropped by Universal Records.

In August 2008 Shop Boyz premiered "Up Thru There" as the lead single from their then-untitled second studio album. However, the song failed to gain a release for undisclosed reasons. Despite this, it still managed to chart within the lower region of US R&B charts. Shop Boyz went on to release the collaborative album, Community Service, Vol.2, with rapper, C-Murder, on March 23, 2010, which featured the track. The group independently released an Extended play, entitled Back 2 Finish What We Started, on April 4, 2011.