Troy Ave is a rapper from Brooklyn in New York who created his stage name from Troy Avenue which is located near his house where he lived as a kid. He had an emotional connection to this place and that’s why he decided to keep his roots close.
He came into limelight in 2013 with his debut album called „New York City: The Album“. This was the beginning of his success.
Early years
He was born as Roland Collins on November 23, 1985, in the biggest New York’s borough Brooklyn which is considered as one of the most populated boroughs in NY. He said that he knew his opportunities were high because of the fact he was born in such a big town and could immediately connect to all of these people.
He started his music career back in 2000 when he started releasing mixtapes and getting familiar with the New York’s hip hop scene. He said that it was easy for him to find inspiration because there were a lot of people singing songs and making vibes he liked.
It was in 2009 that he gained recognition and fame with his „I’m in Traffick“ mixtape which soon intrigued the rap scene. He said that he was happy to see people noticed his talent.
Roland was a student of two high schools both settled in Brooklyn, New York. They were the South Shore High School and the New Utrecht High School.
He grew alongside two siblings since he has a brother and a sister. He said that they made his childhood much better because sometimes school was hard.
Career development
He became interested in hip hop very early in his life and he started releasing mixtapes by himself. It was a way for him to get out of the crazy stuff the world prepared for him. It was a getaway, his favorite place.
After his mixtape „I’m in Traffick“ he continued releasing tape through BSB record label and he has released them very often.
From 2009 until 2014 he had over ten released tapes. Some of them are „Bricks in My Backpack“, „Kilos For Cheap“, „White Christmas“ and more.
In 2013 he released his first serious project, a full-length album titled „New York City: The Album“. It was released under the BSB Records and it has 17 tracks on it.
The album gained excellent reviews and it went as high as No. 47 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Album chart. He was enjoying his time creating music and was very happy that he was getting noticed by big artists.
The album had many guest appearances from Prodigy to Pusha T. This meant the world to him because he used to look up to these people.
In 2013, because of his rising popularity, he was invited to the music talk-show named „RapFix Live“ where he starred alongside Joe Budden, Rick Boy, Torae and more.
In 2015, his new album arrived under the name „Major Without a Deal“ which came to No. 15 on Top Hip Hop/R&B Charts.
In 2016, Troy Ave was arrested for serious charges of attempted murder and the possession of an illegal weapon at a concert.
The newspapers informed that for people were shot by a weapon and one of them died from the wounds. This was a really tough thing to go through and the artist said that he felt as if it was all his fault after all.
The newspaper also stated that the shooter was a person from the VIP section of the event at the T.I. concert.
Troy ended up in the hospital but the man who died, called Ronald MyPhatter, was a friend of his. After Troy came to the hospital it was discovered that his wound was made by himself – it was self-inflicted.
He became the main suspect in this shooting although he claimed that he is not guilty and that he and his friends were attacked and shot at so he used his illegally obtained weapon for self-defense.
He was taken into custody, without a chance to pay the bail while his lawyer tried to find the witness who can give any useful information.
Ronald McPhatter nicknamed Banga and he was Troy’s friend and a bodyguard.
In the summer of 2016, he released his new mixtape „Free Troy Ave“ which was a reference for the vents from the past and his charges of murder.
He also released as the leading single of the mixtape titled „Chuck Norris (Hoes & Gangstas)“.
He was released but only temporarily in July of 2016. One more person was arrested connected to the shooting it was Taxstone (real name Daryl Campbell), titled as a podcast personality from the press.
The court will continue in 2019 and Troy told the press that he will tell the truth now and won’t hold up, hiding the shooter. This was a huge problem and caused a lot of controversy in the media. People started to think that the artist himself was involved.
The same year, but in December, he was shot again by an attacker with the hood. He was shot while sitting in his car (red Maserati).
His girlfriend was with him. He was shot in the arm and sustained a small injury on the head. He was later visited by another rapper called 50 Cent who was also shot many times.
The same year brought him another trouble, this time with a thief who stole his laptop while contained his sex tape and who tried to blackmail him into giving back the tape.
Troy was mad but eventuaččy released his own sex tape through his music video rather ran paying for it.
He has several collaborations in 2014: with Young Jeezy and Rick Ross on „All About the Money“ remix with T.I., Puff Daddy and Ma$e on „Your Style“. The latter was released on his mixtape „BSB Vol 5“.
He was involved in writing and performing lyrics on „Dirty Grandpa“ movie in 2016 with Zac Efron and Robert De Niro.
In the spring of 2019, he released his clothing line named „God is Great Paper $traight“.
Troy is also a businessman and is good at flipping houses. He created a whole bunch of career moves from the fact that he already gained fame and he is one of the best businessmen in his job.
He was involved in a controversy connected with the family of late Ronald “Edgar” McPhatter who didn’t want that Troy Ave uses it as a name of an honorary scholarship because they feel that he exploits it.
Troy Ave created this scholarship at New Utrecht High School, but the family doesn’t want to be connected to it.
Jamie Albert, McPhatter’s sister, says that Troy is guilty of her brother’s death. It was very hard for all of them to cope with this and the family of the victim wanted to press charges.
She stated that Troy used her brother as a human bulletproof vest and didn’t even call after the shooting took place. Many accuse the woman as a liar, but some people believe that this is actually what happened.
She says that Troy used this incident in songs and videos and took financial use of the tragedy.
The family even buried him in North Carolina so Troy wouldn’t come to the grave and use it for his promotion.
Troy Ave told the media that he tried to make a lavish burial for Ronald and to bury him in the East of New York but they did it their way, with no help.
Personal life
He is known for his love for fur. He also likes fishing and it calms him down.
He lives by the „Street Code“ which says that all the people close to him (family, friends) must be protected at all costs.
He started beef with another rapper named Joey Bada$$ in 2015. He is also a rapper from Brooklyn.
They started a feud over who is an independent artist and Troy released his first diss track in February under the titled „Badass“.
He used his track to insult Joey and his friend Capital STEEZ who killed himself by jumping on a balcony in 2012.
Troy is religious and thinks suicide is a disrespect to God.
The diss track wasn’t met with approval from other rappers and even his fans. Joey made a diss track back and their feud is still on.
As for his personal life, he has two sons but doesn’treveal the mother/s. One son is named Roland after him and he liked to call him Lil Ro-Ro. The other son is named Renzo.
As for his looks, he likes to wear a thin mustache and to wear glasses. He like jewelry and often wears expensive watches. He is religious and his religion is Christianity.
He is very active on his social media accounts and has over 1 million followers on his Instagram account.
Quick summary
Full name: Roland Collins
Date of birth: November 23, 1985
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Age: 34
Profession: rapper, entrepreneur, businessman
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 75 kgs
Net Worth: $1 million