Roger McBride (born December 14, 1968), better known by his stage name King T (formerly known as King Tee), is an American West Coast Hip hop rapper from Compton, California. Emerging as one of Compton's earliest hip hop artists, he was signed to Capitol Records, where he released his debut album Act a Fool in 1988 with the hit singles "Act a Fool," "Payback's A Mutha," "The Coolest," and "Bass” [Remix], all of which were considered hip-hop classics. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked primarily with producer DJ Pooh, and was responsible for the rise of Tha Alkaholiks, whom he helped guide into the rap game. King T is also the CEO of his own record label, King T Inc. Early life and career Roger McBride was born in Compton, California on December 14, 1968 and has attended high school. He had been around the Los Angeles hip-hop scene for many years alongside Ice-T and Kid Frost and is widely considered a pioneer in the genre. In 1988, he made his debut with Act a Fool, which is considered a classic of West Coast hip-hop. Tha Alkaholiks During his time with Capitol, T began mentoring a young trio of rappers called Tha Alkaholiks, consisting of Tash, J-Ro and E-Swift. He also helped mentor their loosely affiliated collective, the Likwit Crew. The Likwit Crew also includes others, such as Xzibit, who would later rise to fame and bring King T into the orbit of Compton producer Dr. Dre. Tha Alkaholiks put out their debut album 21 & Over under King T's guidance on Loud Records in 1993. The Notorious B.I.G. influence T greatly influenced The Notorious B.I.G. with his deep voice, flow and rhyme style, which Biggie would at times imitate on his 1994 album Ready to Die. Tee later paid homage to Biggie on the track "6 In'a Moe'nin" on his album The Kingdom Come, using a similar setup to and vocal samples of Biggie's track “Somebody Gotta Die". In 2010, Ice-T confirmed in an interview that King T was one of Biggie's favorite rappers. Record deals After 1993's Tha Triflin' Album, on which T worked with Marley Marl, he left Capitol for MCA and put out IV Life in 1994. After leaving MCA as well, he built with Dr. Dre and ended up signing to the producer's label, Aftermath Entertainment. However, T only released three songs