Danny Rodriguez

Daniel Dimitri Rodriguez (November 10, 1967 – October 6, 1990), alias D-Boy Rodriguez, was a Christian rap artist. He released two albums that received moderate commercial success, before being murdered in 1990. His third album was released posthumously.

Career

Debut album Rodriguez was signed to Frontline Records, who released his debut album Plantin' a Seed in 1989. Christian blue-eyed soul singer Tim Miner was instrumental in creating the album in a technical role as well as assisting with songwriting, playing various instruments and singing background vocals on the disc. Miner's future wife Cindy Cruse also sang backing vocals. "Pick Yourself Up", co-written with Miner and Tommy Sims of White Heart hit No. 8 on Christian radio from the album. It would be the only song D-Boy ever charted.

Second album Rodriguez' second album, 1990's Lyrical Strength of One Street Poet (street poet was Rodriguez' preferred term for himself rather than 'rapper') was one of the first in Christian rap to make extensive use of sampling, using soundbites from Pee-Wee Herman ("Nobody hipped me to that, dude..") and Bill Cosby ("Read your Bible..Bible states") along with musical elements from Sly and the Family Stone, Steve Miller Band, The Isley Brothers amongst others. The album also has an early appearance on backing vocals by Nicole Bruce, who after marrying Christian rocker David Mullen would go on to greater recognition as Nicole Mullen. It peaked at No. 35 on Billboard's CCM album chart in early 1991.

Posthumous releases In 1993 his final album, Peace to the Poet, was released. It contained a collection of outtakes and other scraps put out by his label posthumously. Labelmate Angie Alan recorded "Until We Meet Again" in his memory on her CD The Bottom Line. Rappers included tobyMac and Vanilla Ice.

Fellow musicians Corey Red and Precise dedicated the song "Martyr's Anthem" to him. It is found on the 2004 album, Resistance Iz Futile. On April 28, 2006, his mother was in attendance as a concert in West Oak Cliff was held to mark the release of a Christian rap CD entitled The Fallen Soldier Compilation : A Tribute To D-Boy.

Discography Plantin' a Seed (Frontline 1989 CD-09082)