This southern rapper's entrepreneurial spirit - he runs his own Short Stop Records label - earned comparisons to Master P in its implicit challenge to the east coast/west coast domination of hip-hop. Birklett played saxophone and guitar in a high school band, but moved into hip-hop with producer Bruce "Grim' Rhodes in the late 80s. The duo worked with DJ Akshun, who would shortly rename himself Scarface and join Houston's Geto Boys. An abortive deal with Payday Records followed, before Troy decided to set up his own label, Short Stop Records, recording and promoting local rap talent. Troy took the microphone on only four tracks on his debut, Sittin" Fat Down South, enlisting some of Houston's leading rappers as MCs. These included Scarface (on "Another Head Put To Rest") and his Geto Boys partner Willie D. (on "Where's The Love"), Big Ced, 2-Low and Nattie. The album, redistributed by Universal Records, rose to number 20 in the Billboard charts in autumn 1999 on the back of the hit single "Wanna Be A Baller", an infectious slice of classic old school hip-hop.