Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California.

[3] Preceded by ten mixtapes for TDE, Rock's long-delayed debut studio album, Follow Me Home (2011), was released to moderate commercial reception and critical praise.

He once more signed a joint venture with Interscope Records to release his third album Redemption (2018), which was met with critical acclaim and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200.

Its lead single, "King's Dead" (with Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake), was shared with the Black Panther soundtrack, peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best Rap Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.

Apart from his solo career, Jay Rock is also known as a member of the now-defunct hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside fellow West Coast rappers and TDE labelmates Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul.

[5][6] At TDE, Jay Rock met fellow labelmate Kendrick Lamar, and the two would go on multiple tours together, honing their craft.

Rock released his commercial debut single, "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" in late 2008, featuring fellow American recording artists Lil Wayne and will.i.am.

[16] His debut album Follow Me Home was released on July 26, 2011, under independent record labels Strange Music and Top Dawg.

[19] In October 2012, Rock's appearance on Kendrick Lamar's major-label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city, was highly significant as he was the only other rapper from Black Hippy, to be featured on the standard edition of the album.

[25][26] On October 29, 2014, Jay Rock released a song titled "Pay for It", featuring Kendrick Lamar and Chantal Kreviazuk, as a promotional single.

[28][29] On February 15, 2016, Jay Rock was involved in a harsh motorcycle accident according to Top Dawg Entertainment's CEO Anthony Tiffith.