Peter O. Phillips[1] (born June 21, 1970),[4] better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper.

He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth.

[citation needed] He briefly attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice but was not a serious student and left to focus on his music career.

Rock would often accompany his father to a cricket club called Wembley in The Bronx and watch as he spun records for the guests.

In the early year of 2000,[17] he worked out a deal with BBE, a label based in the UK and released PeteStrumentals, an instrumental album that features no vocals, excerpt for tracks 'Cake" and "Nothin' Lesser" which performed by the UN (Divine, Godfree, Laku and Roc Marciano), a group that Rock brought in.

In 2003, Rock would also release a compilation album, Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics on October 27, 2003, on BBE records.

Rock oversaw the production of Jay Stay Paid, a posthumous album by the producer J Dilla, released June 2, 2009, on Nature Sounds.

Following that, Pete Rock joined Kanye West in Hawaii, who traveled there to work on the latter's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

[24] In an April 2011 interview on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Pete Rock discussed his new solo work including his album with DJ Premier, as well as exploring the fact that he has had numerous beats rejected by Eminem over the years[25] Pete Rock Uncensored Radio Interview.

His next venture, INI, was a group featuring Rock, his younger brother Grap Luva, Ras G and rapper Rob-O.

They released a single, "Fakin' Jax", through Elektra Records in 1995, before their debut album, Center of Attention, was shelved by the label.

[9]The pair went on a short international tour culminating in their well-received show at London's Jazz Cafe; however, soon after this they declined to comment any further on the new album, which never materialized (although Smooth did make three separate appearances on Soul Survivor II).

Eventually, Smooth would confirm rumors of a rift in an interview with AllHipHop.com,[33] in which he appeared angry and frustrated with his former partner, saying "I didn't ask him to be a superhero" and "I'm not the problem".

I don't want to be the only one speaking on someone who's not here, but I wish him the best in life.Pete Rock creates beats from samples, the majority of which are taken from obscure R&B, funk, and jazz records.

Early on in his career he would also sample drum breaks such as Black Heat's "Zimba Ku" for Heavy D & The Boyz's "Letter To The Future".

Along with Gang Starr, The Roots and A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock played a large role in the fusing of jazz and funk music into hip hop.

Aside from their role as transitions, these are widely regarded as a way of displaying his large collection and as a challenge to other hip-hop producers to identify the records that the breaks come from.

[38] Mecca & the Soul Brother and The Main Ingredient use intro/outro beats on nearly every track to great effect, and the tradition continues to the present on Rock's recent releases.

[9] Although he received no official producer credit, he made the original demo beat for A Tribe Called Quest's "Jazz (We've Got)", which was then recreated by Q-Tip on the album The Low End Theory.

Pete Rock has had a considerable impact on a number of record producers who have emerged in the hip hop scene since the late 1990s.

Several of the comparisons stem from the fact that these producers have created the bulk of their productions out of samples, as well as the warm, mellow, and exuberant undertones apparent in their work.

He enjoys reading and collecting comic books of his favorite superhero characters, such as The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and X-Men.

[43] A publisher from TV One called Pete Rock "the most visionary and renowned producers in Hip Hop history".