Bay Area beatmaker Rick Rock kicked off his career in the '90s with aggressive, stressed-out street beats like "N****s Done Changed" for Richie Rich. By the new millennium, he was tapped for chart-savvy funk-pop, as on Fabolous' clattering "Can't Deny It." By the mid-'00s, his stuttering vocal samples, manic grooves, and crisp handclaps on E-40's "Go Hard or Go Home" defined the Bay's hyphy sound.