The story behind Pete Rock and CL Smooth's rap classic, "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)"

It started hittin’ in the summer of 1992, a song that was love-at-first listen, the most meaningful and emotion-filled hip hop song we’d ever heard. With spiraling Sunday-smooth beats, this track was so much more than the usual party anthem popular at the time. Instead, a tight saxophone riff looped beneath a haunting melodic chorus of nothing but “ohh’s” was the perfect background for CL Smooth to rap his classic, They Reminisce Over You. Geniusly mixed and produced by his DJ, Pete Rock, the song was the debut single off their second album, Mecca and the Soul Brother.

They Reminsice Over You, or T.R.O.Y., is an acronym with great significance. The song was inspired by the 1990 death of their friend, Troy Dixon, also know as Trouble T Roy. Dixon was a dancer for the rap group Heavy D & The Boys when he died in a freak accident. On July 15, 1990, Dixon was goofing around after a performance in Indianapolis, walking on a raised exit ramp outside the arena. He slipped and fell two stories to the ground, hitting his head. Dixon was rushed to the hospital but later pronounced dead. He was only 22 years old.

The next year, Heavy D dedicated his newly released album to Trouble T Roy’s memory, entitled Peaceful Journey, as the whole hip hop community mourned.

Pete Rock, Peter Phillips, and CL Smooth, Corey Penn, were good childhood friends with Dixon growing up in working class Mount Vernon, New York, so they were especially devastated by his death. But the song T.R.O.Y. was born not out of commercial aspirations or even intentions for a tribute song. In fact, Pete Rock was listening to Tom Scott and the California Dreamer’s cover of "Today" by Jefferson Airplane, an old classic, when the music evoked memories of his departed friend.

“I had a friend of mine that passed away, and it was a shock to the community,” said Pete Rock in a 2007 interview with the Village Voice. “I was kind of depressed when I made it. And to this day, I can't believe I made it through, the way I was feeling. I guess it was for my boy. When I found the record by Tom Scott, basically I just heard something incredible that touched me and made me cry. It had such a beautiful bassline, and I started with that first. I found some other sounds and then heard some sax in there and used that. Next thing you know, I have a beautiful beat made. When I mixed the song down, I had Charlie Brown from Leaders of the New School in the session with me, and we all just started crying.”

CL Smooth felt just as strongly, and laid out lyrics recalling their mutual childhood in money-earning Mount Vernon. He talks about the struggle of being a son of a young teenaged mother, the lack of strong male role models in their lives, childhood remembrances from the neighborhood with friends, and ultimately the inspiration, hard lessons, and love he gathered from those around him.

To conclude the song, CL Smooth seemingly raps directly to his friend Troy Dixon. He thanks him for believing in the youthful MC when no one else did, and for keeping him on the righteous path amidst so many negative influences. Almost as if unburdening his soul while standing over T Roy’s grave at this point of the song, CL Smooth gives his deceased friend an update on his family members. He finishes the song by comforting Troy that they’ll never forget, always reminiscing over him. The song is a touching eulogy, a homecoming celebration from those who loved T Roy, all of us who lost dear friends too young, and everyone who’s got love for what hip hop music is really about.

Upon its release, T.R.O.Y. was better embraced by the rap community and diehard fans than it was a commercial success. The album climbed as high as #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts but did hit #1 on the hip hop charts. While the album did well enough to establish the duo in the pantheon of Golden Age rappers, its significance has only grown over the years, and now the decades.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #12 on its list of "The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time. It also earned a spot as one of the Top 20 Singles of the 90s, The Source's "100 Best Rap Singles Of All Time, voted #6 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, number 90 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, and #35 on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.

As a tribute both to Troy Dixon, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, and the entire hip hop community, many other rappers have paid homage to the song. Gang Starr, Mos Def, Common, Kanye West, De La Soul, Method Man, Nas, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, and Mary J. Blige have all referenced the song.

They Reminisce Over You:

I reminisce for a spell, or shall I say think back

22 years ago to keep it on track

The birth of a child on the 8th of October

A toast but my granddaddy came sober

Countin' all the fingers and the toes

Now I suppose, you hope the little black boy grows, huh

18 years younger than my mama

But I really got beatings cause the girl loved drama

In single parenthood there I stood

By the time she was 21, had another one

This one’s a girl, let’s name her pam

Same father as the first but you don’t give a damn

Irresponsible, plain not thinking

Papa said chill but the brother keep winking

Still he won’t down you or tear out your hide

On your side while the baby maker slide

But mama got wise to the game

The youngest of five kids, hon here it is

After 10 years without no spouse

Momma’s gettin' married in the house

Listen, positive over negative for the women and master

Mother queen’s risin' a chapter

Deja vu, tell you what I’m gonna do

When they reminisce over you, my god

When I date back I recall a man off the family tree

My right hand poppa doc I see

Took me from a boy to a man so I always had a father

When my biological didn’t bother

Taking care of this so who am I to bicker

Not a bad ticker but I’m clocking pop’s liver

But you can never say that his life is through

5 kids at 21 believe he got a right too

Here we go while I check the scene

With the Portuguese lover at the age of 14

The same age, front page, no fuss

But I bet you all your dough, they live longer than us

Never been senile, that’s where you’re wrong

But give the man a taste and he’s gone

Noddin' off, sleep to a jazz tune

I can hear his head banging on the wall in the next room

I get the pillow and hope I don’t wake him

For this man do cuss, hear it all in verbatim

Telling me how to raise my boy unless he’s taking over

I said pop maybe when you’re older

We laughed all night about the hookers at the party

My old man standing yelling good god, almighty

Use your condom, take sips of the brew

When they reminisce over you, for real

I reminisce so you never forget this

The days of wayback, so many bear witness the fitness

Take the first letter out of each word in this joint

Listen close as I prove my point

T to the r-uh-o-y, how did you and I meet?

In front of big lou’s, fighting in the street

But only you saw what took many time to see

I dedicate this to you for believing in me

Rain or shine, yes in any weather

My grandmom pam holds the family together

My uncle doc’s the greatest better yet the latest

If we’re talking about a car, uncle sterling got the latest

I strive to be live ’cause I got no choice

And run my own business like my aunt joyce

So pete rock hit me, nuff respect due

When they reminisce over you, listen

Listen, just listen

To the funky song as I rock on

And that’s word is bond

I’m not playin

Everybody, just coolin

This song we dedicate

To the one and only

Never be another

He was my brother

Trouble t-roy

It’s like that y’all

And you don’t stop

Pete rock and cl smooth for ’92

And we out, later

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