R. City, the rap duo behind the hit song “Locked Away,” will be headlining the inaugural FGCU Homecoming concert Night Flight.
Night Flight will be on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. on the Library Lawn. Programming Board will be announcing the artist for Nest Fest prior to the concert starting.
Hailing from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, two brothers, Theron and Timothy Thomas, make up the duo R. City. The two use the stage names A.I. and Uptown AP, respectively.
City got their start writing music for other musicians such as Usher, Sean Kingston, Ashlee Simpson and Mary J. Blige. The pair wrote songs like Kingston’s “Take You There,” the Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up” and Iyaz’s “Replay” — all of the songs landed on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
Many albums the brothers have contributed to have won or been nominated for Grammy Awards. The duo wrote “If This Isn’t Love” for Jennifer Hudson’s Grammy Award-winning self-titled album.
R. City released their debut studio album “What Dreams Are Made Of” in 2014. The album included hits “I’m That…” (featuring 2 Chainz) and “Locked Away” (featuring Maroon 5’s frontman Adam Levine).
“Locked Away” saw lots of success as it peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and made it to the top on Mainstream Top 40 in 2015.
It wasn’t always easy for the duo to release music, however. The brothers signed a recording contract with Geffen Records and Akon’s KonLive Distribution in 2007. R. City self-released 15 mixtapes between 2008 and 2012, many containing the acronym “PTFAO,” which stands for “Put the F—-n Album Out,” as a way to get the label’s attention. In 2011, the duo parted ways with KonLive.
Despite the road bumps with KonLive Distribution, R. City went on to sign with RCA Records and Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records.