Torrey "T.C." Carter - The Life I Live [Unreleased, 2000]

Though you may or may not know, Torrey “T.C.” Carter was due to be the first ever signed male musician to Missy Elliott’s label The Goldmind Inc. With that hype, came a strong lead single (“Take That”) which was due to spike awareness of his anticipated debut project “The Life I Live” (2000). Sadly, his album was canned due to rumored petty label politics at Elektra Records, the parent label of Elliott’s Goldmind imprint.

For further clarification and for those who might have a little rust in their memory bank, Torrey was first introduced to Elliott as an aspiring maestro who had strong ambitions of being a leading artist as he was strolling the streets of Greenwich Village (greater New York City area). According to Missy, Torrey had been singing to strangers all day until one particular moment he spotted Elliott and her entourage and proceeded to sing his lungs out to the five-time Grammy Award winner as hopes it would take him somewhere.

That it did, when Elliott signed him on to her label. What followed was the release of his lead single “Take That”, which entered the Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs charts as a top 20 entry and was starting to make some noise on the Billboard Hot 100 end. Despite the single’s strong urban pop appeal and a music video that was receiving frequent airplay on The Box and BET, Elektra pulled the plug on further promo and ceased both the release of Torrey’s follow-up single “If It’s Money That You Want” alongside his album.

Missy took to ‘Billboard’ magazine in December 2001 to share her thoughts on the matter pertaining to Torrey’s shelving and dismissal from the Elektra family, quoting: “I have my own label, and Elektra has their own artists that they distribute. Sometimes we get in a dispute about that because, of course, they have to put forth their artists first.”

Track-listing is as follows:

1.) Intro (feat. Missy Elliott)

2.) Floss Ya Jewels (feat. Missy Elliott)

3.) Take That (Radio Edit) ft. Missy Elliott

4.) Take That (Explicit/Original Version) ft. Missy Elliott

5.) Shotgun (feat. Lil’ Mo)

6.) The Life I Wanna Live (feat. Nokio of Dru Hill)

7.) Cream (Ride or Die) (feat. Lil’ Mo & Nokio of Dru Hill)

8.) We Gon’ Do

9.) If It’s Money That You Want

10.) Now I Got a Girl

11.) Same ‘Ol (feat. Missy Elliott)

12.) It Takes Two (feat. Lil’ Mo)

13.) Insanity

14.) O.K. (feat. Missy Elliott, Petey Pablo, Trick Daddy & Timbaland)