Street culture, and specifically rap music, also influenced Pastor Troy when he was a teenager at Creekside High School and, later, a student at Payne College. Born Micah LeVar Troy on November 18, 1977, in the College Park suburb of Atlanta, GA, he grew up under the influence of his father, Alfred Troy, a principled man of Haitian descent who is a former drill instructor turned pastor. Recognized for the lyrical self-consciousness, thoughtfulness, and sincerity he injects into his otherwise standard approach to Dirty South rap, Pastor Troy stood out among the masses of up-and-coming Southern MC trying to break out nationally in the early 2000s.