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Posted by Robert
Rap News Network
6/23/2004 11:44:14 PM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Kurupt.
Once the perennial runt of the Death Row Records litter, renowned Los Angeles gangster/battle rapper Kurupt has completed a strange, often unsavory roller-coaster ride since his first appearance on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic in 1992. He and longtime collaborator/producer Daz found platinum success as Tha Dogg Pound with their 1995 West Coast classic Dogg Food, but their friendship soured. Even Kurupt’s once close relationship with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre is over. And it’s all because, a little over a year ago, Kurupt abandoned all the Death Row haters and signed back up to work with Marion “Suge” Knight and his company, now known as Tha Row.
Today, Kurupt (né Ricardo Brown) hopes to become the Dr. Dre of this formerly super-powerful label. He’s dead set on helping Tha Row reinvent itself and recapture the glory that made it a dominant force in ’90s hip-hop. His forthcoming album, Death Row Presents Kurupt – Against the Grain (due out next month), is Tha Row’s first major release since 1996. It’s also the label’s best hope for any commercial success, outside of the big checks Knight still receives from Tupac Shakur’s, Snoop’s, and Dre’s best albums.
On a muggy June afternoon, a black G5 Mercedes wagon pulls into Tha Row’s Beverly Hills parking lot with Kurupt in the passenger seat. Unusually perky, the rapper carries a bulging briefcase, two packs of Newports, and a 40-ounce of Budweiser. His wiry, lithe body is swallowed up in a two-piece denim outfit. Having interviewed and hung out with him more than 10 times since 1992, I deem him more focused and clear-eyed than ever before.
“I am trying to improve on my executive game and not just MCing,” he explains, flinging ashes into a cup while we talk in a small conference room. “I’m the senior vice president here at Death Row. My job is strictly music. Simon [Suge Knight] is the brains, the muscle, and the push. I am the decision-maker about what he wants to push. I choose the artists, the music, and the albums created. Anything that has to do with the artists and their grooming, I do that. My job is to give him the product he is going to give to the world.”
Kurupt’s decision to essentially get a check left him in a lurch. Since he returned, both Snoop and Daz have made records dissing him. (He plans to fire back on his new LP.) But Kurupt says his boys didn’t look out. When he needed financial help recently – he was bankrupt and in trouble with the IRS – it was Suge, not Snoop or Dre, who shot him a life preserver.
“I’m getting old,” says the rapper, who’s 31. “I’m a father. I have five kids to take care of. I have more responsibility than ever before. Time moves so fast. Last time I looked up, it was 1993 and 1994. Now we are in 2004 going to 2005.”
Still, diehard fans wondered why Kurupt would join forces with the label he once accused of ignoring him, possibly taking millions out of his pocket, and even threatening his life.
“It’s like a big ol’ masquerade,” Kurupt says with a laugh, musing about his renewed bond with Knight. “But that’s just life. Never say never, because you never know what tomorrow will bring. The past didn’t matter to me and Suge. I didn’t have negative feelings. When I left, I fucked my money off. I had bills. That’s why I went bankrupt.” He adds that he never felt he didn’t get the money he was entitled to. “I was greatly compensated. I just wanted to leave back then and do my own thing. I wanted to know what it was like to be an executive and run my own label.”
Knight, recently released from prison after another probation violation (he reportedly punched a valet at White Lotus restaurant), has refused to speak to the media. Still, Kurupt says he visited him in jail and is in constant contact with him.
“Suge is way more hands-on with me than he was before,” Kurupt says. “Back then, he had so much on his plate: Snoop, Dr. Dre, Tupac, and others that took up so much of his time. Now I am the Snoop, the Dr. Dre. I’ve had a chance to see a side of Suge that I never did in the past. We conversate a lot more, and he stays on me. Back then, it was Snoop’s job to stay on us.”
Kurupt promises to prove Snoop and Dre wrong about the 2004 Tha Row lineup, and, if there’s one thing Kurupt knows, it’s music. Where Snoop rides a groove and entertains with a trademark twang, and Daz is known for his gruff gangster drawl, Kurupt’s raw raps have long set the lyrical bar. With three solo albums – Kuruption!, Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha, and the overlooked gem Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey – Kurupt gained his rep by winning in ciphers and being a beast on the mike. Now, he’s desperate to teach current Row rappers like Spyder, Eastwood, Entourage, and Lil’ Kurupt the skills he’s learned.
“The majority of the cats out today are rappers,” he says. “I train rappers to become MCs. Then there are MCs on the new Death Row who don’t need training, but they need grooming. I also teach them how to rock that stage. That’s very imperative. When you see them on the stage and they are whack, that’s my fault.”
Taking on the role of teacher is just the challenge Kurupt wants in this more mature phase of his life and career.
“I’m more hands-on with these guys versus what Dr. Dre taught us,” he says. “If he didn’t like something you did, then that was it: You were out. If he did like, you’re in. He never really talked to us like Snoop did.” Kurupt recalls Snoop teaching his charges how to convey emotions in songs, and how to be artists with commercial appeal. “But, away from the booth, Snoop nor Dre really groomed us,” he says. “Dr. Dre would be on us at shows. He would tell us to do it right. Go to the front of the stage. Look the crowd in their face. But that was it.”
Kurupt won’t have the same tools. Dre long ago abandoned the crew, disagreeing with Suge’s business and creative decisions. Indeed, the departures of Snoop, Daz, and Lady of Rage, and the murder of Tupac, has left Tha Row without any major stars.
“These are my pet projects,” says Kurupt of his roster. “They respect my position and are willing to take constructive criticism. I get their rhymes together. I give them all the game. I help them construct their albums, help them find the right beats and the whole nine. My job is to create ultimate MCs. I groom, I shape. It’s called the art of poetics. I teach them that.” The road ahead will be tough for Kurupt and Tha Row, but that’s fine with him. He’s ready to finally move into the spotlight and see if he can lead the label into future glory, as well as leave his mark as a smart A&R man. “I just want them to learn how to make classic albums on their own,” he says of his fledgling acts, “so I can just sit back behind the desk.”
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