What would happen if the lyricism of Rakim was combined with the vivid street tales of Kool G. Rap and the style of a young Snoop Doggy Dogg?
The outcome would be one Ricardo Brown, better known to the world as Kurupt.
Tag: Death Row
He was the soul of G-Funk.
Of all the things one can say about 2Pac, both positive and negative, something that no one can deny is that he was probably the most prolific mainstream rap star in history.
Dr. Dre is the king of hip-hop.
Technically speaking, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg have never made an album together.
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Classic Non-Album Cuts: Tha Dogg Pound
Tha Dogg Pound are hip-hop legends.
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Week in Review (January 22, 2016)
The snow is coming.
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Week in Review (December 23, 2015)
Of all the ups and downs that parenthood brings, one of the best is seeing Christmas through a child’s eyes again. Life often makes us cynical and sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to remind us of who we used to be.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
This week: Christmas on Death Row (1996)
By December of 1996, the once formidable Death Row Records was crumbling. Over the course of just a few months, Dr. Dre had defected, 2Pac had been killed, Suge Knight was sent to prison, and Snoop Doggy Dogg’s highly anticipated second album was a major disappointment.
This is the first entry of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I will examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time. I’ve done this sort of thing before – regarding The Firm album back in 2012 as well as a book defending a few artists and projects that I feel were overlooked, but these projects will all be new territory for me.
This week: Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Tha Doggfather (1996)
It’s clear that Dr. Dre saw what was coming. He left Death Row Records, the label he co-founded, with no equipment, no masters, no artists, nothing. That was the price he paid to be allowed to leave his own company. And he did it willingly.
Among the people he left behind was his star protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg, who had just been acquitted of murder and was prepping his long-awaited and highly-anticipated second album.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 