Source: Power 105 / Power 105
While Snoop Dogg continues to be relevant in the Hip-Hop game in more ways than one most people forget that he was once part of a multi-platinum rap group known as The Dogg Pound, and Kurupt was considered by many (if not all) to be the trio’s most lyrically gifted member.
Today the DPG OG stepped out of the shadows and into the morning lights of The Breakfast Club where he reminisced about coming up in the golden era of Hip-Hop and the dark side that came with it.
Sitting down with DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God, Kurupt Young Gotti talked about everything from why they decided to set it off on New York’s rap scene in the mid 90’s to almost shooting the fair one with Tupac due to his friendship with Bad Boy Records.
Here are the 8 things we learned from Kurupt on The Breakfast Club.
1. Fresh Prince Style
While most people assume Kurupt was born and raised in LA, he’s actually from Philadelphia. It wasn’t until he crashed his mama’s car at the age of 16 that she sent him to live with his father in LA. Then his father kicked him out the house at 18 because he was following his dreams of being a rap star and of course the rest is Hip-Hop history. Kurupt says he met Snoop Dogg in a rap battle and ended up battling the Doggfather for a minute. Snoop walked away with such a big impression of Kurupt that when he blew he decided to bring him along with him.
2. The Documentaries
Even though he feels that all these movies and documentaries about Death Row are as on point as they can be, Kurupt feels that there’s some things that can’t be told or explained because it’s too real for exposure.
3. New York
Talking about their infamous “New York New York” video, Kurupt says that they only knocked down buildings in it and whatnot because they got shot at in Redhook, Brooklyn after Biggie got on the radio and basically incited the violence. Kurupt says that the song itself was taken out of context and they didn’t mean to disrespect NY until after they got shot at. The Dogg Pound actually thought they were going to get a lot of love from New York and that’s why they came to NY to shoot the video. Though Tupac was in jail when it dropped, Kurupt says that Pac told him that record held him down when he was in jail and fed the fire growing inside of him.
4. Fox & X
Kurupt admits to being head over heels in love with Foxy Brown due to her mic skills (rapping we mean). He also says that he never wrote for her and that “her pen was sick.” Unfortunately that led to his drama with DMX as he was messing with her too. When he approached her about it he says she got extra defensive and that confirmed the rumor for him. It didn’t help that the concept for “Dog & a Fox” was originally his idea. It wasn’t until last year that DMX and Kurupt actually squashed their beef, but he still hasn’t forgiven Foxy for creeping around on him.
5. Suge Knight
Though Suge Knight had a reputation of bullying his artists in all ways, shapes and forms, Kurupt says Suge never treated them disrespectfully and was actually a “big brother” to them. He even got them on Priority Records to get the Dogg Pound album out because Interscope only wanted to focus on Snoop and Dre. That being said Suge did make an Death Row employee drink a bucket of urine for making a business mistake. It was that or a ass whuppin.’ He drank the urine and quit afterwards. For that he might as well have fought. Just sayin.’
6. Dr. Dre
As for Dre’s time at Death Row, Kurupt says Dre “wasn’t no punk” and would stand up for his workers in the studio and whatnot. He even laid some fool out at a hotel during The Chronic era, but unfortunately that same fool ended up getting up and clapping Dre in both his legs.
7. East Meets West
Even though Suge Knight didn’t like Puff and Biggie, Kurupt says he and the Dogg Pound were cool with the Bad Boy artists and that led to some animosity between the DPG and Death Row. He says Pac even challenged him to participate in a brotherly fade and though Daz Dillinger volunteered to throw hands with Pac, Pac just stormed off. Unfortunately he died without ever having resolved his drama with the Dogg Pound.
8. Beats By Dre & Daz
As for who made some of those classic Death Row beats, Gotti says it was really a team effort between Dr. Dre and Daz Dillinger. He remembers that Daz made the beat to “Ain’t No Fun” and Dre took it and added his “magic” to it afterwards. He even remembers that “Got My Mind Made Up” was originally a Dogg Pound record that featured Red and Meth, Lady of Rage and Inspectah Deck, but Daz lost the file. When Tupac got home he found the record and they gave it to him. While Rage used that verse on another song, Pac decided to make it even shorter and much to the objection of everyone he then cut out Inspectah Deck’s verse. “The beat is over. Take him off!” That was peak INS The Rebel, too. Damnit, Pac!
