Kurupt Tha Kingpin
Real Name: Ricardo Emmanuel Brown
D.O.B.: November 23, 1972 Philadelphia, PN
Label: DPGC/Doggystyle/Universal Records
Kurupt the Kingpin, A.K.A. Young Gotti is a gangsta rapper and original founding member of Long Beach’s Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta Clicc (DPGC). Starting his career alongside the west coasts greats at the legendary record label Death Row, Kurupt became their leading producer after Dre stepped down and was well known as being far more loyal to his benefactor than any other original Row inmates. He stood tall through the rise and demise of the empire, often alone with fierce tenacity and gung-ho. Kurupt was most suited to Death Row than the red rag it saluted. He remains a long-standing soldier of the west coast rap movement.
Kurupt opened his recording career signed with Suge Knight alongside Snoop Dogg’s cousin Daz becoming an integral member of the Long Beach DPG. He performed under the production of the legendary Dr. Dre and participated heavily in two of west coast’s most powerful records, The Chronic and Doggystyle before DPG released their début, Dogg Food in 1995. When Tupac Shakur joined Death Row, Kurupt formed a close bond with the superstar and rapped alongside him in his double Row album ‘All Eyes On Me’ also producing some of the tracks. Tupac gave him his nickname Young Gotti which stuck with Kurupt in his future professional career. Before there was Young Gotti or Tha Kingpin Kurupt Ricardo Brown was a wide-eyed child fan of the MC art form all the way from Philly. At the age of eight, Ricardo was a fan of Rakim and Spoonie Gee from Enjoy Records both silk-voiced pimp rappers who Kurupt became increasingly influenced over as he grew up in Philly. He amerced himself in the hip-hop grind stepping deeper into the persona of its jungle culture as a rapper named Kurupt. At sixteen with aspirations of tearing up a stage with east coast-style raps he moved to a nicer suburb with his mother. Still heavily weighed down with his aggressive attitude, his mother found it hard to accommodate his ways. After he stole her car one night and crashed it, she sent him packing to live with his disciplining father in California. Here Kurupt was truly in his element befitting his undertaken persona. His future was laid right before him in the heart of Los Angeles, the heart of the west coast scene.
Before too long in Los Angeles, living with his father in Hawthorne Kurupt came across Lamont Bloomfield who would focus his energy in the right direction and guide him to fulfilling his dreams of being onstage rapping. Bloomfield hailed from the South Central section on Crenshaw and 60th streets and ran a small record business he called Hustler For Life with very limited success. A friend of Kurupt was walking past Bloomfield in a parked car playing a local aspiring artist in his tape deck when he approached the car and stated he knew of someone who could out-rap this so-called artist. Impressed with his confident throw-down, Bloomfield invited him and his friend to battle against his artist. This skinny sixteen year old kid from Philly boomed a resounding efficiency for rapping with unheralded flow and slayed his artist down. When asked for demos Kurupt told Bloomfield he had never been in a recording studio but was eager. Bloomfield had found his talent subject. Two days later they were in the studio where Kurupt performed a battle track called “Lyrics of Destruction" and another one Bloomfield wanted to name “World of Kuruption". Together they finished a portfolio of demos with “That’s what Love is" and ‘Dark and Lovely’ a smooth ending track. However Bloomfield found it hard to pigeon-hole the guy as a specific brand of rapper even trying him different outfits and suits to best fit his character. The trouble was his look was innocent of a sixteen year old rake-thin kid with a tenacious, raw lyrical delivery befitting a street soldier of experience. The hard look image never suited him so Bloomfield had him try out a few gospel raps and R&B hooks to cover all bases, not knowing the strength and direction of this new gangsta rap fad of the present era. By 1991 he was shown to be a very sweet-natured and upstanding young artist who brought everything to Bloomfield for approval. Nothing was behind the back or devious about him. However at nineteen he was over-anxious for his break or at least fair chance at it. Eager to take the first offer that came his way, Kurupt was first commissioned to do a piece of vocal work for the S.O.S. Band on their album ‘One of Many Nights’ which had Lamont Bloomfield’s credit on the album sleeve. Somehow a copy of this reached Dr. Dre’s ears and he corresponded with Bloomfield and expressed a desire to work with the young Kurupt.
The future was getting seemingly brighter for the young star however the omnipotent Suge Knight sought to separate Kurupt from his manager, Lamont Bloomfield. As anybody knows, Death Row runs their own organisation. Kurupt would be an early signee of the soon-to-be powerhouse record company and this was the price to pay. Bloomfield wanted to ensure contracts were drawn up for any work Kurupt did for Dre’s solo debut album. According to Bloomfield, all Kurupt’s work on ‘The Chronic’ was done as a platform for his career along with his other new label mates with no monetary return. Eventually Bloomfield was taken out of the picture and Kurupt was an established recording artist signed to Death Row Records and working under the Long Beach outfit DPG with Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger.
Kurupt was on his way up, one way or another. On Dre’s Chronic album Kurupt performed on several cuts with his extended recording family and again on Snoop Dogg’s début, Doggystyle both albums serving as platforms for a talent show for the label mates of the Row. Not long after several soundtrack projects, Suge Knight commissioned Tha Dogg Pound’s first album to take off. Dogg Food was the final Death Row album to have been produced under the G-Funk blueprint. Entirely produced by DPG’s own Daz with help from DJ Pooh and Soopafly the album spawned two major-selling singles “Let’s Play House" and “New York, New York.“ The album’s release date was supposed to be June, 1995 but due to overbearing pressure on Time Warner giant parent company of Interscope and Death Row, the album was caught in the midst of the controversial rap lyrics war conservative America waged against the larger record companies. The date was pushed back three months to October 31st, 1995. It sold over two million copies and opened at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts that same year.
During the period of his début group album release, Kurupt fell into stride with a heated rapper who joined the Row to escape the system’s hold on him. Tupac and Kurupt became good working allies within the record label. Kurupt had undertaken a strong habit in binge drinking and heavy cannabis smoking, something Tupac was already akin to. The pair was always under the influence and very fiery by nature like drunken spoilt brats. With Tupac on-board, Death Row was brought into the rap-war he waged against New York’s Bad Boy Entertainment, with Suge already all-but declaring war against its CEO, Sean Combs. It was this inspiration that led to the west coast throw-down, “New York, New York” by the DPG guest-starring Snoop Dogg.
When the group travelled to New York City to film the music video for the track, Bad Boy and Death Row escalated their beef to a dangerous level. Bad Boy’s Notorious BIG assumed his arch-rival Tupac was on tour with the DPG and while on the set for the video in Times Square, Kurupt and Daz’s trailer was shot up by an unknown drive-by assailant. Luckily thanks in part to bodyguard Frank Alexander, nobody inside was injured. Capone N Noreaga responded to the beef-track with “LA, LA" aiming directly at the DPG. During the following year, Death Row Records took an unbelievable turn their star rappers fled the label after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, September ’96. Snoop Dogg, Daz, Nate Dogg and Kurupt had all made their break from the Row with Dre having previously jump ship to start his own venture. Kurupt had left to start up his own recording label however he remained in a close working relationship with Death Row CEO Suge Knight for several years to come.
In 1997 Kurupt left for a position with Antra Records as an A&R but still keeping in close touch with Suge Knight he appeared on many albums rounded off by Death Row. On September 1st, 98 he released a platinum-selling double album called Kuruption produced by DPG homie, Daz and Battlecat. The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart by October and released the single ‘We Can Freak It’ all on Antra/A&M Records. Shortly after he dropped another platinum LP The Streetz is a Mutha in ’99 going platinum for Artimus Records again produced by Daz showing the pair maintained a healthy working relationship through their careers. The album closed with a bonus track called “Callin’ Out Names" directed at New York rapper DMX for his relationship with Kurupt’s girlfriend at the time, female rapper, Foxy Brown. Two years later Kurupt and Daz collaborated on a follow-up Dogg Pound release album, this time using their new monikers, ‘Dillinger & Young Gotti’ produced by Daz and distributed by DPG Recordz off the Gangsta Advisory parent label by May 1st, 2001. This was sharply followed with ‘2002’ comprised of their old unreleased cut-work pieced together under Death Row Records, owned by Suge Knight. ‘2001’ dropped July 31st. Previous to this release Kurupt’s third solo LP hit the streets running. ‘Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey’ was to be Kurupt’s final solo album with his current label. Mainly produced by Fredwreck, DJ Quik and Daz the album hit the Billboard 200 chart position at number ten as well as fifth spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The album brought out the single ‘It’s Over’ and was released July 10th, 2001. Soon after, Kurupt re-joined Death Row Records. Upon his release from prison, Kurupt’s former overbearing CEO Suge Knightbrought him back inside the blood-split red walls of Wilshire Boulevard’s Death Row studios (now renamed to Tha Row Records) as his Vice President and to be the sole producer for the label’s album projects as well as assist Suge on the A&R side. This move was a shock to his industry peers and colleagues alike, Snoop and Daz being sworn enemies of Suge Knight since their disastrous break-up. This brought static hostility between old friends of DPG.
Kurupt faded into the background working on the label’s projects, despite being promised his own solo album from Death Row, it was continually pushed back. Suge favouring the production of Crooked I and Eastwood’s albums. During this period in his professional career with Tha Row, Kurupt formed several groups with existing rappers. Firsty he recruited Mobb Deep, Jayo Felony, 40 Glocc and The Alchemist to join him as The Riflemen. Nothing ever came of this project however he continued with a second group he called The HRSMN, consisting of Kurupt, Canibus, Killah Priest and Ras Kass. Apart from guest appearing on each other’s independent albums, the group collaborated on two mix tapes.
Kurupt’s fourth solo record, Against Tha Grain had dropped the streets well after Kurupt had dropped Tha Row and reunited with his real homies from the DPGC. The album was recorded during 2003 and finally released August 23rd, 2005. At this stage Tha Row Records had their albums solely distributed by Koch Records who did not bother promoting the album. As a result of this the album had very poor sales with no singles. It hit the charts at top 60th and 20th positions in Billboard’s 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop respectively by September that year. The album credited Suge Knight as being the sole producer of the album, but it is well known Suge Knight has never stepped behind the production desk in his entire career as label boss.
April 13, 2005, was a momentous occasion for Kurupt and Tha DPG Clicc as they collectively squashed their three-year beef through the peace meeting labelled Protect the West. Snoop Dogg organised the gathering at which he also reportedly made peace with Kurupt’s label CEO Suge Knight. During this period Kurupt introduced his protégé Immense, a talented rapper who met Kurupt in 2001 and since had taken him to Def Jam president, Roc-a-Fella Records owner and rapper Jay-Z who promptly signed him as the first artist to headline his ‘Roc-a-Fella West’ venture. Later that same year Kurupt formed a personal relationship with rapper Natina Reed, from the group Blaque. The couple was planning to get married in August 2001 but postponed this for career reasons. The commitment was never fulfilled. Previously Kurupt had involved himself in a relationship with New York recording star Foxy Brown and TLC rapper Lisa ‘Left-Eye’ Lopez before her untimely departure. Kurupt’s latest recording venture was released June 20th, 2006 entitled ‘Same Day, Different Shit’ again produced by his long-time friend Daz on DPG Recordz and not unlike his last album sales were mediocre reaching 58th position on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 2006.
Discography:
1998 Kuruption
1999 The Streetz is a Mutha
2001 Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey
2005 Against tha Grain
2006 Same Day, Different Shit
2007 Against Tha Grain Tha E.P.
2009 Blaqkout (w. DJ Quik)
2014 Historic EP (with HRSMN)
2010 Streetlights
TBA Equinox