Part 4 of the informative 90s/old school rap threads. This one might not be as popular as the others but its just as interesting imo. Today I'm looking at a cat thats rarely mentioned in rap history discussions but should, cause this dude had a big hand in some iconic rap projects and labels. Real "rap heads" often use The D.O.C to test your knowledge of the genre. Lets start at the beginning...

Born in Dallas Oak Cliff, Texas(why his name is D.O.C), Tracy Curry first started rapping in 1987 as a part of a Texas rap trio called the Fila Fresh Crew. His stage name was Doc-T at the time. One of the other members of the group was Dr. Rock. Dr. Rock was affiliated with the flashy Westcoast disco group called "The World Class Wrecking Crew". A group which featured Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. Anyways, this affiliation led to Fila Fresh Crew landing 4 songs on the 1987 compilation album; "N.W.A and the Posse". 3 of those songs would also be included in their debut EP a year later; "Tuffest Man Alive". The group fell apart shortly after the release, though. After that album, Curry moved to Los Angeles and became closer to the N.W.A.

In 1888, Eazy E signed Curry to his label; Ruthless Records. Curry changed his name from Doc-T to The D.O.C. Once signed by Ruthless, D.O.C began putting in some serious work as the man behind the legendary rap group. First, he would write 3 tracks off Eazy E's classic debut album "Eazy Duz It"; including classic songs 'Eazy-er Said Than Dunn' and 'We Want Eazy'. A year later D.O.C had writing credits on 4 tracks on "Straight Outta Compton"; the 4 tracks are the title track, 'Fuck The Police', 'Gangsta Gangsta' and 'Parental Discretion Is Advised'. You can make a strong case that those are the best 4 songs on the album. He also opened 'Parental Discretion Is Advised' with a verse. On that verse he teases his own album:

"I know the D.O.C. make ya want to take a Valium
So buy a bucket 'cause upcoming, it's my album
And for the record, meaning my record, check it
Listen to the single and you'll be like, 'yo, I gotta get it'"

The album? The classic "No One Can Do It Better". A 13 track masterpiece produced entirely by Dr. Dre. That single? One of the best in rap history: Funky Enough

This song is so iconic that the opening line of the song "Y'all ready for this?" is one of the most sampled lines ever. Most famously used on 2 Unlimited's massive song 'Get Ready For This'. Everything from how he started his verse "1, here comes the 2 to the 3 and 4" to Dr. Dre's funky beat, to the hook is perfect. The song exploded on the radio and a few other singles followed, like 'The D.O.C and The Doctor' and 'The Formula'. The album felt like a clean alternative to the N.W.A, since D.O.C was nowhere near as in your face and explicit with the lyrics. But you still felt like you were in N.W.A's world. The video to 'Funky Enough' features the members of the group looking for this so called "funky" MC. The album is critically acclaimed, and seen as the bridge between the 80s Westcoast sound and the 90s G funk-flavored Westcoast sound Dr. Dre would later make famous. The D.O.C was on top of the world, the next king in the making. Then one night, everything changed...

November 1989, 5 months after the release of his classic debut, the D.O.C suffered a serious car accident. He fell asleep at the wheel coming back home from a party and got thrown out of his car(no seat belt), face first, into a tree. He required a ton of plastic surgery just to be able to speak, but when his voice did come back it was much raspier. Like someone whispering, but with a bit of raspiness to it. It was over before it even started--The D.O.C's career as a rapper was over as he knew it....

Dr. Dre told him to quit while "people think you're the king". But D.O.C just couldn't do it. He quit rapping at the time and focused on writing for others. He co-wrote most of the songs on N.W.A's 1990 EP "100 Miles & Runnin". He also has writing credits on 8 tracks on N.W.A's classic 2nd album "Niggaz4Life". Basically all the serious tracks on the album. But the D.O.C was just getting started shaping the history of rap music behind the scenes...

In 1991, the D.O.C left Ruthless Records. After Ice Cube had left for monetary issues with Eazy and Jerry Heller. The D.O.C and his good friend, a dude by the name of Suge Knight, got lawyers to go over Ruthless' contracts and paperwork and convinced Dr. Dre to also leave Ruthless. How Suge got Eazy and Heller to sign over Dre's contract is still debated to this day. But we know Eazy got a big cut of Dre's future earnings(20%). Anyways; Suge, Dre and the D.O.C wanted to start a new record label. Dre wanted to call it "Future Shock Records" but The D.O.C came up with "Death Row Records" and Suge liked that much more. While on Death Row, the D.O.C continued writing some of hip hops most iconic records. His writing credits on "The Chronic": 'Nothin But A G Thang', 'A Nigga Wit A Gun', 'Lil Ghetto Boy', 'Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat', 'Lyrical Gangbang', and 'Bitchez Ain't S***'. He also gets mentioned by name on 'G Thang' by Dre. "like my niggaa D.O.C, no one can do it better like this...." The D.O.C says he came up with almost that entire song and also appeared in the music video riding next to Dre..

A few years had passed and Death Row was on top of the world. But, once again, the D.O.C wasn't getting paid. He claimed he had not received any payment yet for his writing on Death Row, so in 1994 he left the label and moved to Atlanta. Before he left, he had been writing for a joint album by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube called "Helter Skelter". I covered this project in one of my previous threads. Long story short, D.O.C took what he had written for that project and released his own "Helter Skelter" album in 1996 to spite Dr. Dre. This was his first album since his classic debut. But it was a failure, as it went largely ignored by rap fans and media. The D.O.C himself has discredited the album, saying that he made it out of anger and was in a very dark place.

Things would get better for him afterwards. In 1997 he started his own label, called Silverback Records. In 1999, Dre and him made amends and he took part in writing a few songs for Dre's classic comeback album: "2001". In the music video for 'Still D.R.E', he returns to the same roll he had on the 'G Thang' video in 92'. Riding with Dre in the lowrider.

4 years later he released a label album called "Deuce". Dre has a few producing credits and raps on a few tracks. While MC Ren, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg joined D.O.C and 6Two on the albums single 'The S***'. He would go on to write for a few Snoop Dogg albums during the 2000s; like "The Blue Carpet Treatment". In 08' he said he was working on a new album called "Voices", but that project never materialized. He also said him and Dre were working on an album together that would "end our story together the right way", but that album also never came out and neither did Detox(which was supposed to come out before this D.O.C project). Curry has been more comfortable doing interviews in recent years. His voice has gotten a bit better. His character was in the 2015 "Straight Outta Compton" film and he says he helped Dre write a few songs on the "Compton" album that same year, even though he doesn't come out in the credits.

Thats 4 decades worth of writing some of the greatest songs, for some of the greatest albums in rap history. Dr. Dre's owes a lot to this man, as he is vital to every classic Dr. Dre project. He's like the rap version of Len Bias, he didn't die but he lost his ability to rap. Wonder how rap would've been different had he stayed healthy. Some other cool D.O.C facts: His voice is the voice you hear sampled on Eazy E's Real Muthapphukin G's. During the hook when you hear "stop him in his tracks, show him that I am ruthless!", its a sample from the D.O.C's iconic 'Funky Enough' single. The man has his fingerprints on so many classics. Give him his flowers now, he deserves it.

Here's a cool article on his impact in rap history:
theundefeated.com/features/in-1989-the-d-o-c-woke-up-hip-hop-with-no-one-can-do-it-better

That'll do for this edition. Check out the past threads if you haven't yet

1995 Source Awards--ktt2.com/the-1995-source-awardsthe-most-electrifying-night-in-rap-history-119187
Dr. Dre Vaulted 90s Projects--ktt2.com/lost-classicsvaulted-dre-projects-of-the-90s-119644
Underrated 90s Beefs--ktt2.com/beefunderrated-forgotten-rap-feuds-of-the-90s-120606

Enjoy

I am not illiterate no not even a little bit!!

got his first album somewhere laying around

did you use to use dubcnn OP?

Na I had to look up what that was lol but I wish. Ive looked over a few west coast/00s rap forums doing research for these threads but the earliest rap forums I visited were like RapGodfathers in 08-09 then KTT in like 2011 lol Really cool that a lot of those forums are still up and running these days so you can see how people talked about this s*** though.

This man really came up with Nothin' But A G-Thang. Instant legend for that alone

Suge Knight later in the 90s talking about D.O.C: "It was liken athlete losing their legs. He went from having the best voice in the rap game to no voice"

An underappreciated legend for sure. Was just thinking about this entire era/posse/region of artists. DOC, King T, Dre & Snoop, Kurupt, Daz, Warren & Nate... f***ing crazy how much talent was in such a concentrated area

Fr. Digital Underground, Pac etc.. and on both coasts. The east had Tribe, De La Soul, Native Tongues, KRS etc.. at the time. Both so different. Hip hop was really interesting in the late 80's/early 90s before gangsta rap fully took over. Might do my next thread on that era tbh

bump

not reading all that but u spittin

the formula my fav 80s song in hip-hop

His debut album a classic

real asf OP

classics on classics and the D.O.C. been involved with nearly all of them

one of the true godfathers of west coast hip-hop

Classic debut album. Damn shame what happened. We were robbed of what would have been a great career.

I remember a few years ago when he was supposed to get his voice back and make one last album

This is dope

Next one of these coming this week. Y'all let this one flop, gonna have to dumb it down like Jay after BIGs death

doing the lord's work @op

@El_Senor quickly become one of the GOAT posters on here.

Great work and I feel DOC gets underrated because he took a huge break between his 2 albums and hip hop changed big time during that period.