Thoughts on Kurupt after finally hearing the discography

[Tanjential]

I had only been familiar with Kuruption, TSIAM, SB:SO, and of course the DPG catalog before this point. Now, I've listened to Kurupt's discography, the Horsemen project, Riflez work, and some other stuff.

anyway, the condensed version for those who don't wanna read album by album: Even though Kurupt is my favorite rapper, the only two albums of his I consider strong are TSIAM and ATG. But there are definitely some dope dope dope songs on every record of his, I just feel that Kuruption, Space Boogie and SDDS are weak as albums, though all the songs are definitely not weak.

Kuruption-I've discussed this album before. I think it would have been MAD solid had he distilled the best tracks from both discs onto one disc. Time has been kind to the west coast disc.

Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha-West Coast classic. Also has been discussed a grip here. Very solid album with damn near the whole Pound on it.

Space Boogie-The dopest songs on this album are doper than the dopest songs on TSIAM BUT TSIAM is a far more solid/consistent album. Alot of poor pop songs on here. and I have nothing against pop songs if they are well done. But alot of it is poorly executed IMO. To me, this album is Fred Wreck at his most Dre-influenced. Space Boogie the song makes me think this especially but also Hardest and On, Bring Back That G shit, Onsite-all dope songs too. Quik's song here is the shit too. Gangstaz and Fuck da world are some very different (musically) dogg pound songs that I like alot too.

Against Tha Grain- WOW. I did not expect this record to be SO FUCKING DOPE. But it is. Kurupt is more creative here than he's been in years imo. It's like he really had something to prove to DPG- "I'm a dope artist with or without you." and it's true. Sir Jinx and Mark Sparx were packing heat. I'd say 13-15 of the 18 songs here are really good, and that's saying alot. I did not expect this at all. Kurupt rips it up alot here and when he doesn't, he's still speaking interestingly on shit (speak on it). This record adds alot of mythos to Kurupt's story. In retrospect, I suspect many people will see this had to happen for Kurupt to feel like he had a viable identity outside of DPG/Daz production. This gave him an artistic clean slate and he used it well. I just hope he incorporates this adventurousness with his new-old stuff too.

SDDS- Man...as dope as ATG is what I was hoping/expecting from SDDS but this record did not deliver for me. I feel like on alot of songs Daz and Kurupt were just going through the motions, but some of the songs really come together nicely. I'd say there are 3-7 really bangin' songs here that are nice additions to the collection, but that's all the good I can really say about the album. Which is really unfortunate considering this is the first time Kurupt's had a completely Daz produced solo and DJ/MC collabs are missing in hip hop so I give the record props for that aspect but I feel Daz and Kurupt could do better.

HRSMN Project- Who produced this stuff? Some of it's sickadiddy and some of it's kind of iffy to me. I would have liked to hear HRSMN over a more diverse sound...some of the producer they already have and some Daz etc. but anyway I digress: some of Kurupt's best lyrics are here, it's great to hear him in context with other MCs but like my homey D-Nice said once, it's cool but a complete Horsemen project would probably be doper.

Riflemen-Riflez is some amazing shit to me. It'd be dope if DPG/RIFLEMEN/HRSMN all did some shit together. But once more I digress, I like this shit a little more than Horsemen even because the production is bangin'. Who does the beats, Havoc or what?


so looking back I'd say TSIAM is Kurupt's best solo but this is a misleading statement because if I was to name the top best/favorite Kurupt tracks, almost none of them are on TSIAM, even when excluding his golden times of Chronic/Doggystyle. My top 10 Kurupt songs would be some shit off Space Boogie (the album as a whole is weak to me, but the ones that are good are damn good), some DPG shit, and some other appearances and collabs he's done.

Based on SDDS I can see how some people say he's lazy, can't spit anymore etc. but when I look at what he did in ATG, Dogg Chit and even a few tracks on SDDS,( not to mention Riflez, latest tracks with Roscoe, Keep it movin, other collabs etc.) I think it is ridiculous to say Kurupt can't still flow like a river. Dude is a spitter. STILL one of the best in the west in my view.





-T

[Al Bundy]

about space boogie... it's over has to be one of the gayest songs ive ever listened to. PERIOD.

[4108]

Im still one of few who liked ATG lyrically here, along with SDDS. what did you think of "Da World" specifically because we talked about that one a bit ago. I remember niggas thought I was crazy when I said I'd rather bump Space Boogie over TSIAM, my opinion is the exact opposite of yours. I think TSIAM's production and cohesiveness is all over the place whereas SB's is way more consistent.

[Sureno Gangsta]

I THOUGHT THA STREETZ IZ A MUTHAFUCCA WAS HIS BEST SOLO ALBUM..........
THE ORIGINALZ WAS SOME TIGHT SHIT 2........
SPACE BOOGIE SHIT WAS 2 POPPISH..........
HEARD A COUPLE SONGS OFF ATG N THAT SHIT WAS BANGN........
BUT ALL THAT HORSEMEN, RIFLEMEN SHIT LIKE THAT I WAS N PRISON SO I CANT EVEN SPEAK ON THAT....
HE WAS STILL BEEFN WITH DAZ WHEN I GOT LOCKED UP SO I BEEN GONE 4 LIKE 2YRS......
EAT A DICC (DAZ) WAS TIGHT ASS FUCK.......I DIDN'T CHANGE HE KILLED THAT TRACK 2......THOSE 2 SONGS N THA ORIGINALS STICK OUT THA MOST 2 ME CUZ I WAS BUMPN THAT SHIT RIGHT B4 I HIT THA PIN........

[Okka]

"Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha" is a classic

"Kuruption" & "Space Boogie" are dope too, alot of bangin tracks (but some bullshit too, "It's Over" etc...)

[Tanjential]

If you took put that on something off of west coast disc and replaced them with another day, light shit up, game, walk on by, and it's a set up...Kuruption would be near TSIAM status.

i actually have a burnt copy of Kuruption that is exactly that and it bangs.

I like ATG lyrically a grip as well.

Fuck Da World is lyrically as tight as anything on TSIAM (kind of like Trylogy) but the over-all way he raps it and the lyrics doesn't compare to 'puffin' on blunts and drankin tanqueray' which is the song we compared it to in the discussion we had that you are referring to. it's a cool song though, a good end to the album.

also, there's a line in ATG when he said "they liked me better when i was on stranded on death row" like referring to the song 'stranded on death row' from the chronic like he knows that's a song that we hold as a watershed mark for him. to me, now he has no excuse....he knows what the people want, his fault for any success he doesn't have. the homey d-nice was saying he thought that Kurupt just was referring to his earlier death row days but the phrasing leads me to believe he's referring to the actual song.

also, I was thinking...Kurupt really fucked up with Kuruption in my opinion. He had a bangin' single, everything leading up to his album that he had done had been at least relatively succesful AND critically well-received (by his target audience at the very least) which is rare, and he was part of the dre/snoop/g-funk west coast phenomena with the world's ear and he does Kuruption...If he would have thought to consolidate the album to one disc of solid shit, he'd have gone platinum easily I think. While bootlegging happened it wasn't as rampant as now and if someone put the east coast disc on and played a bunch of it..I don't think the person being shown the album would be as moved to buy the record as they woud if the album only had the solid tracks from both discs. alot of the east coast disc and put that on something from the west coast disc are just directionless and haphazard and that's not hard for a critical ear to see.

let me put it this way...if Kurupt would have done what he was supposed to have done with Kuruption, TWICE or maybe even 3 times as many people that bought Kuruption would have bought TSIAM. But because Kuruption was so sprawling and sloppy, it took a grip of banging shit from TSIAM on CA radio to convince the same amount of people that bought the first record to buy the second. and with that he could have gotten huge with space boogie's pop stuff. so i think he drastically fucked up his chance for greater success with Kuruption.

anyway, i'm high as shit, and chillin' off the henny.

-T

[Lunatic]

Damn. I gotta bump ATG & SDDS agian to final my opinion. I believe I liked SDDS more though

[3331]

I'd probably call Space Boogie a personal classic although I have to agree with you it's probably not a classic.

Even SIAM has some weak tracks but I still wouldn't think twice about calling it a classic. I really hate that Your Girlfriend track though and they had to make a part two ...

[Mygla]

Nice topic, even tho i disagree with you on some points.

IMO SB is as good as TSIAM... Kurupt may not have been as on point lyrically, but the production is definately better on SB. The only songs i didn't like on it was It's Over and Sunshine, the rest is good and alot of the songs are straight classics (On Onsite, Tha Hardest Muthafuckaz, Gangstas, At It Again), but on TSIAM there was 4-5 songs i didn't really feel (i.e. Trylogy, and yes, I know Kurupt is a beast on it, but that beat is horrible to me).

Kuruption is an ok album, but as you pointed out, a double disc was too much... Agreed with basically everything you said about it.

I really haven't listened enough to ATG and SDDS to go in-depth... if an album doesn't strike me as good in the first couple of listenings, i probably won't give it too many chances (there's too much great music in the world, and not enough time to listen to average or wack shit ). But I can say that, judging by the first listenings, they could not reach up to the levels of TSIAM & SB, Kuruption neither for that sake..

TSIAM is a westcoast classic, because it does sound very good, and it re-established Kurupt as a westcoast star.

SB is a personal classic to me, but perhaps not a westcoast classic, because it did not have the "impact" TSIAM had, and maybe people were expecting Kurupt to come off harder and keep up the style he did on TSIAM... So I understand that some people were disapointed.

[So Much Style]

Obviously Streetz iz a mutha is his best album. Album is straight heat!! Definetly a westcoast classic maybe an overall classic.

Space Boogie: Damn fred wreck and daz hooked this album up great on the production. Fred Wrecks tracks such as the opener with Nate dogg and even the song with fred durst are hot as fuck. This album represents the highlight of kurupts mainstream solo career.

SDDS: This album just seems incomplete and "mailed in" a bit to me. "Ryde and roll" and "I get high 2" are clasics to me though. Some very poor tracks on it however.

Kuruption: He fucked up by making 2 average cds instead of one good one and not ripping it hard enough like everyone wanted from kurupt at the time.

Against the grain: i liked about half, i didnt really feel the production

[d-nice]

Streetz Is A Mutha has alot of dope DPGC posse cuts, Space Boogie has more dope solo cuts with Kurupt by himself. Not to take anything away from Welcome Home or Trylogy but it is like comparing Daz's 1st album and RAW. You almost have to give the nod to RAW because it is more of Daz on his own. SB is one of the best produced west coast albums, along with TSIAM. I still give the edge to TSIAM. I don't see all the hype for Da World on SB. Tryology>Da World IMO.

Kuruption does have some filler, but I actually like alot of the cuts on the East disc. Game is dope, Its A Set Up, We Can Freak It Out. The west coast disc is comparable to all of his solo albums.

ATG has some really good tracks and some really bad ones. I think if you add the tracks on the EP that is getting ready to drop on this and delete the weak cuts I think it would be one of his best.

SDDS- solid album. Gangstas Pt 2  Nothing groundbreaking and hardly any wack songs. solid rhymes and beats

[KURUPTION-81]

I always thought Space Boggie and SDDS were better than ATG, the only track i still really listen to is The Past. Lyrically i thought kurupt was pretty poor the majority of the album.

[Al Bundy]

I'd probably call Space Boogie a personal classic although I have to agree with you it's probably not a classic.

Even SIAM has some weak tracks but I still wouldn't think twice about calling it a classic. I really hate that Your Girlfriend track though and they had to make a part two ...

part 2 > part 1

[Tanjential]

wow, I'm surprised at the diversity of opinion on this topic. that's really cool though.

I felt alot of the space boogie production was weak. I guess I couldn't stand that Just got Paid song cause N sync covered that exact same song with their record that sold 20 million or whatever, the no string attached one (i know this cause I was in middle school and was surrounded by middle school girls who were bumpin that shit)

didn't like the fred durst cut and I felt Kurupt completely wasted the chance to rip up the everlast song.

as far as SDDS, I like the song right before Gangstaz pt.2 better than gangstaz pt.2 alot more.

i didn't feel there was any weak tracks on TSIAM. some tracks are better than others imo, but the album in context is a solid listen to me.

damn, I really feel like ATG is his second best album. there's like 3-4 whack songs in the last half but I feel 13-15 of the 18 tracks are really fucking good.

yeah, the west coast disc of Kuruption would be solid without put that on something.

-T

[4108]

Hm I was thinking SDDS/SB tied for his 2nd best, then ATG/Kuruption. The partners of the two picked would depend on the month and how im feeling then, but SDDS is as consistent as SB song/production-wise and thats all I really want from Kurupt, consistency. Because the rhymes on SDDS arent lacking, but they are over the top wordplays and patterns so I can live with that. Especially since its his first solo produced by Daz.