Daz and Kurupt letting their own legacies slip

[D-Nice]

Well Kurupt just posted on his twitter that a new solo album from him is dropping next year

[Darkwing Duck (The Reincarnation)]

Is that a genuine Advance though, or a fan made one?

 
genuine, but more rare than Paris Hiltons braincells..

[Jimmy H.]

Pop means Popular.  kurupt was making music for the pop crowd.  He also did some crossover stuff like the rock track he did with Everlast and the song with Fred Durst.  

  I know what pop is. Again, attempting to be pop or cross over and actually doing it are two different things. You can try whatever pop experimintation you want if it doesn't bring you a bigger audience, it's not a cross over. For instance, "California Girls" with Katy Perry was a crossover for Snoop or "Walk This Way" would be one for Run DMC/Aerosmith. Kurupt tried to do that with "It's Over" but it wasn't fully embraced by that crowd.

[love33]

thanks. this was exactly what I was saying! DPG never made mainstream music period.

G-Funk WAS mainstream music in the early to mid 90's.  Warren G was a huge mainstream success and the face of Def Jam for a point in his career and he made nothing but G-Funk.

mainstream music is music that's on the radio and heard by the masses.  You just admitted "Dogg Food" was mainstream (had 3 huge singles).  Retaliation, Revenge, and Get Back (sold GOLD) was mainstream, there are very few artists who go gold these days (and this album was considered to underperform).  "The Streetz Iz A Mutha" is also GOLD.  "Change The game Remix" with Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel (Dogg Pound "2002" album) got mad play on the radio.  "Who Ride Wit Us," the self-titled "Streetz Iz A Mutha," and "Represent Dat GC" was a big for Daz & Kurupt on the airwaves.  The self-titled single was huge as well.  "Pop Lockin" had Daz allover it that video was allover tv as well.

They were on TRL, Rap City, Direct Effect, 106 & Park......that's definitely mainstream.

To give you an idea of how many units Kurupt moved, he sold more with "Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha" than Snoop did with "Malice In Wonderland" -- definitely mainstream with that album!
Gucci mane is mainstream and he didn't even sell gold with "The State vs Radric Davis" --  Kurupt also had the #8 album on the Billboard Top 200 with "Kuruption!" -- definitely mainstream

These guys have really taken a backseat since the early 2000's.

[love33]

Yeah nobody tweaked Snoop's vocals or anybody's vocals... wtf are you talkin about lmao!  it's called "flow", technology doesn't have shit 2 do with it 

Producers change voice pitch and tempo ALL THE TIME to go with the beat.  Go listen to Drake he does it all the time with his songs.  Ever heard of "Chopped and Screwed" when they slow up the vocals?  If you've ever been to a studio you would be blown away at what you can do with vocals.

[Darkwing Duck (The Reincarnation)]

Producers change voice pitch and tempo ALL THE TIME to go with the beat.

extreme over-exaggeration.   

[BiggBoogaBiff]

whoa!


Gucci Mane is NOT mainstream, only an idiot would think that or somebody who doesn't really know shit about Gucc and BrickSquad would say that (and please don't tell me that u do).  Anyways, I know producers change shit up but u can tell when they do 4 tha most part tho, maybe the version/quality of the mp3 u have isn't official but in no way can u hear Snoop's vocals being changed (that's his style he's used exclusively when he's with Dre since the early-mid 2000's).  When Snoop doesn't Rap like he's sounding like he's tryna be on some young shit and he spits that grown man music shit then he's really calm with his flows (like retro Daz).  

[love33]

whoa!


Gucci Mane is NOT mainstream, only an idiot would think that or somebody who doesn't really know shit about Gucc and BrickSquad would say that (and please don't tell me that u do).  Anyways, I know producers change shit up but u can tell when they do 4 tha most part tho, maybe the version/quality of the mp3 u have isn't official but in no way can u hear Snoop's vocals being changed (that's his style he's used exclusively when he's with Dre since the early-mid 2000's).  When Snoop doesn't Rap like he's sounding like he's tryna be on some young shit and he spits that grown man music shit then he's really calm with his flows (like retro Daz).  

Don't know if you're from Europe or not but Gucci is allover the radio waves: "Wasted" is a huge radio track, "I'm so Icey" was huge on the radio, and "Lemonade" was another banger -- they even play "Lemonade" in the background when the Wizards are bringing the ball up the court.  "Freaky Girl" was #12 on the billboard charts for hit records.  He even had a song that they were playing at all the fashion shows with Usher "Spotlight" that one was huge as well and he's got a track with Swizz Beatz comin out that's supposed to be another hit.  He was in MTV's latest list of the Top 10 HOttest Rappers in the Game.

[BiggBoogaBiff]

^^^ u from The City ?


but yeah if your using that definition of mainstream then yeah you're absolutely right, i thought u meant the bubble gum version.  4 a second i thought u waz 1 of them Gucci Mane/BrickSquad haters (there's way too many on here).  

[doublee313]

Explain how defined it because I’m a little confused here.  And neither of those songs, despite their intentions, crossed over, so I’m gonna stand by my original opinion.

This Kurupt video is what you were referring to as 'pop' earlier...try to even make it through this whole video without getting a laugh, i remember when they rotated it on TRL


This was another 'pop' video fit the 97/98 video theme....Around the time period Luniz had 5 on it, B.I.G. Sky's The Limit, and Kurupt had 'We Can Freak It'....this was one of his best IMO

They used to play it on MTV Jams Countdown

How does one change their voice back? I’ve heard of switching flows but generally speaking, if you don’t vocally sound the same over time, there ain’t much you can do about it. It’s like asking for somebody not to age.

The technology is so good now you can pretty much adjust the pitch and tempo with the voice, I mean look at how Drake does it all the time.  Snoop's verse on the "Kush" track reminds me of a 92 Snoop the way Dre tweaked the tempo of his voice and adjusted the pitch.  The technology today is nothing less than spectacular.  Daz produced on All Eyez On Me, he should be able to use the modern technology and adjust his vocals.

Good Daz tracks: "Rock Wit Daz," "Me and My Cuzzin," "Git Drunk," "What Would U Do," "I Don't Like To Dream About Gettin Paid," "Bomb Azz Pussy," "On Tha Grind," "Mind On My Money"........the 2010 technology is even better than when those tracks came out but he came correct on those cuts -- he needs to take his time (2 or 3 years) secure a good deal and make a whole album like that and blow up.  I think Scott Storch could produce a whole album with Daz, he knows Daz's style and gets the most out of hiim...I like his flow/voice on "Dogg Food" and "Doggstyle" but he also sounded cool on R.A.W., now he's just plain sluggish with a lazy delivery and very few creative bars

I'm on the same page with you brother.  You couldn't have said it better.  I think we all can agree DAZ needs a makeover.  Will he listen?  Who knows.  Will we keep buying his shit?  Probably not if he continues the same shit.  My man that made this post must be around the same age as me, and we grew up with this shit.  So long time fans are not very happy with this new style he has.  Get that smooth shit back where we can "Roll Wit Us".  Throw that shit in the car and just sail down the road.  This new style is to hard, and screaming and shit.  Not something that's going to get much roataion.

[One2free]

To name a few: "It's My Thang" ft. Kurupt (which was actually released as a single), "Git Drunk," "Do U Wanna," "Put That Chronic In The Air," "I'm Hot," "Boyz N Da Hood" (Nate Dogg track), "Smoke," "Now Datz Gangsta," "The One" (also featuring Jagged Edge and did make the final album but there's also a version that features T.I. and Cee-Lo), "Bigg O Butt," "We Mean Buziness," there's A LOT more but there's also a version of "All That I Need" that has Snoop and Kurupt on it.

thanx for the info


Now, where the fuck can we find those tracks ?

[Do Dirty]

taht's bullshit, sorry. they never made mainstream music.

Are you kiddin me? Kurupt was the big talk of Doggystyle with his verses and Dogg Pound "Dogg Food" was a huge mainstream album.  You don't just make $100,000 videos for an album if it ain't mainstream -- "Lets Play House" was the smash and "New York New York" were huge. Daz and Kurupt were mainstream from the time The Chronic dropped through the 90's.  Kurupt had a huge video and everything with "We Can Freak It" and he had "It's Over" all over MTV off Space Boogie and he had "Where I Wanna Be" video rotating with Shade Sheist, and he had "Behind The Walls" on MTV in full rotation with Nate Dogg.  All those were mainstream hits.

Daz's last hit was "Party People" ft. Jagged Edge which was supposed to be on 'So So Gangsta' and it didn't make the final album, the song was a huge radio hit but Daz never got to reap the longterm benefits due to his fallout with Jermaine Dupri.

Daz, on the other hand, his last big mainstream album was his debut "Retaliation, Revenge, and Get Back" where he went Gold and had "In California" and "It Might Sound Crazy."  Tha Dogg Pounds last big hit was "Change The Game Remix" which was on "Tha Dogg Pound 2002" album.

My question is that why don't they want to keep pumping out the hits and use their status and get back into people's stereos instead of all this backyard music that nobody even knows exists, has little to no promotion, and has little appeal to get pumped on the radio or the club.  At least Dre, Snoop, Too Short, and E-40 are in the clubs and on the radios with their music, Tha Dogg Pound needs to get back into that mode or their legacies are just diminishing.

Times have changed, if the late 90's had the same mentality that today's industry has "We Can Freak It," "It's over Now," and "In California" wouldn't have gotten air play. For those old enough to remember, back in the day, if you had a decent single and the funds to shoot a proper video then you could get some sort of airplay. Kurupt has had some decent singles in recent years that should of had play possibilities. "I'm Burnt remix" should of had push and would of if the industry had a different mentality. "Gotta Let You Know," had single written all over it. There are a grip of rappers who fell into the same category before the industry became stale. The game just ain't the same anymore. I'm not saying it isn't possible to get push, it's just 10x harder than it ever was back in the day

[pira]

yea i think thier time has passed to make it in the mainstream and i think ,deff with daz, that he puts to much mediocre music. Id prefer quality over quantity.
As far as kurupt concerned i think he is dope but seems to  be not that consitant with the quality of his music, but no 1 who has  made any type of good music can constantly keep producing quality tunes .

[HighEyeCue]

yea i think thier time has passed to make it in the mainstream and i think ,deff with daz, that he puts to much mediocre music. Id prefer quality over quantity.
As far as kurupt concerned i think he is dope but seems to  be not that consitant with the quality of his music, but no 1 who has  made any type of good music can constantly keep producing quality tunes .

yeah Daz seems to think quanity over quality is better these days, I thought Streetlights by Kurupt was dope but I agree he is inconsistent as well

[bouli77]

You guys had it all wrong with the record sales, despite what you can read all over the internet RR&GB, and any Daz/Kurupt solo albums NEVER achieved any gold or platinum status. And you can check the official RIAA website where you can search their whole database. Try and type Kurupt or Daz and you won't find anything.

http://riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php

Now it seems like a lot of artists were lying about their own record sales. And that's not surprising because gangsta rap is built around showing-off and exaggerating.

Believe me, with the internet the game has changed, the reason Daz makes cheap albums with cheap packaging is because everybody is dowloading his shit, and none is buying except for a few loyal fans. It makes sense since he was one of the first to push his line heavily on the internet. When you promote your shit almost exclusively on the internet, the audience you're reaching will be more likely to go download your shit first than if you were promoting it on the regular other media. When he went independent in 99-00, he sold 40,000 RAW albums, and over 200,000 Dillinger & Young Gotti (again it's not reliable since he's the only source to rely on), nowadays even with heavy radio rotation and decent promotion he wouldn't probably do 200.

Here is my theory about Daz's career stalling. Daz has always been trying to stay relevant and to make money. Dude left Death Row because he realized that he was getting fucked in every angle by Suge when he was the most loyal artist of the label. He couldn't fuck with Snoop at the time because they were feuding so it eliminated the possibility to be signed on Doggystyle. Crooked I, who was in Daz's own word the future of rap, chose Death Row over DPG Recordz so he lost his biggest artist, and on top of that while his homie Kurupt was ballin with the rest of the crew on the Up in Smoke Tour he wasn't even invited. Daz then went to create his own avenue on the independent game because it was the more lucrative way for him. He knew that even if you were signed on the biggest label of the time (Death Row), it didn't mean necessarily fat checks but rather hardwork and very few releases. And Daz has always been a money-hungry motherfucker. Then, in this logic, Daz realized that the best option for him as a solo artist was to go independent. He already knew E-40 and them. Actually D-Shot is the one who showed everyone the ropes of the independent game, whether it's Nate Dogg or Daz. After R.A.W. he hooked up with JT Tha Bigga Figga. Now JT is the finest example of how you can make shitloads of money without even selling. JT is a millionaire without a single national hit and knows how to make independent money. According to him, Daz made 70 grands the first two days he was in the bay. From that point Daz realized the Independent game was really the way to go and that even by staying independent he could sell tons of albums. That's when he released Dilli & Gotti in 2001, after he had put out the first Daz & JT album. He probably made a lot of money with that project and on this album you can find hints of Daz's state of mind at the time. First of all the packaging wasn't cheap at all for an independent release. The package featured a glossy booklet which revealed Daz's intention to create a real label with nationwide ambitions with projects expanding from the Bay Area (with a compilation with DJ X-Tra Large) to the South (with an album hosted by his cousin from New Orleans). The album featured such names as Beanie Siegel and Xzibit. It shows you how much Daz tried to remain visible to the game. Over the years Daz has been linked with moves to Roc a Fella, Bad Boy, G-Unit, and more recently, Lench Mob Records.

I think it would be ludicrous to think that Daz was ever a mainstream act. The Dogg Pound were at one point. Kurupt is a household name but Daz isn't that much. Daz is known to people as the background guy who did a tremendous work at Death Row and who happens to be Snoop's first cousin. Yet if you look at Daz's career, he always tried to remain visible and collaborate with the hottest artists. That shows that he tried to get back in the corporate game to break big. When H-Town was hot he went to H-Town and did songs with cats like Lil Flip, Bun-B and Slim Thug. He is on Camron's 2002 album. He was on T.I.'s Urban Legend, I remember him saying on his website that he was to collaborate with Nelly and that he was in Shady Records' offices making beats for them. If you look at DPGC You Know What I'm Throwin Up booklet, he's shouting act all the mainstream acts of the days and especially 50 by saying Holla @ Me. When he finally signed to So So Def and after he had released The Dogg Pound Gangsta LP album I remember him saying "We're not into that G-Funk anymore" and saying something like "the DPG LP was a record to give a throwback vibe but that's not the line I'm going to push for the next albums". That precisely shows that Daz's come back to G-Funk albums since the Dogg Chit LP is a forced return and that after realizing that he could not break big in the mainstream industry he had to give his fanbase what they wanted i.e. classic, dope g-funk productions in order to stay in the game.

And I think that Young Pilot is his latest effort to create a star.

I personally think Daz tries too hard to appeal to different markets. At the same time, I think he's doing what he's already done. He's grinding and exploring every avenue to make a dollar. And it seems to be working. Daz seems far from broke if you look at the kind of gift he gives to his daughter and mother and the money he receives from Wide Awake. I also think that Daz has nothing left to say nowadays, he doesn't have that flame anymore, he has to force his penmanship, which was interesting at best when he was inspired and which is now very dull and hackneyed. On the other hand, Daz and his co-producers (Ivan Johnson, etc.) craft tremendously good beats even nowadays, and I think they could develop new, interesting artists (I don't like Pilot) but it seems that it's not lucrative enough for him otherwise he'd have released the PFN albums among others.