EROTIC D (PART 3)  (July 2008) | Interview By:

      

In this final piece, Erotic shares with us his feelings on the Helter Skelter project with D.O.C., how that album was constructed, and what new projects we can expect to see from him and his E-World Entertainment company.

We also get his side of the story on Six-Two & D.O.C., and what his relationship is like with them and Dr. Dre these days. Speaking of Dre, we also get some interesting information concerning Dr. Dre’s 2001 album, as well as……well, let me hold some of this back to give you something to look forward to in the interview, and discuss in the dubcnn forums.


 

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Interview was done by phone in June 2008

Questions Asked By: Chad Kiser

Interview Assistance: “Black” Chris Thompson

Erotic D Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here
 

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Read Part 1 of This Interview: Here
Read Part 2 of This Interview: Here
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Related Media

Erotic D - Kiss My Ass (Feat. 6-2 & El Dog)
Erotic D - Payback
El Dog - I'll Kill Ya
6-2 - I Cant' Wait
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Dubcnn: I read an interview with D.O.C. where he was talking about your production work on Helter Skelter, and he said that you didn’t really get the recognition that you deserved from your production of that album. How does that make you feel?

I really appreciate the praise, and appreciate it whenever Doc says anything positive because I’ve gotten so much negative out of him since that record. So, whenever he says anything positive, I’m shocked. I don’t know if it’s true or not, about not getting enough recognition, but I definitely thank him for saying that because I didn’t have a whole lot to work with. I think I did a record that nobody can top with Helter Skelter. I don’t think anybody can do a record as original as that motherf-cker. Look what I was working with, a n-gga with no goddamn voice!


Dubcnn: How was that record put together, with his voice not enabling him to do the things he had done previously? I had heard that with his voice being weak, that he had to do a lot of short recording sessions to complete that project.

I’m going to tell you some real sh-t, coming from the only n-gga that was in the studio, besides the engineer. When it comes to Doc recording in the studio, physically Doc was in great shape when we were doing that record. The only limitations this n-gga had in the studio is that his voice does not have a very bass heavy tone. When it came to recording Helter Skelter, not only did Doc do his song the whole time, but he did them twice to strengthen the voice. We didn’t have pro-tools or none of that sh-t, and he did his raps the exact same way each time! He did a great job of doing his raps twice; I couldn’t believe he was doing them the exact same way each time. I didn’t do anything special to Doc’s voice, or nothing special in the creation of that record, other than take my time to make sure that the music was dope.

If anything, most of the time Doc was at a strip club, and I was in the studio with the engineer. I used Jamal from Illegal to freestyle on my tracks while I built the music around him, to substitute an emcee in the studio for D.O.C. because Doc was making it a habit of not coming to the studio. Jamal was in there with me everyday, so I would tell him to get in there and spit me 3 16’s. I like to put sounds around vocals. So, there were certain songs when Doc only had one verse done, and I told him to kick that one verse 3 times and then go, so I could finish the track. That’s the only time Doc went in there and did anything short. It didn’t have anything to do with his ability to do it. It was only due to the fact that he hadn’t completed the song yet. We didn’t finish writing those songs until we finished picking out the songs we were going to use for the record. Eight months down the road, we finished working on the record, and half the motherf-ckers got 3 verses saying the same sh*t *laughs*. Then he’d crash for a few weeks where he sat down and finished writing the songs. It might have been a little unorthodox in how we finished the record, but there were no studio tricks.


Dubcnn: D.O.C. has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t really count Helter Skelter as an “album”. What are your thoughts about that record?

The n-gga disrespected me by saying that. Being in my position that would wipe out that last question you just asked me about; he just x’d out what he said in another interview. It’s things like that for the reason I have a chip on my shoulder about this guy. When he ain’t got nothing, he’s got Erotic, but when he’s got it, he don’t count nothing that Erotic did. That’s bullsh-t! I feel like Helter Skelter was one of the greatest hip-hop records ever, I don’t care how much it was overlooked. What I do know is when I was reading the magazine reviews on that record, all the reviews were favorable to me and negative towards him. That’s why I don’t if I agree with I didn’t get enough credit for that record. I’m still eating of that motherf-cker! I’m still getting production jobs because n-ggaz want that sound.


Dubcnn: I don’t know if that record was overlooked, or if people just weren’t ready for a record like that at that time.

We, meaning Dre, Doc, myself and whoever else we f-ck with have always and always will do records before their time. Sometimes they work and sometimes they come back and be cult classics because people didn’t understand them at first. We watch TV and what goes on in the world, and we’re able to translate all that and warn you or let you in on what’s going to be the next thing. Sometimes people want to get stuck in the moment and don’t want to know what’s going to be next. I think that, and what happened to D.O.C.’s voice is what happened with that Helter Skelter record. It was what was next, but then you turn around and now the Whisper Song is a goddamn hit? That was trash, man! It was terrible! People thought that was D.O.C. when that record came out, and people loved it, but they hated it when he came out for real in ’95. It just don’t make no sense to me.


Dubcnn: On The Brand New Formula had samples from the original The Formula song, which I assume Ruthless Records owned the rights to. How were you able to get that sample cleared from them?

That song had only one sample in it. Whenever you sample a sample you have to pay the original artist. So we paid Marvin Gaye for using that piano chord, which brings up another thing that I need said, and I’m going to say it in every interview until this n-gga calls me. The singer on the hook of that song is Jazze Pha. I’m the first n-gga that put that n-gga on a major record, besides a little deal we had doing some R&B sh*t back in the day. I’m talking hip-hop-wise. That record should have been a big record, and I put that n-gga on there. He was doing bad, didn’t have no where to live, he couldn’t barely eat; and now I can’t get this fat motherf-cker to call me back when I call him.


Dubcnn: Let me switch gears on you for a minute. What’s the story with you and Six-Two?

When Six-Two and I first got together he was in a group called Genocide. He always had that commercial-ass voice that you can just get into. The other n-gga in the group is dope as f-ck, my n-gga, but the n-gga is more ghetto than Six-Two. That group is highly regarded here at home. These n-ggaz could’ve owned Ft. Worth/Dallas! They didn’t do it like they should have, so I came along and offered them a situation. I didn’t want to do no divide & conquer sh-t, but I thought the best thing for them was for Six-Two to get a solo deal, and then we do the group thing. They thought I was an industry n-gga trying to break them up, but I insisted that that wasn’t the case, but I knew I could get Six-Two signed to Dr. Dre’s label.

We worked for 3 years on a bunch of songs and sh-t, and then my words came to fruition. D.O.C. got his deal with Dre, then wanted me to come up there and produce the sh-t that Doc was doing because the deal wasn’t necessarily that Dre was going to produce it all. Dre was going to charge Doc to produce whatever, and still put it out on Aftermath. I signed a contract to come up there and produce for this little situation that Doc had with Dre. As an addition of that, Dre gave Doc a slot to bring 3 artists and get them signed to Aftermath. He already had 2 artists, and he wanted me to produce them. I said I was bringing my n-gga Six-Two with me; you ain’t got to take care of him because the check they was writing me was ok. I could take care of both of us for however long we was out there. Doc’s lawyer was like, ‘we appreciate Erotic’s help, but we’re going to let Six-Two have that 3rd slot’. That’s how Doc got Six-Two as an artist because I gave him to Doc, as a loan-out artist. I still got the contract in my file cabinet where it says he was a loan-out artist to Doc’s label. He was still my artist, but we let them put him out.

I had given D.O.C. 4 songs that we had already done, he took them up there to let Dre hear them, and it f-cked Dre up! Dre said they was going to drop everything and do Six-Two right now! So we go out to Cali to do a compilation, but after our meeting Dre said it was Six-Two’s record, this was Six-Two’s studio time. We go to the studio, and on the SSL console it says: Artist – Six-Two, Producer: Erotic D. The other n-ggaz didn’t like that sh-t *laughs*. We record 9 songs in 2 or 3 days.


Dubcnn: Damn! So you guys started putting in some work?

We came back to Texas, but never went back because the business started getting funny, as it usually does around there for some kind of reason. During that time, Dre was trying to do his 2001 record on a club type of thing. That record was originally going to be more of a club record than it turned out to be. The reason I heard that it came back to being some gangsta sh*t, and I don’t remember if I heard this from Dre or not, but it’s because Dre was influenced by Six-Two’s way making it sound so easy. His rapping sounded so effortless and sh-t. It impressed Dre, and Eminem was already signed and about to come out. I remember being there and watching Em write The Watcher. He wrote that in a bout an hour, got in there and spit, then he left. We was around there for all that 2001 sh-t. Anyways, Xxplosive was a song we had already had, but we just gave the raps to Dre and he put it on one of his beats. But we had that song a long time ago. On that song Six-Two said, ‘a 23 year-old pussy fiend and freakaholic’. That sh-t started out with him saying, ‘an 18 year-old pussy fiend..’; we would record every year and just change his age.

B-tch N-ggaz is another one we recorded and gave to Dre, before Dre changed the beat on the motherf-cker. Now, my understanding was that Six-Two, after being all over a Dre album that went 7-times platinum, was supposed to come out with an album right after that on Aftermath. But it got fucked up due to some personal sh-t he was going through at the time. From there, that’s where he did all that Deuce sh-t, that Timbaland sh-t; wrote some sh-t for Diddy, but didn’t get paid for none of that sh-t. So he came back to where it all started because he knew I’d take care of him, and we working on a new record that’s going to be the sh-t! We’re already half-way finished with it.


Dubcnn: Do you have title for that project yet?

It might be Mentally Disturbed, but I don’t know. We got so many songs, that I’m going to put out an album, not the album, but an album that’s already been done. I’m mixing and mastering that motherf-cker as we speak.


Dubcnn: Damn, I’m looking forward to that! What else are you working on?

I’m going to drop 10 albums on my label, E World Entertainment, over the next few months. I’m going to let my nuts hang all over these motherf-ckers! I got the Black Bruce Willis album, on which I did the all the instruments live. It’s all me on the album, with the only features being Six-Two and El Dog. I’m following that up with a Black Bruce Willis Part 2, called Rap Superhero. This one features all of my artists mainly, with a few solos by me. It’s all produced by me! I got Six-Two’s sh-t that I’m sequencing; a mixtape called Game Over that I basically gave away, but I’m going to put it back out. I got another one called Sleeper Cell, I mean I’m going to drop all this sh-t on these n-ggaz heads! Before you know it, I’ll be telling you sh-t I told you I wasn’t going to tell you, sooner or later depending on how these n-ggaz react. I’m about to hold the rap game hostage! A lot of n-ggaz owe me favors that I never cashed in on. I done gave a lot of n-ggaz hit records. I gave Dre a new record called Dear Diary, I will tell you that!


Dubcnn: Damn, ok!

It was supposed to be the first single to my new album, and that n-gga paid me top-dollar to let him have it. I went on and let it go because I was building my sh*t, and every dollar counts. If this n-gga is loving this record like all those other records I done gave his ass, that means I’m still doing it! That song is so off the chain, my n-gga! If he uses the record, remember I told you about it *laughs*.


Dubcnn: After this Six-Two situation, what’s your relationship with D.O.C. now?

*laughs* I meet him up at this club, where we had been watching the Lakers playoff game. The game’s over; he asks me to follow him back to his house. Used to be, there was this certain n-gga that I would let know I was in town, and he would then let Dre know and then Dre would tell him where to have me meet him. For some reason, Dre always wanted to keep our dealings away from D.O.C.; I don’t know why. But, I tell Doc, that until I find somebody else, I needed him to tell Dre that I was in town and I needed to come see him. After all these years, this n-gga looked me straight in the face and said, ‘I’m not telling Dre sh-t.’ I thought I was supposed to laugh, but the n-gga was serious! I told him I had my own relationship with Dre, it ain’t like I’m stalking him. He said, ‘ well if you got it like that, then find him yourself’. He didn’t want to tell Dre because he didn’t want me in the studio with Dre. But, after a while he ended up telling me where he was and I went up there and did what I needed to do.

A couple months later, I’m back in Texas talking with my entertainment lawyer about how I can start pushing my new record and sh-t like that. My lawyer suggests that I tell Doc that I’ll give him free tracks if he’ll hooked me up with so and so. Every west coast n-gga I know or knows me thinks that I f-ck with Doc, so they talk to Doc to try to get to me instead of finding me on their own. There was an instance where Kurupt wanted to f-ck with and Doc said he’d give me his number if I gave him 2 free beats. It was little sh-t like that. So, we decided to play his game telling him I’d give him free tracks if he’d hook me up with such and such. He told me, ‘I got Dr. Dre now, I don’t need Erotic D no more. I don’t need nobody, I got Dre’. Which I know for a fact he ain’t really got Dre like that, but that’s a whole other can of worms. But when he said that I told myself right then, when Dre kicks him to the curb again, because it’ll happen, and he tells me he got this half million dollar check that he’ll split with me, I’ll tell him to shove it straight up his ass. I’m not going to stop screaming on his ass until I’m finished. Right now, it’s war on that n-gga! Whether he fights back or not, I don’t give a f-ck. The n-gga done sh-t on me for years, but I just kept on going. Now, it don’t even make no sense. So f-ck that!


Dubcnn: So, as of now, there’s not going to be any involvement from Erotic D on D.O.C.’s record Voice Through Hot Vessels that he’s talking about?

F-ck no! And if that record make the light of day, n-gga, I’ll eat my shorts. Only n-ggaz that got love for Doc like that is n-ggaz that don’t know him. N-ggaz that know Doc will entertain him, but the only way that record is going to see the light of day is if Dre say so, and I don’t see that happening. If it does, then I don’t know Dre like I think I do.


Dubcnn: So what’s the relationship with you and Dr. Dre these days?

Me and Dre done sat down and talked about all that other sh-t in the past, and we agreed that all the new records that I do with him from now on is supposed to say: Produced by Dr. Dre & Erotic D. That’s all I could get out of them though. I couldn’t get them to agree to say that the record was all produced by me, which is what I feel like I’ve earned. As long as my name is on these motherf-ckers from now on, then I’m cool.


Dubcnn: And you submitted this Dear Diary track to Dr. Dre for Detox?

Yes, and from what I understand, it’s supposed to make the album.


Dubcnn: I know you can’t give out details on Detox, but what kind of updates can you give us?

I can’t really give no updates because dude don’t work like this song is for that record, that song is for this record. He’s just in there working! It’s just n-ggaz spitting raps. Dre don’t give a f-ck who’s in the studio. Whoever is in there and got a pen, he wants you to rap. I will admit that since I gave him Dear Diary I’ve only been to the studio a few times. I just got through making some plans in L.A., so I’m going to go out there and stay for 6 or 7 months. Since the Death Row days, I’ve never stayed out there longer than 2 months. I’m about to do that sit down with Dre.

He’s always wanted me to do a production deal with Aftermath. He tells me how much he needs me on his team, and feels everything I do. He said, ‘make your own price up.’ But he’s got people in the f-cking way, man. If I leave Cali and Dre change his number, I can’t call his people and tell them to have Dre call me. They know who the f-ck I'm, but I can’t count how many times in the last month I’ve left messages with Dre’s people to have Dre call me. They treat me like I’m a groupie n-gga trying to get at Dr. Dre. I’m one of the only n-ggaz besides these major hip-hop n-ggaz that can go up there, ask for Dre, and get in the f-cking studio.