West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: Myrealname on October 21, 2002, 11:30:19 AM
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Just received via email from thaforumla newsletter:
"In this edition of ThaFormula.Com' s mailing list exclusive:
The conclusion of "Ruthless to Deathrow," with part 4 of our One On One interview
with D.O.C.
One On One with The D.O.C.
ThaFormula.com - When exactly did you leave to do "Heltah Skeltah?"
D.O.C. - I left L.A. at the end of '94 because I wanted to rap and Dre didn't see it.
ThaFormula.com - Do you agree with Dre now when you look back at how things turned
out with that project?
D.O.C. - Well that's a yes and a no answer, because if you're Dr. Dre you can take
"twiddle dee" and make a hit record. You're Dr. Dre god dammit! There's nothing that
you can't do in a studio, so if it was in your heart to make a hit record on me, you
would have done it. You would have found some kind of way to do it. When you think
of the old D.O.C., it's probably best to leave it like that, but you know when you
think about D.O.C. the person, the man that's still breathin' right now, still has
music in his soul that he has to get up out of him, then you want him to get that
shit out.
ThaFormula.com - So you made the move in '94 and went where?
D.O.C. - I went to Atlanta Georgia. I started staying in the house of my homeboy MC
Breed and I started helping him work on a record. The record was called "The New
Breed."
ThaFormula.com - It's funny how that album turned out to be the best album he ever
recorded and had a sound similar to the Chronic.
D.O.C. - Yep. I mean the formula goes where I go. You took 2 of the major components
from the Chronic days with me and Colin Wolfe, and moved them over here and that's
really what it was. Colin was a musician so Dre would say play, and Colin would
play. Sooner or later he would come up on a couple of chords that we all liked so,
uh, I'll give you a perfect example. "Deep Cover," the guy was just playin' the 4
notes and Dre said "wait a minute keep playin' that." That baseline was Colin
Wolfe's shit. Dre added the drum the piano hit and that was it, that was the song.
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ThaFormula.com - What was your involvement in the Niggaz4Life LP?
D.O.C. - The same as always. I wrote the songs that made those niggaz sing. That's what I did. Also Kokane had started coming around then. Above the Law was real deep into everything at that point and I started writing more for Dre and Ren, but I wrote everybody's shit by then.
ThaFormula.com - What album do you think was more enjoyable to record, "Straight Outta Compton" or "Niggaz4Life?"
D.O.C. – “Sraight Outta Compton.” “Niggaz4Life” wasn't as much fun because they was to busy trying to prove that they were just as good without Cube and that took a lot of the fun out of the shit and the money was all fucked up. Some people had money, some didn't. Once Cube left really the energy was gone.
ThaFormula.com - Do you remember a few years ago when you were on Eazy-E's radio show with the Dogg Pound?
D.O.C. - Yep, I remember that. They was on the radio talkin’ shit and Eazy said something that was a lie and I was sitting right there listening to the shit so they handed me the phone and I let him have it which is what I do, but it was just really fun to me. It was no big deal, I wasn't really trippin’ with the muthafucka, I was just jokin’ and laughin’.
ThaFormula.com - How serious was the beef between Death Row and Ruthless?
D.O.C. - Wasn't very serious to me. It was pretty funny if you ask me. But just like any other saga, these guys they started believin’ the hype. They wanna gangbang on records and all that old kind of dumb shit and at that time I couldn't really say nothin’ cause I was probably doing the same shit.
ThaFormula.com - How many songs did you guys record for the first “Chronic” that didn't make the album?
D.O.C. - Shit, maybe 2 or 3. Sometimes niggaz would record a whole bunch of songs and record the best ones. It used to be like that early in the days, but if you were gonna do 19 songs on a record and by the time we get to 21 we pretty much done figured it out.
ThaFormula.com - When exactly did the drama start to kick in?
D.O.C.- Well there was always drama around our house, but the bigger that people started to get the more the money started coming into the picture that's when shit started getting fucked up. None of those guys really knew what they were doing. They didn't know how to accept the money. They didn't know what to do with it when they got it. Suge's wife was Snoop's manager. She was probably taking the guys money and it was just all kinds of crazy shit going on. The bigger Snoop got and when muthafuckaz started losin’ control of Snoop, then you could see it wasn't gonna last that long. After so long Snoop would be like “man fuck this shit and I'm not havin’ this shit,” cause he's the star and he was tired of being told what to do, where to go and shit like that. It's hard to have a company run by a bunch of young cats who don't know shit about business. You will have a lot of muthafuckaz just trying to grab they balls. You can't have a great business if all of your business practices are gangbang oriented because there is no loyalty among street niggaz like that. I wouldn't give a damn what they told you.
ThaFormula.com - So during all this what were you and Dre doing?
D.O.C. - Well Dre was living good. Dre was the shit. He was bringing all the shit to the table so he's getting all the pussy, he's getting all the money and he's getting the 5 mics. Me, I'm with Dre. Wherever he was at, that's probably where I was at.
ThaFormula.com - Were you still fucked up on drugs at that time?
D.O.C. - Pretty much and that lasted from about 1990 to 1997…
ThaFormula.com - Wow! 7 years man?
D.O.C. - Yep, and I'm not your classic dope fiend muthafucka. It's like drinkin’ man. I don't have an off switch. Like some muthafuckas can drink and they get a buzz and they cool. Me, Im gonna drink until the bar is closed. There is no good way to put it. I’ma be in that muthafucka drinkin ’ till either I pass out, there's no more liquor or I ran out of money or some kind of goofy ass reason like that, and that went for anything else. It wasn't that I was addicted to it. It was just shit that I did to get away from feelin’ fucked up and I didn't have a stop switch. So it was off and on for about 7 years. Playin’ games here, playin’ games there, and I met 6’-2” in 97 and that's when I started making sort of a turnaround.
ThaFormula.com - When exactly did you leave to do “Heltah Skeltah?”
D.O.C. - I left L.A. at the end of ‘94 because I wanted to rap and Dre didn't see it.
ThaFormula.com - Do you agree with Dre now when you look back at how things turned out with that project?
D.O.C. - Well that's a yes and a no answer, because if you’re Dr. Dre you can take “twiddle dee” and make a hit record. You’re Dr. Dre god dammit! There’s nothing that you can't do in a studio, so if it was in your heart to make a hit record on me, you would have done it. You would have found some kind of way to do it. When you think of the old D.O.C., it's probably best to leave it like that, but you know when you think about D.O.C. the person, the man that's still breathin’ right now, still has music in his soul that he has to get up out of him, then you want him to get that shit out.
ThaFormula.com - So you made the move in ‘94 and went where?
D.O.C. - I went to Atlanta Georgia. I started staying in the house of my homeboy MC Breed and I started helping him work on a record. The record was called “The New Breed.”
ThaFormula.com - It's funny how that album turned out to be the best album he ever recorded and had a sound similar to the Chronic.
D.O.C. - Yep. I mean the formula goes where I go. You took 2 of the major components from the Chronic days with me and Colin Wolfe, and moved them over here and that's really what it was. Colin was a musician so Dre would say play, and Colin would play. Sooner or later he would come up on a couple of chords that we all liked so, uh, I'll give you a perfect example. “Deep Cover,” the guy was just playin’ the 4 notes and Dre said “wait a minute keep playin’ that.” That baseline was Colin Wolfe's shit. Dre added the drum the piano hit and that was it, that was the song.
ThaFormula.com - You know I remember that "Gotta Get Mine" video with 2pac. That was a classic Breed track right there?
D.O.C. - Yeah that was a good song. I was in that video too. That was at Andre Rison's house before it got burnt up. The dude had a good record man. Now MC Breed who was a good friend of mine, has the ability to make classic rap records, but chooses not to.
ThaFormula.com - Why is that?
D.O.C. - Breed is just one of those dudes man that no matter what you tell him, he is gonna do whatever the fuck he wants to do and it's hard to make a classic record when what's going on in your head is the only thing that's coming out on record. You have to be able to be flexible and know that the hardest thing for an artist to ever do is to listen to his own shit objectively because it's his shit and he's gonna love it no matter what. He's gonna want it to be good, no matter what, when in actuality it could sound like a load of shit. Breed is probably the closest thing I got outside of Dre to a brother with me, where me and this guy will argue and I mean argue even to the point where he thought Pac was the coldest and I thought Biggie was the coldest.
ThaFormula.com - How do you feel about the hip-hop being done by artists nowadays?
D.O.C. - Most of the hip-hop I hear now sounds like it's been dipped in shit. It used to be that there was some dope rappers, a good amount of cool rappers, and a little bit of garbage. Now all there is, is a bunch of cool rappers and a shit load of garbage.
ThaFormula.com - When do you feel this change came about?
D.O.C. - When Death Row exploded it was dead. When Dr. Dre left Death Row it died. It may have died even before that. It may have died shortly after Snoop Dogg's first record came out. In all fairness I have to say after the “Above the Rim” record, that was probably the last little bit of last “G-Funk” shit. When you got to the Dogg Pound record, it had started changing again. He started leaving the streets even more then.
ThaFormula.com - Did Dre have any input on the Dogg Pound album?
D.O.C. - Sure, you could hear it in the music. You have to make a record on them. There not gonna come to the table with songs that you could use, so you have to manufacture records with these guys, and Dre was probably tired of dealin’ with all them muthafuckas and tired of coming to work with 50,000 gang bangers in the studio. He was probably sick and tired of that shit, so you can tell the music stopped being hard and started being softer. He started having pretty singin’ in every piece of the shit. Even though niggaz was talkin’ about murderin’ muthafuckas, the music sort of made you wanna go to sleep.
ThaFormula.com - What are your thoughts on someone like Devin the Dude, ‘cause he reminds me a lot of 6’-2”?
D.O.C. - Devin is a 6’-2” guy, which means his talent is so genuine it would be hard for you not to like Devin. I cannot wait until I can get this “Deuce” project up & runnin’ so that I could get back to finishing 6’-2”'s album so I could put him and Devin on a song together. I can't wait for that shit, and I just wanna talk on that record shit! Like when Snoop was writing “G Thang,” I asked him “whatever you do, just pick a rhyme in that muthafucka, and make sure it's at a place where it will have a great impact and put my name in that muthafucka.” That's my way to keep myself up in the game. See this is how you know that Dre has real love for me because he finds me and tells me, “you know you gotta come do this.” He told me that. “You gonna have to ride out in the back seat with us when you get in the car, you know that right?” I was like, “yeah, I know, I'll be there.”
ThaFormula.com - See and that's what's killin’ the game now also DOC. There’ s no more loyalty in this game anymore…
D.O.C. - You just said a mouthful just then. I used to always wanna be part of a group like Wu Tang, and then I found out that those don't exist. It's always one muthafucka making money and everybody else is figuring out how they can be like the muthafucka making the money and you can't win like that. Animosity, greed and envy will destroy any relationship. But I'm glad all of them are making money.
ThaFormula.com - What was your relationship with 2Pac like if there was one?
D.O.C. – Well, and I got to be honest cause that's the way I do it. In the beginning back when the guy was with Digital Underground, he was a very quiet dude. He never really spoke. I saw him a couple of times and I thought he was a cool young guy. The last couple of times that I saw 2pac, we weren't on great terms at all. Him and Breed was the shit, so when I was at Breeds house and he came to visit Breed especially for this record and shit. The guy was clownin’ me. He was I guess trying to make me feel that I was weak by tellin’ me that those guys in Los Angeles had ran me out of town and things like that. I think the guy was just 2Pac’n it at that time. I like to tell muthafuckas that I was 2pac before 2pac was 2pac, meaning I went through a period shortly after my record was released and shortly after that accident where I would go into a club be drunk push bitches down, slap them in front of their niggaz. You know I had a big ass 300 pound plus nigga with me. What the fuck is you gonna do. I did that for attention, but that wasn't my personality but I felt like I needed to do that for a while. I think 2pac had started to get into his character after that movie that he had did. I think that that started to play a little bit on his psyche and the deeper he got off into that character the harder it was for him to get up out of it. Now that's my humble opinion because I can't see why a guy in his position would wanna go to a club and just start pushin’ muthafuckas down out of the blue. I like to call it Mr. entertainment. When Mr. Entertainment get on your back, you will do things that you had no idea you would do. It's enough to fuck a young black man up!
ThaFormula.com - I always thought the way you would flow over a beat was incredible man, I mean you rode that beat like no MC I had ever heard before. The way you would start and stop and cut the corners on the beat at the drop of a dime was crazy...
D.O.C. - That's right brother. Timing is everything and it was a lot of hard work. I really, really loved to write as a young guy. I'll tell you when I knew I was the shit. When I went to California and we were doing NWA's record and I used to rap for these guys all the time. You know that little fast pace thing I used to do when I would speed up slow it down and speed it up. I used to call that stutter steppin’. Well I knew I was the shit when I heard Cube use that in a rap. It was on “Parental Discretion.” When Cube did that I knew I had to be the shit. Cube just took my definition and applied it.
ThaFormula.com - When you look back at all the great times you have had, do you ever see times like that happening again?
D.O.C. - Sure man. Those kinds of things never go away. Those are youthful times. I don't see them happening more or less for me in those terms, but I see them with these young guys. The cool thing about when you’re working with me is that I have a complete understanding of what the formula is of great records. I know what it's gonna take and usually a big portion of that is having fun. A lot of muthafuckas don't know that. That havin’ fun is probably one of the biggest parts of making a classic record. Being able to sit in that muthafucka stress free and just get fucked up and kick it. Shit tends to usually just come out. Let these guys have their fun and find themselves, and I'll sit back and be the guru now.
ThaFormula.com - What were your thoughts on the Snoop album "Doggystyle"?
D.O.C. - Well by that time Snoop was coastin’. Snoop was on cruise control, all cylinders were clicking and you knew what it was gonna be. If I remember right, they were playing this guys album on the radio way before it came out. That's how bad muthafuckas wanted it. Playing it will all the curses and finding ways to bleep that shit out. I remember the night that that niggaz shit came on sale. There was lines around the block in Century City. It was a great follow up to “The Chronic.” It was a classic follow up to a classic record.
ThaFormula.com - What were your thoughts on the way the Source seemed to be hating on the West Coast at the time by giving that album 4 mics?
D.O.C. - Well let me tell you something man. They gonna always hate on the West Coast. That magazine is an East Coast based magazine, so that's like askin’ the kids at North Hollywood High School what's the best High School in the city. You already know what they are gonna say. So you can't really look that deep off into it. They can't give it 5 mics. I remember not too far before that they had just given 5 mics to “Illmatic” and they gave 4 1/2 to “The Chronic.” I remember what they said too. They said they liked every song, but “Little Ghetto Boy” and they said that that song could go but everything else was cool. So we weren't trippin’ off of none of these publications, if the street knows what' happening. But you will probably never get a New York based magazine to say that anybody but a New York artist could ever be the best, and anybody but a New York artist makes the best music.
ThaFormula.com - Did you ever hit the streets with Death Row when they would go out to spots like The Source Awards?
D.O.C. - Whenever those guys hit the road I was at home because I didn't feel comfortable. These are guys going out in groups. Snoops got his group of gangbangers, Suge always had his group of gangbangers, and Dre always had his group of security muthafuckas. I didn't have the avenues or the money to be able to have muthafuckas with me to make me feel secure, so I never went. Anytime you put Suge's group of niggaz and Snoopy's group of niggaz together, it's gonna be some shit.
ThaFormula.com - So was there a lot of in fighting between Suge's people and Snoop's people?
D.O.C. - It was just a lot of fighting period. It was just whoever was around and whatever made it to the table that day.
ThaFormula.com - What happened after the release of “Doggystyle?”
D.O.C. - I left not too long after that. I signed with Giant off of some stuff they heard that I did. They were convinced that I could make a record. Though he was convinced, I wasn't. I took the money and did a half assed record. Spent a gang a money getting’ smoked out and blown out in the studio everyday in Atlanta, Georgia payin’ them strippin’ bitches. So when the record came out, uh, that was a hard ass records for me to make. I had lost all my tools. I didn't have Dre's ears, I didn't have a voice. I didn't have anybody with me that really had any kind of skills along those lines. I really had to put that fuckin’ record together just as best as I could. All I had was me, a name, and I knew Erotic D could produce records, but I knew it was gonna be hard for us to produce a record with me cause I didn't know how to do it. If you listen to “Heltah Skeltah,” it's still me trying to rap like the “No One Can Do It Better” Doc. Trying to push those words out with force and energy and power and with this voice you can't do it like that. With this voice you have to be really cool and you have to rap more like snoop.
ThaFormula.com - Why did you use “Heltah Skeltah” as the title of your LP when you knew that Dre & Cube were gonna use that on their collabo album that was supposed to drop?
D.O.C. - Well that's why I used it. Because Dre pissed me off, that and just some fighting shit. If you go back to a couple of those magazines, he called me a “punk ass nigga” and I probably called him a “bitch ass nigga.” Wait a minute this is the funny shit. First the guy says, “man that's some punk ass shit he did, he a bitch ass nigga but I love him. I'll never do records with him again but I love my nigga.” I remember back in the past I did a couple of little shady things that niggas do to they niggaz. Probably trying to chase behind bitches he done fucked and rub on they booties, but other than that I never did anything but love that guy like a brother.
ThaFormula.com - Did you see him leaving Death Row when you left?
D.O.C. - Oh sure man, c’mon. It had to happen because they had no control. Suge had all the control and knowing Suge, Suge is a good divide and conquer guy. He's gonna get everybody talkin’ shit about everybody else and he talkin’ shit about everybody (Laughs). He's gonna be in your ear sayin’, "yeah that muthafucka ain't shit" then he gonna go over there and be like, “yeah that muthafucka ain’t shit.” Then, he's not gonna be afraid to get in front of both of you muthafuckas and say the shit to either of you.
ThaFormula.com - A guy that seemed to never get caught up in all this drama was RBX. Other then a few little things here and there you never really heard RBX talkin’ any kind of shit?
D.O.C. - RBX slept all the time literally. I think he was a narcoleptic. The guy would fall asleep any muthafuckin’ where. In the hallway on the floor, in the hotel, that muthafucka would be knocked out, but he was one of the great ones. When he first came around he had a real Muslim kind of vibe to his music. You could tell he had been studying, but as that shit and time went on he totally lost that. He probably should have kept it cause it probably would have helped him maintain his focus and maintain himself really. The first time I heard RBX rap I was high on mushrooms and the first time I heard this dude, it was like havin’ your eyes closed and havin’ muthafuckas hit you with rocks from all different directions and I loved him for that and I pushed him too. I pushed them all. I wanted them all to be great and they were. If only for that one record (The Chronic) they was all great that day and they can't take that away from none of us.
ThaFormula.com - Snoop, DPG, Dre, and all these guys were once incredible artists and seemed to have lost that focus they had back then. Do you think that they can ever get back what they once had seeing that they still have the voice to make it happen, unlike you who doesn't have the voice any longer to try to reclaim what you once had?
D.O.C. - Well everybody has got their own paths to take, but I don't doubt that this record that I'm doing right now is gonna push all those guys to do better records. Then you gonna get some shit from them niggaz that is gonna fuck everybody's head up, including mine and what its gonna do is fuel me and give me ideas. That's the way the game goes. You have to work hard man. You can't just master your own style. It's like Kung-Fu movies. You can't just master your own technique. In order to be the greatest you have to master everybody's. That's what made me great. See I had no one particular style. I could transform the way I did to match anybody's flow and you would never be able to tell. There's only a couple of muthafuckas that have ever written raps that I couldn't mimic, and that was Method Man and Eminem. Those are the only guys and that may have been, ‘cause I’m getting’ old and I don't want it as much as I did as a young dude, but that's what made me cold. I took bits and pieces of everybody else’s shit and stirred it into my shit. That's how you get to be great man. Get all the great ingredients and make you a pie and it's gonna be the best pie you ever ate.
ThaFormula.com - With all this drama going on with you and Dre, how did you guys get back to speaking terms?
D.O.C. - When I sued him. You know it wasn't even really me. It was this guy who sued him and my name was in the lawsuit so when the lawyers started chasing me they were like “hey come on in over here you gonna get paid,” and really that's where the money came for me to start doing this record Deuce.
ThaFormula.com - What exactly did you sue Dre for?
D.O.C. - Because I never got no money from the Death Row shit and you know I used to own a portion of that muthafucka. In the long run I didn't get not one dime, not from one record, so I settled for a comfortable sum. Dre called me one day and said, "hey look it's time to quit this shit,” which I'm thinkin’ maybe Jimmy Iovine induced. I think Jimmy might have told Dre, “hey call your boy, tell him to get off my nuts and come on over and have a drink with you and you all get back together.” But once he got the green light to start fuckin’ with me again, he gave me a call. He was real big on whether or not he could trust me. He was like, "can I trust you nigga?" I was like yeah you can trust me. Because when I left to go to Atlanta, Georgia a couple of Dr. Dre's reels miraculously came up missing (Laughs), and he said “man what happened to my beats?” I had a couple of his beats in my possession when I left and I just kept them. They were songs that I did and I wouldn't let nobody else have them. I think that was on his mind more then anything else like, “are you gonna come back up and take anymore of my reels?” But I assured him you know. We went to that seafood place on PCH right on the beach there. It's one of those places where the “WP's” go all the time. When I say “WP,” I mean white people. That's where the “WP's” go eat. But he took me in there and we had a couple of drinks, buried the hatchet and he told me he was getting ready to start on “2001” and he wanted my help. I told him shit it's not a thang. But even at that time writing songs was hard to do for those guys.
ThaFormula.com - What was the reason for him wanting to do the “2001” album?
D.O.C. - I thought the reason for the 2001 record was that he wanted to get back together with Snoop. He felt like he couldn't make the records that he wanted to make without that dude and so I guess in his mind's eye, he wanted a second “Chronic” record so he tried to put all the original pieces back together, but the vibe was fucked up. I mean we weren't all equals anymore. I was a piece of shit on the ground at that time because all of these guys had money and I didn't have shit, still after all this time, so if anybody was doing any outside shit talkin’ about me, there was no reason to really stop. I was right back up in the mix but I was workin’ my way back on a different program. Even at that time my mind was on 6’-2”.
ThaFormula.com - How did 6’-2” end up getting involved in the Chronic?
D.O.C. - He came with me. I brought him with me to number one, keep him out of trouble down there in Dallas, keep him off the gang shit and the street shit. Bring him around so that he could spend time around Dre, Snoop, and these guys and he could see the things that he could have if he chose to do the right thing.
ThaFormula.com - Had Dre and Snoop heard anything from him when you brought him in?
D.O.C. - Yeah, Dre had already heard him and he agreed with me that he was the truth.
ThaFormula.com - What was the response to 6’-2” in the studio from everybody that was there?
D.O.C. - I never heard anybody tell me they don't like 6’-2”. Nobody! I never heard anybody say that 6’-2” wasn't the shit.
ThaFormula.com - Did Dre ever want him on Aftermath?
D.O.C. - Well, Dre wouldn't have allowed 6’-2” to be on Aftermath cause he would have had to have fucked me to do it, and I don't believe that Dre would do anything to fuck me no matter what anybody else may say, I don't think that Dre would ever do anything to fuck me. Plus, I had already started working on the “Deuce” album. I had about 2 or 3 songs. I just didn't have any money. Then when that money came in from that lawsuit, I started working on it. I started snatchin’ beats from Dre's closet. I'd ask him, “hey can I go in and pick me out a couple for the 6’-2" shit?” He would be like “I don't give a fuck,” but none of those beats made it to this “Deuce” album. I still got all of those beats sittin’ there in my closet.
ThaFormula.com - How many Dre beats are we talkin’ about?
D.O.C. - 10! So I got 10 songs on the 6’-2” album all ready and all of the songs are Dre beats. So I'm gonna go get me a couple of more. Maybe a Devin and 6’-2” song, maybe a DJ Quik and 6’-2” record and a 6’-2” record with Outkast.
ThaFormula.com - So why aren't any of those beats on the Deuce album?
D.O.C. - Because it's a personal thing. I want muthafuckas to know it's me. I mean of course when Dr. Dre makes a beat you'll probably never find nothin ’ as good, but all of the songs on this deuce album on a scale of 1-10 all of these songs are 9 pluses. The Dr. Dre beats are 10's. So it don't matter if I would have had them all on this one or some on that. They are all great songs. But I wanted no Dr. Dre beats on my album because I wanted everybody to know that I did this shit. I don't want anybody to have anyway of squeezin’ the Dr. Dre clutches on my shit this time.
ThaFormula.com - So the production on this “Deuce” album, is all done by you?
D.O.C. - In a matter of speakin’. The same way that I told you that I snatched skeleton tracks from Dre's closet, well I went and did that all over the place. Wherever I was, if I heard beats that I liked, I snatched them and brought them back home and made songs and finished them.
ThaFormula.com - So what is the production gonna look like on this “Deuce” album?
D.O.C. - Me, Jazze Pha, Erotic D, Organized Noise, and that's about it.
ThaFormula.com - I was impressed with the tracks Erotic D did on your “Heltakh Skeltah” album…
D.O.C. - Well I think nobody gave the guy the credit he deserved because of what he had to work with, and we both took it upon ourselves, uh most of that album was all live drums, all live everything so I wouldn't have to compete with the computerized drum machines and the 808's so it ain't gonna kick like other hip-hop albums but it will play well to a Limp Bizkit lover.
ThaFormula.com - Now back to what you were tellin’ me about the “2001” album because it got me a little curious when you said it wasn't that fun recording that album...
D.O.C. - Nah, because I kept getting into it with Dre's people. His entourage, his group of people that worked at Aftermath and the people that he had around him in the studio are all a bunch of ball lickers, and if your gonna suck nuts and you’re around me then be aware that I'm gonna tell you that your a dick sucka!(Laughs) Dre has surrounded himself with a lot of non-Dre's. See nobody is pushing Dre to make great records right now. No matter what anybody says hip-hop is always who's better then who, and if nobody is pushing Dre to be better, then what the fuck has he got to do? Everything he does is cool cause nobody is doing anything better. But you wait till this record comes out. He's fittin’ to have to pull something out of that god damn bag. He's talkin’ about workin’ on a record called “Detox” he told me. Well he's gonna have to bring something other then that same ‘ol shit he's been doing if he think he's fittin’ to move the crowd now.
ThaFormula.com - What did it feel like being back in the studio with Snoop, Dre, Kurupt, and them?
D.O.C. – A lot of the shit was fun, though I never really felt comfortable. I never really felt at home. You know Dre had his people, Snoop had his people and it was me and 6’-2”. None of those guys knew 6’-2” so it was just me and him against the world really.
ThaFormula.com - So 6’-2” always stayed loyal to you?
D.O.C. - Oh, for sure man. 6’-2” is from Fortworth Texas. Now, he loves Dr. Dre and we all loved all the NWA spirit, but he don’t know those dudes and 6 ’-2” is not the type of dude to get star struck and sit around and watch all of this shit. It wasn't hard to see on the outside lookin’ in, that them niggaz is trying to plot and scheme on ways to make me make mistakes, or trip me up, or maybe they was even trying to push me out the way so that I would stumble and they would get 6’-2”, you never know.
ThaFormula.com - How was the “Up In Smoke” tour for you?
D.O.C. - It was cool. I didn't have as much fun as all these other guys but it was cool. I still felt kind of out of place you know. Like it wasn't my stage, it was their stage so I had to be careful not to get in the way, you know that kind of stuff. I always felt like it was cool for me to come and party with y'all but I had to go home eventually. But it was all about a 6 ’-2” record. Now after a while everybody started showing their shit a little bit more, so it became more a compilation. So instead of putting it all on 6’-2” to go out and have to deal with all this press and deal with these muthafuckas comin’ at him for the shit he's talkin’, I decided to just do sort of do a compilation record and call it “Deuce.” Put my name on the top of it and call it “Deuce” cause I really felt like it was my second record, and showcase all of my young dudes, but get all of my old school homeboys that I could use to make this album a classic and put it all together. Everybody is on this record, all the usual suspects. Kurupt, Nate, Snoop, Dre, Cube, Ren, Xzibit and more. But wait ‘till you hear the 6 ’-2” album. Dude got a rap on his album called "Mentally Disturbed.” The rap goes, "see me walk in with a semi limp, I don't even know it's in my pimp/Can't no other Niggaz be like him/let them hoes drown if they can't swim/I'm in this muthafucka tore up drunk, they could be hatin ’ but you know what punk?” (Laughs) I love that niggaz shit man!!
ThaFormula.com - Let's get to into this NWA thing. What were your thoughts on this NWA reunion album?
D.O.C. - I didn't think it was ever gonna happen. Matter of fact I still don't think it's gonna happen. What you all got on stage at the “Up In Smoke Tour” was a treat and it will probably be the closest thing you will get to an NWA reunion record. It was fun to see, but all of those guys on stage weren't equals, and if they are not equals then they’re not gonna be able to really make great music because one dude is always gonna think he's better then the next one. But no, I don't think it's ever gonna happen. Reason number one, there is nobody hurtin’ for money, so that means if nobody really has to do it. Everybody has to really want to do it and none of those guys want to spend time around each other for some reason. Maybe because one person has got his nuts up in the air and the other person don't. Reason number two, I wouldn't give a fuck what nobody says, you could never have an NWA record if I'm not there. It's not gonna work out right.
ThaFormula.com - So you weren't gonna have any involvement in the project?
D.O.C. - They never said shit to me. See, everybody except for the ingenious Mr. Dr. Dre realizes that I'm a huge piece of that shit. Dre doesn't think so for whatever reasons. He feels like the piece that I brought to the table can be manufactured from somewhere else or something, so you don't need to call me to be there, but that's a huge mistake.
ThaFormula.com - Do you think adding Snoop was a good idea?
D.O.C. - I don't think that adding Snoop was a good idea. I think that Snoop being involved in some of the music is a great idea. I think putting Snoop's face on it and callin’ it an “NWA” record is not a good idea. If anybody's face besides the 4 original muthafckaz that are still left, if any body's face should have been there, it should have been mine and I wouldn't even wanted mine to have been there. I mean it would have been cool to put some pictures of me in the sleeve or jacket in the middle. See the whole point is you can't replace Eazy. That's impossible. So adding somebody in Eazy's place is the exact wrong thing to do especially if your gonna add another nigga and have him take the place of the other nigga. If you gonna add somebody, do something that nobody would expect and add Eminem or some muthafuckin’ body that way nobody is prepared for that shit and they are going, "What in the fuck" and all you gotta do is tell nigga shit from a white boy point of view or somethin’ I don't know.
ThaFormula.com - What about Yella?
D.O.C. - I don't think he was gonna be a part of it and there again lies the big deal. Your not gonna be able to make those kind of records cause all these guys hearts are in different places. You got to be equals, you got to be brothers or you got somebody that's runnin’ the show and thinkin’ that his word goes and soon as he gets mad and walks out everything shuts down. That's a load of bullshit.
ThaFormula.com - Well, let's finish this off by tellin’ everyone about your label and what to expect with this album?
D.O.C. - Well, the name of my label is Silverback Records. That's Silverback as in gorillas because that's all I got on my team is young gorillas. I mean niggaz who love niggaz gorillas. We make great records in the old NWA tradition of hip-hop music. Which mean half of our music will really probably piss you off, but we don't give a fuck and we gonna do it cause it's alright to do it. All the young superstars from Dallas, Fortworth, El Dorado, 6’-2”, Cadillac Seville, and Uptite, those are my young soldiers. The record is supposed to drop November 12th 2002 and hopefully I'll be in California on that day when my shit comes out, blastin’ it just like I did 13 years ago with the top down.
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Good interview. Thanx 4 postin' that shit.
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wooooow, that shit was tight, thx 4 postin this, appreciated, really dope & nice read
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wow. my eyes hurt.
good shit.
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wow nice interview thanks
man doc seems a bit arrogant
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Damn that was a long interview. Thanks though.
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wow nice interview thanks
man doc seems a bit arrogant
hell yea he does seem real arrogant...and bitter...but fuck it he still tight....
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wow nice interview thanks
man doc seems a bit arrogant
nah.. it aint arrogance.. he just speaking the truth
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thats my muthafuckin nucca!!!!
NO ONE CAN DO IT BETTER!!
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I agree with the following points:
He seems arrogant
Tight interview
THanks for posting it
My eyes REALLY hurt lol
He speaks the truth
And I would like to add...'Dueces' will not be a 9/10 album like he thinks every song is a 9. And 10 Dre beats on 6-2's album :o
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yeah i got the same email.. i got it THREE TIMES! whats up with the theformula newsletter hahaha
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November 12th, about fucking time too.
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"D.O.C. - RBX slept all the time literally. I think he was a narcoleptic. The guy would fall asleep any muthafuckin’ where. In the hallway on the floor, in the hotel, that muthafucka would be knocked out, but he was one of the great ones. When he first came around he had a real Muslim kind of vibe to his music. You could tell he had been studying, but as that shit and time went on he totally lost that. He probably should have kept it cause it probably would have helped him maintain his focus and maintain himself really. The first time I heard RBX rap I was high on mushrooms and the first time I heard this dude, it was like havin’ your eyes closed and havin’ muthafuckas hit you with rocks from all different directions and I loved him for that and I pushed him too. I pushed them all. I wanted them all to be great and they were. If only for that one record (The Chronic) they was all great that day and they can't take that away from none of us."
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thanx for posting this.
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D.O.C is REAL! He´s honest yaknow and FUCK Dre for not involve D.O.C in the "nothappening" N.W.A-project!
I read all parts of this interview and i must say that i got more knowledge than ever on Death Row Records thanks to D.O.C!
I rather hear D.O.C rhymes by Dre than Em rhymes, cuz D.O.C is sooooo fukkin dope when it comes to that! Maaan, he wrote all the lyrics to N.W.A, The Chronic, Doggystyle and maybe even more and theese albums are the ones we love the most REALIZE THIS KIDS!!!
Peace Out
And a BIG shoutout to my nigga D.O.C BIG props!!!