In a new interview with The Art of Dialogue, Ricardo Emmanuel Brown, better known as Kurupt, claimed that he decided to leave Death Row Records after Tupac Shakoor was killed on Suge Knight’s watch. The environment around Death Row was getting too dangerous to live in, the rapper and producer added.
“We all was a little tired of walking on egg shells. Because if we gon be here and it feels the same was as being on the streets, then whats the difference? If a n-ggagotta come to the studio heated, what’s the difference?”
-Kurupt on the Art of Dialogue
One half of the rap duo The Dogg Pound along with Daz Dillinger, Kurupt played a significant role in popularizing gangster rap in the 1990s.
Founded in 1991 by the D.O.C (Dr.Drem Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey), the label took the hip-hop world by storm releasing one platinum hit after another by West Coast artists like Snoop Dog (Doggystyle, ThaDoggfather), Tupac Shakoor (All Eyez on Me, The Don Killuminati:The 7th Day Theory), Tha Dogg Pound (Dogg Food). It is estimated that at its peak, the label was raking in $100 million per year.
“Everywhere we was going we had to keep our eyes open, 10 toes on the ground,” he recalled. “We had to stay heated and make sure that we protected ourselves. And then to go to Death Row and feel the same way as when we in the streets: we all kinda got burnt on that.”
“We all was a little tired of walking on egg shells,” Kuruptwent on. “Because if we gon be here and it feels the same was as being on the streets, then whats the difference? If a n-ggagotta come to the studio heated, what’s the difference?
“Dr. Dre set up the woo-wop, like, ‘It can be done, you can leave,’” he added. “When I saw Dr. Dre do that, then 2Pac died, that was the final straw for me. N-ggas is getting shot even with Suge. Now THAT is it.”
“Crippin’ and Bloodin’ is real!” he concluded. “This ain’t no joke. This s**t ain’t to play with, this ain’t something you just kick around. Once you in, you in for life; you gotta ride it out homie. And 2Pac is militant! He’s not a gang member. He’s from a Black Panther background, a whole ‘nother background. It’s just not healthy for him. A lot of us gangbang ’cause we wanted to; and a lot of us gangbang ’cause we had to. We lived there; we had to protect our community, you know.”
