In this category we will look at hip hop legends who perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve today. For now, the spotlight is on The D.O.C.
The D.O.C. is a Texas born rapper but is most memorable for his work on the West Coast. He was part of the Fila Fresh Crew until Dr. Dre spotted his talent and invited him out to L.A. where he would work with N.W.A. The D.O.C. contributed to N.W.A.’s landmark “Straight Outta Compton” album by writing a lot of the lyrics along with Ice Cube and contributed minimal vocals to the project.
After the success of “Straight Outta Compton” and Eazy-E’s “Eazy-Duz-It”, The D.O.C. and Dre decided to start working on a solo project for The D.O.C. This became the 1989 album “No One Can Do It Better” which is considered a classic by many fans today. It included the hit single “It’s Funky Enough” (watch video here) which is probably the song he is most renowned for. But not long after his solo album was released, he was in a car accident and the result was severed vocal chords which severely compromised his rapping career.
In the years after this he stayed on Dr. Dre’s side and contributed a lot of ghostwriting to many artists and albums including Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle”. When his voice partially returned (and severely altered) he considered returning to rapping but was advised not to by Dr. Dre. This resulted in The D.O.C. taking all the recordings for the planned Ice Cube & Dr. Dre album “Heltah Skeltah” and releasing his own album “Helter Skelter” without Dr. Dre, the album was unsuccessful. The 2 later reconciled and The D.O.C. continued to ghostwrite for Dr. Dre on the album “2001” and also ghostwriting for other rap artists. He released another album in 2003, “Deuce”, which featured many guests including Ice Cube, Dre & Snoop Dogg. Most recently, he ghostwrote some tracks for Snoop Dogg’s 2006 album “Tha Blue Carpet Treatment” (the stand-out tracks in my opinion) and is currently contributing to Dr. Dre’s “Detox” album.
The D.O.C. has contributed a lot to hip hop but it is a shame that he could only give us one real album where he could show us his talents. “No One Can Do It Better” was a great album which was arguably the most lyrical album to come out of the West Coast in the 80’s. And his ghostwriting for many rap artists over the years has been amazing. It is for this that I would like to pay homage to a rap legend, Tracy Lynn Curry a.k.a. The D.O.C..
Click on the links below to listen to and download these selected songs by The D.O.C.:
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