Europe Guy

VIBE: Blaqkout. What took so long?

Kurupt: Believe it or not, the person that stamped it was Snoop. Snoop said, “You know what? This is big for the West Coast. This is big for y’all. So you need to do this, Kurupt.” I even missed a couple of tour dates because Snoop said, “You need to stay home and work with Quik”. So what took it so long? I don’t know man, we had to put our heads to the grain and make it happen.

How long have you known Quik?

I’ve known Quik ever since the Death Row era. When the Death Row era cracked, I was already a fan. A lot of people say they’re fans of people, but I can honestly say that during the early years before I even made it in the game, I was a fan of DJ Quik. So when he came to me, one thing I knew through my years in this business, is that when you have a person that’s a real producer, you’re destined to come out with a great project. Because all I’ve got to do is be great at my craft, which is the mic. All he has to do is be the best at his craft. So when you’re dealing with one of the best producers in the game, it always works out great. But also know that Quik is a great MC as well. We go back and forth with ideas. He allows me the freedom to go wherever I wanna go lyrically. One hand washes the other with me and Quik.

Did you just lock yourselves up for two weeks straight or were you getting together when you can? How long did the album take from start to finish to really lock down?

We didn’t set no plan of two weeks. I was on tour actually when we were doing the album, so the first leg of the tour I stayed so we could work, catch our rhythm. Then, I went on the road and while I was gone on the road, Quik was just working on music. He was just hitting me, whenever he caught the vibe.

Okay, so not a lot of pressure.

There was no pressure. We was actually sitting there saying, “A lot of our folks may not connect to this right here.” They want us to go bang it out on ’em or they want us to go talk about the hoes or the bitches. Or they want us to do this or do that, and we didn’t satisfy any of those things. We really just kept it to what we call “grown-folk music”. You can have fun, enjoy yourself but this is a more mature and older DJ Quik and Kurupt here.

You were a part of the notorious Death Row days and the studio sessions are legendary. You hear a lot about the stories and what went down. How is it different now when you go in there and you’re ready to work? Do you have a more business-like mentality?

The vibe nowadays when I go into the studio is pressure-free; not to try to satisfy anybody but myself right now. It’s about enjoyment man. I’m back to enjoying the music that I make. I’m back to making the type of music that I wanna make, rather than what I think people wanna hear from me. It’s back to fun. Me and [producer] Terrace Martin are working on my new solo album, produced by Terrace Martin called Street Lights. And that’s the same vibe right there. Actually, the record that we’ve been throwing out there, are records that we’ve been working on. We’ve been working on this album for actually three years. So, we actually went back to scratch with this album. It’s sounding astronomical.

Can you talk about working with Terrace Martin?

The one thing about Terrace, he allows me to breathe and do what I want. He also adds to the table too, he knows where I wanna go. Right now we’re getting the opportunity to really let out this bind that we’ve created. From Street Lights, the one thing you can hear. There’s only one thing that even connects to the vibe of Street Lights, to where we goin, and that’s [Dr. Dre’s] Detox. The more that I think of Detox, I see Street Lights there. Just like when I dropped Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha, and the only thing that I was close to was Chronic 2001. It was connected. That’s the thing about Street Lights. As far as me and Terrace, our only thing that we think about is Detox. Detox is just such an inspiration. We try to think, If this ain’t something that Dr. Dre would say, “Hey, that’s classic” then it ain’t something that we even wanna fool with. The standard’s that right there.

I know you talk about no pressure, but you’ve been called one of the most underrated lyricists ever in rap. How do you rap with that same sort of tenacity, same sort of chip on your shoulder?

I’m very comfortable with my place in the game. The chip has been [lifted from] my shoulder. But you know I’m still an MC, I’ve still got to have the fire. I’ve still got to put my backbone in it man. I can’t slack at all. I’ve still got to have that same type of fire and tenacity.

I’ve earned respect from the East Coast, being from the West Coast. I’m one of the few West Coast artists that got respect from the East Coast, that was an accomplishment. Biggie Smalls got on Rap City and said that one of the greatest freestyle MCs he’s ever heard was Kurupt. That was an accomplishment. My feeling is more of a successful feeling. I rap now out of success, and having fun and my maturity.

Shyne

very underrated mc, album with Quik was dope, just bumping it again today

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Deep South Kid

I thought it got no better than Nine Times Outta Ten. I love Quik beats, but the CD could def be so much better.

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guess whos back up in the building, mind on a million...