The D.O.C. details what led up to the creation of Death Row Records.
While speaking with Vlad TV, Los Angeles, California rapper The D.O.C. recalled the moments that led to the creation of Death Row Records. He says he initially wanted to create a label with Dr. Dre called Future Shock Records.
The wordsmith, who says he linked Dr. Dre with Suge Knight, also explained that the formation of Death Row Records came after the wreck, which left him unable to speak, and in “a really negative place.”
“It was me, Suge, Dre, and a cat named Dick Griffey at first,” The D.O.C. said. “And we decided we would do business together. And we started this thing…The wreck happened and now I’m starting this spiral where I can’t really exist without those other things. And it’s a really negative place to be in, but nobody can really get me out of it. I’m really upset because at that time my voice is gone. It’s not coming back. These guys are going up and I’m going down. And I can’t stop that spiral.
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“But when Dre fell into that situation with Eazy,” he added. “We decided that we were going to take another route. Then it was easy to see that maybe I could pull myself out of this hole. But anybody that knows anything about substance abuse knows that unless you’re willing to deal with the root cause of that problem, you’re never gonna be able to get past it…When Future Shock began its transformation into Death Row that’s when Kenner came. Because there was a guy named Harry-O, and Kenner came through that guy…I put Suge and Dre together, so that we could build this other thing. ‘Dre we can do it. This guy can help us.’”
The D.O.C. also spoke on the status of N.W.A after the release of their second album. He says the group “wasn’t the same” following the departure of Ice Cube.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t the same,” he said. “Nothing was the same after Cube left. It was a different energy. We did it different. Even the beats seemed liked they would have been better suited for a D.O.C. record…It was a lot of high-powered, fast-moving. You know, nothing really dirty. Everything was just high-energy and moving. But I guess that’s where the G-funk started…It’s all about money. It was money. It was always money. The downfall of the music is somebody gotta make money, which means somebody don’t.”
Video of The D.O.C. speaking on the creation of Death Row Records, can be found below.
