The DOC

Suge at this stage had already put the wheels in motion of an entrepreneurial pursuit of a record label, ‘Funky Enough Records’ signing Compton native and active Piru Blood rapper David ‘DJ Quik’ Blake, and artist, Chocolate who was commissioned with the ghost writing for the tracks of Robert ‘Vanilla Ice’ Van Winkle whom Suge managed at the time. By 1992 when D.O.C. and Dre were finally released from Ruthless, Suge was in the company of Solar Records executive, Dick Griffey who offered the soundtrack to a movie, ‘Deep Cover’ to Dre if he was freed from Ruthless. Suge had at this stage established a more beneficial contact to form Godfather Entertainment, parent company for ‘Death Row Records’ which was to be headed up by Dr. Dre. The D.O.C. worked alongside Dre on the project introducing new Long Beach talent, Calvin ‘Snoop Doggy Dogg’ Broadus. The D.O.C. remained a ghost writer for Dre and Snoop on their legendary début albums, ‘The Chronic’ and ‘Doggystyle’. The D.O.C. was always looked after by both iconic rap stars as being the driving force behind their unprecedented fame and notoriety.

During the mid ‘90s The D.O.C.s voice had somewhat returned, although severely altered he considered a comeback to rapping. Dre was never convinced of his capabilities of returning to the mic, subsequently D.O.C. went down south to Atlanta. He recorded his sophomore album with producer Erotic D. The record ‘Helter Skelter’ was released. The D.O.C. rapped in an almost demonic-like voice. As former ghost writer most of the lyrics were originally destined for an Ice Cube and Dr. Dre unreleased unification. Unfortunately his identity in the scene had faded with his voice and the album was not as successful as his début. While in Atlanta, The D.O.C. also made major contributions to MC Breed's album The New Breed.

After a major lawsuit with Death Row Records over royalties of penned tracks by D.O.C., Dr. Dre and The D.O.C. reconciled their differences, and once again became friends. D.O.C. was shown respect by Dre and Snoop touring with them on the ‘Up In Smoke Tour’ of 2000. Dr. Dre invited The D.O.C. to the 2001 recording sessions. D.O.C. brought his new protégé along, Six-Two (a Dallas rapper)who appeared on two of the final album's songs.

In 2003, The D.O.C. released his third album "The Deuce". The album was a collaboration of west coast superstars. Although The D.O.C. did not contribute many vocals to the record, appearances by Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, and Nate Dogg made the album. His protégés, Six-Two, Cadillac Seville, and El Dorado are predominant throughout the album.

The D.O.C. is still a ghost-writer for several high-profile artists. It was reported that he is contributing lyrics to Dr. Dre's forthcoming album Detox.

It is commonly believed by most genre aficionados that had The D.O.C. not suffered his vocal cord injury he would be more readily considered a legendary lyricist in league with Rakim and KRS-One. Today he is very well received and widely respected as the shadow force behind the conglomerate dominance of west coast gangsta rap and one of the greatest ever lyricists. It’s just a shame he never received the open acclamation he deserved. However The D.O.C. is the silent living legend.

Discography:

• 1989 No One Can Do It Better
• 1996 Helter Skelter
• 2003 Deuce

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