The D.O.C., AKA Tracy Lynn Curry was one of those blinks and you'll miss him rappers that showed up in the late 80's. 1989, to be specific. Despite this, he made a relatively hard impact upon hitting the scene.
His debut, No One Can Do It Better, boasted production from Dr. Dre, featured N.W.A., and was released under Eazy-E's label, Ruthless. Led by the number one single, It's Funky Enough, the album shot up to the number one slot on the rap charts. This was followed by the second number one single, The D.O.C. & The Doctor.
The hits continued to come for The D.O.C., with The Formula, which peaked at number four, and Mind Blown, which laned at number three. While there was an additional single released, Portrait Of A Masterpiece, this one would fail to make many waves, and only charted in the UK at number eighty-four.
The album starts out really funky, and the first three tracks benefit from this greatly. However, things take a massive turn with Comm. Blues" (featuring Michel'le), which slows everything down to an old jazz club sound. Fortunately, this is short lived interlude doesn't derail things, and we're back to the funk quickly.
What I kept noticing was how Curry felt the need to keep reminding the listener that he was The D.O.C. It got kind of silly.
Despite this, there were standout tracks. This included It's Funky Enough, Mind Blown, Lend Me An Ear, The D.O.C. & The Doctor, No One Can Do It Better, and Portrait Of A Masterpiece. However, even better than those was Beautiful But Dealy, which featured an awesome shredding guitar throughout it.
The D.O.C. seems to stand as one of the last bastions of "good" rap acts. Rather than focusing on lyrics filled with guns, violence, and / or drugs, he instead crafts songs which are designed for pure enjoyable. With that said, there's a ton of curse words in it, and that particular aspect I could have done without. It definitely earned its parental advisor sticker.
Honestly, I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this one. It was an album I picked up at random from one of my recent used CD shop outings. I'd never heard of him prior to this and combined with the eight-dollar price tag would normally have been a deterrent. However, I took the chance, probably because I saw it was his debut, and only release in the 80's. It turned out to be a good purchase.
Poised to be the next biggest name in rap, things were suddenly derailed in 1989 when Curry was involved in a near fatal car crash after falling asleep behind the wheel. The accident crushed his larynx and permanently damaged his vocal cords. Sadly, this destroyed his ability to rap, and he spent the following years dealing with depression, substance abuse, and adjusting to a behind-the-scenes songwriting career before attempting a difficult vocal comeback.
1996's Helter Skelter would peak at number five on the rap charts, seemingly returning him back to form. Unfortunately, performing became intensely difficult with his altered, raspy voice, leading to a deep creative block. This once again pushed him into a deep depression.
While he'd release a final album in 2003 entitled Deuce, since then he's focused primarily on writing for other artists. Most notably, tunes for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. I suppose in that regard, his voice is still being heard, despite an accident that tried to take that away.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment