"Whether you call him Kurupt, his given name Ricardo Emmanuel Brown, or one his many nicknames such as the Kingpin and Young Gotti, this rapper has been a fixture since the early ‘90s.Kurupt hails from Philadelphia but relocated to Hawthorne, CA to pursue a rap career and by chance met Snoop Dogg and consequently joined Death Row Records. Kurupt first appeared on Dr. Dre's 1992 iconic album The Chronic and other notable guest cameos with the Death Row family before scoring a successful spot on Snoop's 1993 release Doggystyle. This led to Kurupt joining forces with producer/rapper Daz Dillinger (also Snoop's cousin) as one-half of the rap duo Tha Dogg Pound, a successful spinoff of Snoop's burgeoning rap brand. Kurupt, Daz and Snoop issued two hit singles, ""Let's Play House"" and ""New York, New York"" before releasing their debut record, 1995's Dogg Food. The addition of the late great rapper Tupac Shakur to Death Row's roster spawned a rivalry between Death Row and Bad Boy Records and later on N.Y.C. duo Capone-n-Noreaga and Mobb Deep issued their response to ""New York, New York"" in the form of the single ""L.A., L.A.""After the murder of the West Coast's favorite rapper Tupac, Kurupt was one of the first rappers to leave Death Row, signing with A&M as a solo artist. Kurupt released his solo debut Kuruption! in 1998 on then-A&M-imprint Antra as a double-disc. One year later Kurupt issued Tha Streetz Is a Mutha, and Space Boogie-Smoke Oddessey followed in 2001, featuring pop elements incorporated with Kurupt's traditional rap sound; Fred Durst and Everlast made cameos on the moderately successful album. Next, it was back to the pound of Kurupt, who reprised a role as one-half of the Dogg Pound by releasing 2001's Dillinger & Young Gotti, an independent D.P.G. Recordz release that hit the stands the same time was Death Row's 2002, a collection of Tha Dog Pound's unreleased tracks from the mid-'90s. When Suge Knight sought to reinvigorate the long-deceased Death Row in 2002, Kurupt joined him with the 2004 release of Against the Grain and continues to release rap records."
