TORONTO (Sasha Stoltz Publicity): Kurupt’s Down and Dirty is the first record of 2010 that contains 17 rare and unreleased tracks never heard by the public – until now, thanks to WIDEawake-Death Row Entertainment. “It shows a lot of Kurupt up to his present time. Kurupt is one of my favorite rappers because he’s very skilled and he’s very intelligent” said John Payne. Born Emmanuel Brown in Pennsylvania, the artist has earned rave reviews from late fellow hip-hop brethern 2pac and Biggie Smalls due to remain not involved in the whole East Coast-West Coast feud; between 1998 and 2005, he put out four solo albums.
“He didn’t catch up with the drama. He didn’t keep up the violence, the fights. Kurupt didn’t buy into the hype or stereotype” John continued.
John, born in the Motor City, may also have been comparing the gangsta rap stereotype to Detroit the city of crime, corruption, and politics, due to the endless negative media coverage of disgraced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s scandal, the declining economy, and the automotive industry crisis. “If they listen to the press”, John commented, “they assumed that I’m a gangster, that I smoke crack. If Kurupt and Snoop were gangsters, they’d be in jail. The fact that these kids think these are gangsters, so the parents have to take responsibility.
“If it becomes more real, you get some positive areas in the urban areas. You got the drug dealers, the gangsters, but you got the positive. That’s the media doesn’t want to talk about.”
The tracks of Down and Dirty were made between 2002 and 2003: done during the “Row Era”, according to John, where Kurupt was one of the only recognizable faces on Death Row. Things were in limbo while alleged reputed mobster Suge Knight was behind bars, as artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop went on to sign with other record companies. The songs feature duets with Kokane, Petey Pablo, and Danny Boy, whose own record is set to come out next month.
“It needs to be heard. It doesn’t hurt to be artists to be paid” John stated. “It’s good material. When the release was planned, it was planned before Haiti. We really had no choice. If people like it, they’ll buy it, they’ll find it. In this economy, people have a choice to buy the record.”
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