|
On Girls, Grooves & Growing Up
07/24/2001 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
His futuristic new album insists space is the place. But back on earth, Kurupt would just settle for a plane out of San Diego.
Always a frequent flier thanks to his Philly birthplace and West Coast hip-hop stardom, Kurupt's no fan of flight delays. This one, however, seems to be the only thing that can slow him down lately.
Besides dropping his long-awaited third solo album, Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey, the 28-year-old rapper also appears on a couple of new albums that pair him with his old Dogg Pound partner Daz Dillinger. And he's been busy behind and in front of the camera, with his silver-screen debut coming up soon.
"A young brother's just tryin' to take care of business," he says with faux modesty, before erupting into a laugh.
The laugh underscores a significant change: Despite the packed schedule, Kurupt seems happier these days. Engaged to Blaque's Natina Reed, who appears on his new album, he's come a long way from the tumultuous 1999 release of his sophomore album, Tha Streetz Is A Mutha.
That outing was tougher and more focused than his '98 solo debut, Kuruption, and earned him his first gold record. However, things weren't rosy behind the scenes: Kurupt's bodyguard was shot and killed outside an L.A. studio on the eve of the album's release.
Meanwhile, his volatile relationship with female rapper Foxy Brown was tanking, fueled by rumors she'd taken up with East Coast rival DMX. On "Calling Out Names," Kurupt addressed those rumors with some choice invective, blasting the Ruff Ryders and Ja Rule as a bonus.
It sounded like the foundation for another cross-coastal hip-hop war, and some at first suggested the shooting incident might have been linked to the song. Kurupt, though, denied those reports, and says his targets accepted his later apologies.
"They was man enough to realize the sh-t I was goin' through," he says. "And they know it takes a strong man to admit his mistake."
Determined not to make any mistakes with Space Boogie, Kurupt holed up with plenty of blunts and the sci-fi flicks he loves, intent on making a "wide-stretching" album that revealed his inner thoughts.
"I just wanted to make the best music I could, that really fit the album. I really concentrated on the songs this time," he says.
So while there's plenty of vintage G-Funk, in sound and theme, on Space Boogie, tracks like "Lay It Back" (featuring Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst) and the Jon B-produced love song "Sunshine" do show Kurupt's more mature side.
Anyone hungry for the straight-up gangsta stuff can pick up the new DPG (Dogg Pound Gangstas) album, Dillinger & Gotti. It's the latest from the pairing of Kurupt and Daz, who formed Tha Dogg Pound as teenagers and appeared on classic Death Row albums like Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle and Dr. Dre's The Chronic.
In fact, the reactivated Death Row is now releasing its own Dogg Pound album, 2002, which sports some old and unreleased cuts. Kurupt says he doesn't know too much about it--"You probably have more insight about it than I do"--but isn't worried about Death Row oversaturating the market, either.
"Ain't nothin' wrong with it," he says with a chuckle. "There can never be too much Kurupt out there."
The same philosophy might soon apply to Kurupt's cinematic adventures. He stars in the indie feature Keepin' It Reel, and has a role in The Wash, directed by Dr. Dre and DJ Pooh (who co-wrote the hit comedy Friday).
And the biggest iron in the film fire is his role in the thriller The Plague Season, which stars Kurt Russell and Ving Rhames and is set for release next April, on the 10th anniversary of the 1992 L.A. riots.
The list of musicians who got sick after the acting bug bit them is pretty long, but the older and wiser Kurupt says he's as serious about flicks as tunes. "It's a business, too," he says, "and you can believe I'm in it for the big long haul."
|
