That's right, it isn't a typo! Raptalk.Net hooked up with the living legend and Dr. Dre's right hand man for the past 20 years, The DOC himself.

In this exclusive interview which lasted nearly an hour long, myself (Lunatic) and The DOC touched on every aspect and every project his career has ever been apart of. We start this interview off nice and appropriately with The DOC letting the fans know how he got hooked up with NWA way back in the 80s.

The DOC talks about his greatest and most memorable studio memories for the recording process for the classic and legendary NWA album, "Straight Outta Compton", quite the experience The DOC was polite enough to share with us! 

That ofcourse later brought his solo debut to the table, the classic "No One Can Do It Better." The album which was entirely produced by Dr. Dre, is one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums ever released and The DOC gives us his in-depth outlook on that album today. We even get a cool tidbit regarding how much leftover material from this album exists and what DOC's favorite track from the album is! Did you ever wonder how "The Formula" record came about? It went down in quite spooky fashion, a story we have exclusively for you in this interview!

After the success of this album, tragedy struck. As all know, The DOC shortly after suffered a car accident injury which severely damaged his vocal cords and ruined his solo career as a recording artist. The DOC lets us into his mind and tells us how thoughts formed about life in the days, weeks and months that followed the accident.

The DOC did however remain an important staple in west coast Hip-Hop and talks about his help creating "The Chronic" album and his thoughts on that, plus the "Doggystyle" album. 

DOC had a falling out with Dr. Dre but then re-formed their positive relationship and The DOC was once agian at the helm of Dr. Dre on the "2001" album being invited to recording sessions. Which album does The DOC prefer? The Chronic or 2001? The answer is inside!

Enjoy...

Raptalk.Net: We are here with the extremely legendary DOC himself! Start us off by letting everybody know how you’re doing right now!

The DOC: I am well Lunatic. I’m on the west coast as we speak. The weather is not too hot but I’m doing pretty well these days.

Raptalk.Net: That is good to hear! You were born and grew up in Dallas but developed a sound that was mainly west coast and east coast focused. Tell us how that came about.

The DOC: Yes I grew up in the projects in west Dallas, Texas. My sound is not so much a west coast sound as much as it is an east coast sound. If you take Rakim, KRS-One and Slick Rick and match them all together, you have me; but you have to put Dr. Dre beats in there for it to work.

Raptalk.Net: I was just about to say. How did you link up with NWA because you really became like an unofficial member of the group so tell us about that.

The DOC: Well (Dr.) Dre knew a DJ in Dallas and Dre came to Dallas to do a radio show with a friend of his and he heard me rapping. We actually did a song together that was really insane, kind of the way guys do songs today; the young guys that just go in and rap. Well I and Dre did that years ago on a song called “toughest man alive.” He (Dre) didn’t even lay the drums; he just played it by hand on his 808 and I just started rapping and that’s what we came up with. He thought I was so good that he told me if I came to California, he thought that we could be rich. As long as my family wanted to try and send me to the army, I took Dre up on his bill (laughs).

Raptalk.Net: (Laughs) Well nobody blames you for that one.

The DOC: For real.

Raptalk.Net: Do you have any studio memories from being apart of the recording process for “Straight Outta Compton”? With such a classic album, there are usual a few memories that stick out in ones mind.

The DOC: The whole process of making that album was the shit. For me and Dre, it was just getting up every morning and listening to Public Enemy’s first record and being so inspired by those guys that a lot of our stuff that came out really came out almost militant but it was really just those guys talking shit.

Raptalk.Net: A few years later you released your solo debut album, “No One Can Do It Better.” What are your main thoughts on that album as you look back upon it?

The DOC: You know what? What stands out the most to me about that record is that I and Dre did that album on weekend’s in-between when they were doing shows when they were promoting their new records. It took us about three weeks to do that album. We used every song that we did. There is no leftover material; every song we did, we used. To me, it was so crazy that I never had the chance to develop into what I thought I could be because of the accident and everything happened so fast after the album was released.

Raptalk.Net: We’re definitely going to get into all that. It is crazy that there was no leftover material. In a day and age where it seems like some artist put leftover material on their albums, for you to not have a track left over combined with the fact that everything you used was so classic is absolutely fantastic.

The DOC: I know its bananas. The thing that trips me out about that record the most is as an artist myself, I think I have to give myself credit in a lot of ways because I only got a chance to make really once record and 20 years later, people really feel such a high regard of the artist that I am; it makes me feel that I must have done something special.

Raptalk.Net: You certainly did. With no leftover material, what’s your favorite song off that album and why?

The DOC: “The Formula” is probably my favorite record on that album and it was just because I was such a huge Marvin Gaye fan. The way the song came about, Dre said he had it. Dre had went to the movies with one of his girls and when he came back, he was telling me about a daydream he had in the car about me doing a song called “The Formula” and he played me the song. While Dre was sleeping that night I wrote the song and we did it the next day.

Raptalk.Net: That’s fantastic. How do you think that the “No One Can Do It Better” album stands up against the rest of the albums the NWA camp put out?

The DOC: I think “No One Can Do It Better” is a total departure of the rest of anything Dre has ever done really besides Eminem’s stuff. “No One Can Do It Better” really is a Rap record; it’s not about the murder-murder, sex, kill, money and violence. It’s just about rapping where-as everybody else was about killing shit.

Raptalk.Net: As you mentioned, shortly after the release of the album was when you got into a car accident that severed your vocal cords. In the days, weeks and months that followed, describe your emotions and the thoughts that we’re going through your mind?

The DOC: Well first of all and I just found this out recently, the vocal cords was not severed. They weren’t smashed, crushed or anything like that. They work; will get to that later. The first emotion was as you can probably imagine was a real deep depression. It was hard to be happy all the time because we were all NWA, Dre & Eazy - We were all in the middle of the most successful period for all of us but for me it was just really depressing. I had to sit and watch everybody do what I felt like was I born to do and I couldn’t do it anymore. What was even worse was sitting and watching everybody else do it.

Raptalk.Net: You hit that on the head. You did however remain an important part in the west coast music created in the years that followed. Everybody knows you were a big part of “The Chronic” album. When the camp was crafting that project, did you realize the impact it was going to have?

The DOC: No. If anybody did, I guess maybe Dre did. I bumped heads a lot with Dre on that record because I didn’t understand what he was doing. I think that album is probably the best work that he and I have ever done. Even to this day, “The Chronic” is probably my favorite rap album of all time.

Raptalk.Net: He thanked you for talking him into doing that album.

The DOC: Well we didn’t have any other choice. We were trying to separate from the Ruthless camp. Dre was really all we had; Snoop was right around the corner but hadn’t quite made it yet. Snoop was coming right around the corner. Dre had to be the catalyst for us to make our departure and go forward.

Raptalk.Net: Many people criticize Dr. Dre for not writing his own lyrics, especially on that album. What is your take on that point of view that some people deliver?

The DOC: Well in my humble opinion, Dre is probably the most talented person in the last 30 years or as long as I’ve been in Hip-Hop music and maybe as long as Hip-Hop as ever existed; he is probably well without question is one of my closest friends so I’m always going to go to bat for him. To those people, I’d say kiss my ass. I’d say it in a nice way because the guy is probably the best thing to ever happen to west coast music without question.

Raptalk.Net: You already said that”The Chronic” is your favorite rap album of all time. You also worked on “Doggystyle” so what are your thoughts on that album as it is nearly as old as “The Chronic?”

The DOC: I think “Doggystyle” was Snoopy’s introduction; it was his chance to show the world who he was even thought after “Deep Cover,” everybody knew that Doggy was the man – I took a lot of pride in it because I spent a lot of time with Snoopy trying to craft his persona for lack of a better word and making him what I couldn’t be. I gave him all the energy I could to make him be everything I wanted to be.

Raptalk.Net: Well you certainly did a great job because look at Snoop today. Dr. Dre took a hiatus as he took his time to build up the Aftermath camp. With him, you disappeared as well. You then released the “Helter Skelter” album much to the disagreement of Dr. Dre; the two of you ofcourse eventually reconciled. Tell us about that first conversation that led to the two of you re-forming that positive relationship.

The DOC: I’ve done a lot of stuff that people will never know about Dre and I. Dre is about the closest thing I have to a brother in this world. He’s probably the single most important person in my life in regards to making music. Even when I was battling depression and doing everything I could to not only to enjoy myself physically, to never work again in this music business; Dre held on real tight and pulled me through a lot of things. He never let me go too far without calling me and telling me to come home. In that respect, he has always been my brother. Dre called the shots and he’s been the leader as far as our ship is concerned. Whenever he got ready to do records and felt he could help both of us, he called me.

Raptalk.Net: That’s great to hear. When that relationship was fixed, Dre invited you to work on the “2001” album which you did. What would you say was the major difference between those recording sessions and the ones for “The Chronic?”

The DOC: Well we were all grown so we all understood business at that time. Even though all the players were the same, it had a lot of that same energy as “The Chronic” did but it wasn’t the complete package because everybody was off doing they’re own shit. We couldn’t really fall together to really concentrate on one thing at a time, it was tough.

Raptalk.Net: Ok. Dr. Dre for obvious reasons is often credited as the greatest Hip-Hop producer of all time. He’s put out two solo albums; which of those do you prefer production wise and why?

The DOC: “The Chronic” because it’s closer to…when you’re young and just making records because you like to do so. I like the “2001” record a lot but we were all young and dumb on “The Chronic” and we didn’t care about shit as long as we had a gang of weed and we’d be in the studio laughing at each other, we were having a ball.

Raptalk.Net: Ok. In regards to the “2001” album, do you still hold any relationship with members of the team that helped put that album together? Six-Two, King Tee,

Knoc-Turn’Al, Hittman and so on?

The DOC: I know all of those guys and I love all of them. They have a lot of respect for The DOC and I have a lot of respect for them. One thing that the young artists always let me know that even through all the trails and tribulations, they respect the most that I never had the need to quit; I never had it in me to give up. They respect my ears as much as Dre’s. We all grow together in that sense that we got love for people who love what you love. It’s all about this music.

Raptalk.Net: In 2003, you put out the “Deuce” compilation album. Six-Two was a big part of that project. Do you still remain tight with him?

The DOC: Six-Two is the man and always was. He and I still talk from time to time. He wanted to try his own things and I wanted to allow him that movement because just like Dre, I’ve developed a certain way that I like to do things. You can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen or it’ll spoil the soup (laughs).

...Visit back next Monday for part two, the finale in this DOC interview. The subject matter is heavily weighted around "Detox" as The DOC talks about the recording process, how often Dre and the rest of the camp are working on the album, how much of the album is done, a possible release date, leaked songs and more!

ofcourse, the interesting rumor circulating around the net is that The DOC is in the process of re-gaining his vocal cords and coming back for one more album! Talk about a story book ending, huh? We have ALL the details on this story, next week...

Comments (3)

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Sweet!
written by Nooc210, February 23, 2009

man, i really fell asleep on this one, sorry DOC!

...
written by Jehuniko, February 24, 2009

what a surprise to see...dope interview,as usual Lunatic.....

It's like a message that only I can understand...
written by Gordo, June 20, 2009

“No One Can Do It Better� really is a Rap record; it’s not about the murder-murder, sex, kill, money and violence. It’s just about rapping where-as everybody else was about killing shit. - DOC

This is true Rap. A lyrical legend (Doc) spitting vocals on his masterpiece, (No one can do it better) along side with one of the best producers, Dre (if not, the best) of all time (aside from Quik)...Words can't describe the impact of their rythym-matic flow.

It really does remains true until today, No One Can Do it Better....

--Gordo

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