Kurupt
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Ricardo Brown (born November 23, 1972), also known as Kurupt the Kingpin or as Young Gotti is an American gangsta rapper. He has also worked as an actor, for example in the 2003 film Hollywood Homicide. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His debut was on Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992, as a part of the two person group Tha Dogg Pound with Daz. Soon after that Kurupt signed to Death Row Records. He released an album with Daz called Dogg Food in 1995 on Death Row Records. Kurupt became friends with the late rapper Tupac Shakur when Tupac signed with Death Row in 1996 and it was Tupac who gave him the nickname Young Gotti.
In 1997 Kurupt left Death Row records for a position at Antra Records as an A&R, but still remained friends with Death Row and appeared on many albums published by Death Row. In 1998 under Artimus Records he released a double album called Kuruption which went platinum (sold one million records). Shortly after that he released The Streetz is a Mutha which also went platinum. In 2001 Tha Dogg Pound released 2002 under Death Row and Gotti & Dillinger under DPG and Artimus Records. That year Kurupt also released his third solo LP Space Boogie. Since then Kurupt has released Kurupts Greatest Hits: Volume 1.
In 2002 Kurupt met back up with Death Row CEO Suge Knight shortly after he got out of jail and signed with Death Row Records (now renamed Tha Row). By signing with Tha Row, Kurupt started a feud with Daz, Snoop and all of the DPG: his old friends. Kurupt is now working for Tha Row and will be coming out with an album called Against The Grain.
On April 13, 2005, Kurupt reunited with his fellow Dogg Pound mates through the peace meeting labelled "Protect the West", in which several other Left-Coast rap icons united to put aside their differences in hope of succeeding together. Snoop Dogg organized the gathering at which he also made peace with Kurupt's label CEO Suge Knight.
From 2000, Kurupt was in a relationship with the female rapper Natina Reed (born 1979) of the group Blaque. They were going to get married in August 2001, but delayed the marriage for career reasons. Ultimately, their commitment did not last after that.
External links
The following websites both claim to be official:
Other pages, used as references:
- "Kurupt Has One Album In The Top 10, Another On His Mind (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1445415/20010726/story.jhtml)" - MTV.com article, dated July 26, 2001
- Kurupt's entry (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0476097/) and biography (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0476097/bio) in the Internet Movie Database
- OHHLA.COM - Favorite Artists: Tha Dogg Pound/D.P.G. (Daz + Kurupt) (http://ohhla.com/YFA_dpg.html)