Joined by his new business partner, D.O.C. sits down in a secluded booth and orders an iced tea rather than a beer. He's "detoxing," he notes. There's truth to this, as he's been sober for more than six months. But it's also a pun, referencing Dr. Dre's supposedly forthcoming album, which has become the Chinese Democracy of hip-hop, so long delayed that many doubt it will be any good — if it ever emerges.
D.O.C. began working on Detox in 2005, after Dre already had been struggling on it in vain for years. It has sprung a series of uninspiring singles, and D.O.C. began to clash with Dre over matters both creative and financial, believing Dre wasn't paying him what he was worth. Meanwhile, in his stunning May conversation with Tim Westwood, Snoop asserted that Dre had surrounded himself with the wrong people, a cast of lesser-known producers, engineers and MCs. It was he and D.O.C. who represented the historical "backbone" of Dre's operation, Snoop went on, through his own gangsta bravado and D.O.C.'s song structures. "It has to be ... holy matrimony," Snoop said, "and right now it's holy macaroni." (Dre could not be reached for comment for this story.)
PHOTO BY BRANDON SHOWERS
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The fallout with Dre hurt D.O.C. deeply, and he returned to Dallas at the beginning of 2010, unsure what lay ahead. Then, in an interview with HipHopDX.com earlier this year, he announced the crystallization of plans for a medical procedure that could restore his vocal capabilities. The science fiction–sounding surgery would use stem cell tissue and be spearheaded by revered Barcelona-based physician Paolo Macchiarini — famous for performing a windpipe transplant, using a woman's own stem cells. In June, D.O.C. traveled to a Sacramento hospital for a series of tests to see if his body could handle the surgery. He's still awaiting the results but says he feels optimistic.
He even brought a camera crew to the hospital for another reality TV show he's planning, to be bundled with footage from a musical talent search. He's in the process of training a handful of potential rap stars, including a genteel white 19-year-old named Mike Bond from a tiny town in central Texas. These unknowns will perform lyrics D.O.C. has written, and their verses will be paired on tracks with urban superstars in his Rolodex — including Snoop, Andre 3000 and Badu. D.O.C. says he's in talks with production companies for the program, which he plans to title I Got My Voice Back.
He hasn't been totally stiffed. D.O.C. says he receives about $20,000 per year in writer's royalties. This is, of course, only a fraction of what he's owed, considering that the works he contributed to continue to sell well. Until recently, the majority of even this modest sum went to the IRS, owing to unpaid back taxes. He says a combination of loyalty and substance-abuse issues kept him from legally pursuing his publishing credits over the years.
But now he's ready for a new day. He has paired up with a crackerjack PR rep named Chad Kiser, as well as a new full-time business partner, John Huffman, who has worked hard to get him the royalties he deserves. "We're happy now about the situation with 2001," Huffman says, adding that D.O.C. still hasn't received his due from his Ruthless contributions.
While I was writing this story, something else fortuitous happened to the ghostwriter — he received a call from Dr. Dre, who invited him to come back to California. Snoop was brought back into the fold as well, and the trio resumed work on Detox at Dre's Burbank studios in late July. D.O.C. says he feels reinvigorated creatively, and that he brought Dre ideas to help "get that core audience back, with those types of songs and that California vibe from the Chronic album."
Don't scoff: D.O.C. insists the album really is coming soon. "Dre's pretty fucking close," he says, adding that he plans to move back to L.A. for six months, time enough, he contends, to complete the work.
This go-around, however, D.O.C. plans a different type of working relationship with the famed producer. Instead of having Dre put him up and pay him a salary, he's going to rent a house for himself — "in Marina del Rey, with the artists" — and make sure he receives his proper back-end publishing. He says Snoop has called their recent reunion "magical."
D.O.C. isn't entirely certain what caused Dre's change of heart, because Dre told him he didn't want to focus on the past. He speculates that one factor may have been Snoop's impassioned plea to Westwood, while another is simply that their loyalty runs deep. "We all got love for each other," he says. "I love Dre like my fucking family."
Dre appears to feel the same way. One night in the studio a couple weeks ago, he took a break from playing his new beats to put on a Beethoven symphony. As it played, Dre noted that the composer had created the work after he had gone deaf.
"And he drilled the point into my head, that most of Beethoven's greatest compositions were created after he lost his hearing," D.O.C. says. "I got the message."
