The DOC has announced that he’ll be taking the stage for the first time in 30 years, and fans of the Hip Hop pioneer couldn’t be more thrilled.
The Dallas-bred rapper and songwriter — first name-checked in the Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg classic, “Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang” — will perform on Saturday (April 22) as part of the Punk In Drublic Festival in Austin, Texas.
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The lineup will mostly include rock bands like NOFX (who founded the festival, named after their 1994 album of the same name), Circle Jerks, Subhumans, and Pennywise — and the official festival website confirms that The DOC will be appearing alongside recent collaborators, The Codefendants.
“I haven’t been on stage rapping in front of a crowd of people of any consequence in more than 30 years,” he told Rock the Bells. “So I’m about to do that for the first time. Well, wait a minute. I did get on the stage with [Fat] Mike a couple of years ago, but I’m talking about rapping, where I’m rapping words and people are listening and probably knowing some of the words and will probably be saying the words. I haven’t done that in 30 years.”
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Known for his work penning hits for Dr. Dre and N.W.A., The DOC (real name Tracy Curry) released his explosive debut album No One Can Do It Better in 1989. But just months later, he was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left his vocal cords damaged for life.
Since the accident, the gruff-voiced Dallas-bred rapper has put out just one other full album, 1996’s Helter Skelter, and made only a few appearances on another, 2003’s The Deuce. In March, he teamed up with The Codefendants to deliver his first verse in 19 years, on their powerful new track, “Fast Ones.”
In the two decades that have passed since, The DOC has recorded music behind closed doors, but aside from his new collab with The Codefendants, he’s never released any of it.
“I never stopped recording,” The DOC said, speaking exclusively to HipHopDX. “I’ve been recording music the whole 20 years. I just recorded for myself. If it’s not something that the machine deems commercially viable then the chances are the people from my past who I would have dealt with wouldn’t have been very accepting of it. So I do it for the love of doing it.”
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Asked whether any of it will ever see the light of day, The DOC said it’s unlikely as he’s become fed up with the music business. “I’m very disillusioned with the machine,” he explained. “I’ve given it everything and it still doesn’t want to give me anything back, and so when I do things it’s just out of love or there’s a purpose behind it.”
