“Ghost in the Machine,” an article about The D.O.C., has won the National Journalism Award for Best Personality Profile in 2013.
The article, which came out in the April 2013 Music Issue of Playboy Magazine, profiled the rapper and songwriter, responsible for penning some of the most influential rhymes to ever come out of the West Coast, including tracks from Eazy-E’s debut album Eazy-Duz-It, and Dr. Dre’s debut album The Chronic.
“Not only was the subject interesting and the great writing well-sourced, we learn how a tragic accident derails a promising career and transforms D.O.C into Rap’s most influential Ghostwriter,” said a Judge at the Nationalism Journalism Award.
Alex Pappademas, who wrote the article, spoke and the award. “I’d like to thank LA Press Club for their dedication to journalism and for this recognition my work,” he said. “I’d also like to thank The D.O.C., and his business partner John Huffman IV, for allowing me to follow them around and pry into D.O.C.’s life story and their innovative music business.”
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Finally, The D.O.C. reacted to the news. “The blessing is my tribulations will help me, help the next me, not be me, but be meeeeeeeeeee!”
Other nominees for the Personality Profile of the year for a magazine or newspaper were: Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter, “A Day With Norman Lear at 90”, and Matthew Garrahan, Financial Times, “The player: Will.i.am.”
In the article, The D.O.C. spoke about the car accident that took his voice, and the resulting depression he faced. “The whole West Coast movement changed direction the night I had that accident,” he said.
“Once that shit happened I was just out of there,” he said. “I didn’t care about anything, but getting drunk. Getting high and trying to get away from that pain of not being able to do the one thing that I was good at.”
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However, The D.O.C. carried on his influence in the game, helping craft new talent. “You can’t let go of the dream that easy man,” he said. “They all say you got such a story. You got such a story to tell and [it’s] so powerful and it’s so positive. And that’s where I’m at right now. Dallas, Fort Worth is where my heart is. I want to pluck the young, deserving people from this city and give them the benefit of those experiences and see if I can get some shine down here because they deserve it too.”
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