KXNG Crooked is a hip-hop historian, one that has played a pivotal role in building up the community of Rap Connoisseurs and sparking engaging hip-hop discourse on his Twitter page. And given how much he has experienced throughout his extensive career, Crook has done wonders in paying it forward, sharing plenty of stories and anecdotes to his many followers. Today, Crook took to Instagram to share a blast from the past photograph, one that finds both he and Dr. Dre holding it down in their younger years.
Reflecting on a radio appearance at the onset of his career, Crook explains how a comment ultimately caught the attention of Dr. Dre, who was in the stages of building up his then-young Aftermath imprint. "My homeboy was like ' hey man, we thinking about going to Death Row,'" reflects Crooked, speaking with HNHH. "And when he said that, somebody called him right when we left the station and was like "hey man, Dre heard you on the radio and he wants to talk to you." So we went down to talk to Dre and I played him “Game for Sale” and it went crazy. He was like 'This is crazy. Don’t go to Death Row, talk to me.'"
"N***az Got Game," the song Crook showed Dre that originally caught his ear.
Despite being active on the set of Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Nate Dogg's "Bitch Please" video, Crook ultimately decided to pursue the opportunity at Death Row, as Aftermath was taking a little longer to manifest than he anticipated. "It was a lot of us just talking and he was really caught up. Eminem was going crazy," he reflects. "The Chronic 2001. The Up in Smoke Tour. He had a lot on his plate and Death Row came knocking on my door so I just went that direction."
It was a lot of us just talking and he was really caught up. Eminem was going crazy. The Chronic 2001. The Up in Smoke Tour. He had a lot on his plate and Death Row came knocking on my door so I just went that direction.
For more about KXNG Crooked's relationship with Dr. Dre, be sure to check out our exclusive interview with the legendary lyricist right here: KXNG Crooked, Hip-Hop Historian: Death Row Beginnings, Slaughterhouse Trials, & Eminem's Legacy. In the meantime, be sure to check out a photo presumably taken during that very same time, as shared on KXNG Crooked's Instagram page. Do you think the game would have changed had Crooked signed with Aftermath in the late nineties?