The D.O.C.

Origins

The D.O.C. was born Tracy Lynn Curry on June 10, 1968, in West Dallas. As a teenager he rapped as Doc-T in the Dallas trio Fila Fresh Crew. The group placed four songs on the 1987 compilation “N.W.A and the Posse,” and those tracks later appeared on its 1988 album “Tuffest Man Alive.” The connection brought Curry to Los Angeles, where he signed with Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records and changed his name to the D.O.C.

Breakthrough

At Ruthless he worked closely with Dr. Dre and became one of the label’s main writers. He contributed lyrics to N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and to Eazy-E’s “Eazy-Duz-It,” both released in 1988. His own debut, “No One Can Do It Better,” came out in July 1989 through Ruthless and Atlantic with Dr. Dre producing. It reached number 20 on the Billboard 200, topped the R&B albums chart for two weeks, and was later certified platinum. Two singles, “It’s Funky Enough” and “The D.O.C. & the Doctor,” reached number 1 on the rap chart.

Injury and Death Row

On November 14, 1989, Curry was thrown from his car in a crash. His injuries required extensive plastic surgery and permanently damaged his larynx, leaving his voice rough and limited. He moved further into writing. In 1991 he co-founded Death Row Records with Dr. Dre, Suge Knight and Dick Griffey, and he helped write Dr. Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic,” including “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang.”

Later career and legacy

He returned as a solo artist with “Helter Skelter” (1996) on Giant Records, founded Silverback Records in 1997, and released “Deuce” through Silverback in 2003. He was in a relationship with Dallas singer Erykah Badu from 2003 to 2004. Actor Marlon Yates Jr. played him in the 2015 film “Straight Outta Compton,” and he was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award given to N.W.A at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. Although most of his career happened in Los Angeles, the D.O.C. is the best-known rapper to come out of Dallas in the 1980s, and his writing shaped some of the best-selling West Coast records of the late 1980s and early 1990s.