IMO, Kurupt's decline started around June/July in 1996. Sure, he had his moments after that, but he was too inconsistent and was all over the place lyrically.
You go from this on Streetz:
To this:
I don't know what happened but there was a significant decline. Did he start rushing his lyrics?
Maybe this could be the reason, i dont really know. He probably lost his hunger and started rushin shyt, not carin for lyrics anymore. Sad thing is, he clearly still has it in him. If dude would really focus on his music he could still deliver. I remember there were a whole lot of songs during the streetlights era, some of them actual leftovers of the album, which were amazing. Couple of them were also produced by Terrace Martin. Theres a great Kurupt thread on dubcc, it was a couple months ago I think that those tracks were posted, shyt was seriously sick. Kurupt still got it in him to spit & kill tracks, there are always songs here & there stashed between a whole lot of bullshyt songs, that actually prove his skill but he just uses it too rarely.
Edit: "Step Up" was his dopest lyrical performance on "Tha Streetz...", shyt sounded like a dogg food verse:
Terror starts, in the midst of your heart, starts
The storm, my vocals float like arks
In the mystic state of mind, when I create a rhyme
My microphone massacres every year the same time
With audio amputations, vocal thoughts of a loud talker
Up against the microphone night stalker
With a tendency of bashing MCs, like ten of me
As you can see I continue mashin' MCs
Kaboom, the room gets cleared as my views get clearer
Extra-terrestrial microphone terror
In effect, get infected
Tell me what the fucc you expected
These venemous injections
I leave whole sections, and sections full of injections
From these poisonous melodies and selections
I select the methods of slow anguish
I mangle shyt with my language
Tell me, have you ever seen one elope
With the microphone
In a scandal like abilities to make MCs explode
Baboom, alone in my own zone
So don't compare me to none
Not one's nearly
Severe, cause I severely, impare MCs
Near me, oppose and fear me, I got plots and theories
Sincerely, I could have the spot locked
nikkas get stoned for touching microphones
With no knowledge on how to rock
(Fredwreck was on his Dr. Dre shyt on this one)
. This way many of the songs still bang, but more because of the production and the guest features that outshine Kurupt on almost any single ocassion here. I mean just listen to "Hate On Me" and Kurupts whack ass retarded style fukk a bytch verse and you'll know exactly whats wrong with him here. Or that last track "fukk Tha World" where he spits some of the most confusing, senseless crap ever, like WTF is THIS:
