Crooked I - Real Thugs * Long Beach * California *

Dominick Wickliffe (born September 23, 1978), better known by his stage name Crooked I. Long Beach, California. He is a member of the hip hop supergroup, Slaughterhouse with other members Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Royce da 5'9". He is currently CEO of his own record labels, Dynasty Entertainment and C.O.B. Digital as well as Senior Vice President of Treacherous Records. Before starting his own label, he was also signed to Virgin Records and Death Row Records. Around the age of seventeen, Crooked I started an independent record company called Muscle Records with professional football players also from Long Beach, Chucky Miller and Leonard Russell. It's not known how many songs were recorded, and the music recorded during this period still remains unreleased. This is when he caught the attention of Noo Trybe/Virgin Records, and landed his first record deal in 1995. Crooked I originally got his start appearing on compilations released by Big C-Style's record label, 19th Street Records, such as 19th Street LBC Compilation and Straight Outta Cali. He also appeared on the soundtracks to movies such as Ride and Caught Up, where he collaborated with Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tha Eastsidaz, and The Luniz. ** Death Row ** Crooked I was later contacted by Big C-Style and Daz Dillinger to form DPG Records, which was originally going to be a sub-label under Death Row Records at the time. Crooked was going to be 20% owner of the label, and the first act released as well.[6] Daz left Death Row Records to run DPG Records independently, but rather than go with Daz, Crooked was trying to figure out his options. Crooked I also had talks of signing to Dr. Dre's Aftermath imprint, but Dre wanted to release Chronic 2001 and Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP before releasing Crooked. He also had talks with other major record labels who wanted to sign him, but they too were waiting for Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001 album to be released before they would consider signing another West Coast MC. It was around this time that Crooked I re-negotiated the original deal he had with DPG Records/Death Row Records as a solo artist deal with just Death Row Records. While on Death Row, Crooked I appeared on a number of compilations, such as Too Gangsta For Radio and Dysfunktional Family, and appeared on various releases, such as Tha Dogg Pound's 2002, Ja Rule's The Last Temptation, and 2Pac's Nu-Mixx Klazzics. He also recorded two albums, Untouchable and Say Hi To The Bad Guy, both of which were unreleased due to various label issues and industry politics. He did manage to release a mixtape along with Death Row's then in-house producer, Darren Vegas, called Westcoasanostra Vol. 1 in the Spring of 2003. ** Hip-Hop Weekly ** Crooked I started the Hip-Hop Weekly series via the internet, he was the first artist in history to do such a series. Every seven days he released a new track over various hip-hop beats of old and new instrumentals. The tracks were available each week on his official forum, website and an Imeem profile set-up solely for the Hip-Hop Weekly series, this would become the No. 1 most viewed Imeem profile on the social media sites rap music section. His ability to personally connect with his fans through his Hip-Hop Weekly series is evident since he would fulfill beat selection requests as well as give shout-outs over any given track to fans who requested it via his MySpace page. The Hip-Hop Weekly series began on April 4, 2007 and ended on April 3, 2008. By 2004, Crooked I's album had not been released, Suge Knight was constantly in and out of jail, and Crooked I's contract with Death Row Records had expired by November 2003. He left Death Row in early 2004 to start his own label, Dynasty Entertainment. ** The shooting ** On February 27, 2009 in Long Beach, California, Crooked I was allegedly shot at during a conversation with a fan. The conflicting early media reports on the incident in the following hours initially left people worried and uncertain on his condition, but he has since confirmed to MTV News and other media that he's alive and, while mentally distracted, physically well. Crooked I has declined to further elaborate on the incident, citing where he's from its against the code of the streets. The new owners of Death Row Records, WIDEawake Entertainment, released a Crooked I album called Hood Star on June 15, 2010. It has 15 songs Wickliffe recorded while signed to the label, with guest appearances from Juvenile, Too Short, Kurupt, Danny Boy, Ray J, Sisqo, and others.