Suga Free

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Suga Free

Background information
Birth name	Dajuan Louis Rice
Also known as	Suga Free
Born	January 17, 1970 (1970-01-17) (age 38)
Origin	Pomona, California, U.S.
Genre(s)	West Coast hip hop
Occupation(s)	Pimp, Rapper
Years active	1997 – present
Label(s)	Bungalo Records

Dejuan Rice (born January 17, 1970), known by stage name Suga Free, is an American rapper from Pomona, California. He is known for his unorthodox flow — his ability to rap at high speed with wild variations in meter — his highly syncopated and staccato delivery, and presentation as an authentic and flamboyant street pimp.

1 Rapping style and lyrics
2 Commercial history
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Appearances
4 References

[edit] Rapping style and lyrics

He repeatedly references imagery connected to street prostitution in his raps - his best-known song is "Why You Bullshittin'?" in which he starts off his debut album with the infamous line, "Now I'd never hit a woman, nah / but I'll slap the shit out of a bitch, why you bullshittin'!" He has, however, displayed emotional range as well — such as in "Dip Da", in which his lyrics explore his feelings about his abusive, deadbeat father, and touch on the child molestation of one of his female acquaintances ("and to keep it real man — my freak Angelique just turned twenty but when she was six man her daddy was her boyfriend.") Other lyrics deal with hardcore street life and urban violence, turbulent male-female relations, and incarceration (he has served time in Los Angeles County Jail).

He possesses an extremely quick delivery of his lines, and a staccato way of speaking and rhyming that almost always makes heavy use of syncopation. The lyrical meter of his rhymes changes sometimes several times within a single line.

He has cited Johnny "Guitar" Watson as one of the influences on his personal style, as well as Richard Pryor and Sting of Police fame.

[edit] Commercial history

He is somewhat unusual among rappers who claim to pimp, in that he actually is a pimp, with part of his income coming from managing street prostitutes. He has stated that his rapping is actually secondary to his pimping career.

He began his professional rapping career working with DJ Quik, who entirely produced his debut album, Street Gospel. Released in 1997, it fell short of commercial expectations, but was praised by many underground rap fans. The DJ Quik production on this album was considered to be refreshing compared to the stereotypical West Coast G-Funk sound that had dominated most of the early 1990s, as he incorporated elements of jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and even rock and roll into his instrumentals. In Quik's DVD "Visualism", he says the album was recorded in 28 days.

After the release of his debut album, many of his fans highly anticipated his second album The New Testament, which was delayed on several occasions. From 1998–2003, there was much speculation about when the album would be released.

In 2004, he released his second album entitled The New Testament, in which he sets the tone in his introduction by walking through a forest and realizing that one of his prostitutes has been killed. In a hostile tone, he panics, and says things such as "If you dead, bitch, I'll kill ya! If you dead, bitch, I'll kill ya!"

Around this time, according to DJ Quik, Suga Free stole a beat from him that had been composed for Dr. Dre. Supposedly, Suga Free sold the beat for what DJ Quik estimates to be USD $2,500 to Bay Area rapper Rappin' 4-Tay (Anthony Forte, who is Suga Free's cousin), in which he used the instrumental for a song called "If it Wasn't for You" which featured Suga Free and Nate Dogg. Therefore, the two had a fallout that lasted about a year.^[1]

As of early 2006 the two have put issues aside. However, Suga Free has moved away from working with Quik as a producer, and has recruited relatively unknown local talent from Southern California for his beats. In June of 2006, Suga Free released Just Add Water.

Just Add Water was produced mainly by Freeze, a collaborator with Morris Day and The Time. J-Steez produced one track, Kenny Mc Cloud engineered the entire album and produced "Suga Kain" and "You Ain't Knowin". Saccs, Josef Leimberg, Blaqthoven and J. Classic also contributed. The first single was "So Fly" which was recorded in New York with Snoop Dogg. A video was planned, however not officially released. The album sold around 5,000 records in its first week, debuting low on the Billboard 200. The album was not a commercial success, however is critically well received and was named one of hip hops best album of the year at Amazon.com.

Suga Free is currently planning projects with Kokane entitled Suspended Animation: Suga Kane, and also an album entitled Pimpin and Producin with J-Steez.

The next Suga Free solo album has been confirmed for a June release, entitled "Smell My Finger".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Release Date	Album Title	Billboard 200 Peak
June 24, 1997	Street Gospel
May 9, 2000	Konnectid Project, Vol. 1
March 2, 2004	The New Testament	72
April 18, 2006	Suga Free's Congregation
May 2, 2006	The Features
May 2, 2006	The Features, Vol. 2
May 9, 2006	Just Add Water
October 17, 2006	[[1]]
August 14, 2007	Sunday School