After penning several songs for
Dr. Dre,
Knoc-Turn'al traded the pen for the microphone. As with most of the artists who begin their career with
Dre,
Knoc began his performing career in grand fashion: following a few guest raps on
Chronic 2001 (1999), he made a big slash with "Bad Intentions," a
Dre collaboration featured on the
Wash soundtrack (2001), and then came "The Knoc," again featuring
Dre but this time with
Missy Elliott on the hook. These two singles put
Knoc on the rap map in a big way. Instant comparisons were drawn to
Snoop Dogg, who had also debuted alongside
Dre and whom
Knoc resembled in many ways. However, unlike
Snoop,
Knoc is a songwriter as much as a rapper. In addition to songs for
Dre,
Knoc wrote songs for
Dre's artists at Aftermath Records, including
Truth Hurts and
Shaunta. Despite the strong ties to
Dre and Aftermath,
Knoc signed to Elektra Records, who offered the rapper his own boutique label, L.A. Confidential, yet struggled to break him commercially. His debut EP,
L.A. Confidential Presents: Knoc-Turn'al (2002), unfortunately came and went without much notice.
Knoc afterward maintained a relatively low profile as
Dre kept himself busy with
50 Cent among others. Elektra scheduled
Knoc's full-length debut, Knoc's Landin', for late 2002. The album was never released, though, and it wasn't until spring 2004 that
Knoc finally made his full-length debut,
The Way I Am. ~ Jason Birchmeier