RBX Reveals He Was The First To Leave Death Row & The First To Sign With Aftermath (Video)
“The Narrator” RBX is one of Rap’s most distinct voices. While the MC has only one Top 200 album (1995’s The RBX Files, a #62 debut), he is widely recognized for his appearances on widely-considered classics. From The Chronic to Doggystyle to The Marshall Mathers LP, the Long Beach, California rapper spit on all of them.
Notably, despite his closeness to several iconic Hip-Hop movements, RBX has never released a major label album. Speaking with Vlad TV, the veteran did reveal some often unrecognized distinctions surrounding his career. Of his early 1990s dealings with Death Row, the Narrator states,”I bounced first, out of the immediate crew. I was like, ‘I can’t take it no more.'” Warren G, another Long Beach native, was also among the first to part, although having never officially signed. RBX maintains, “I was the first one that left,” adding that Snoop Dogg is his younger cousin, keeping him close to Death Row rise after his 1993 exit. The blood relatives stayed close, despite tensions between X and label CEO Suge Knight, along when then president Dr. Dre. “[Snoop Dogg] couldn’t go too far. Feel me? Regardless of what situation he in, there’s always family reunions, barbeques, and there’s always a studio around.” X alluded to the fact that he was present for Snoop’s later Death Row recordings, despite not appearing on the platinum lineup. He did add that it was California radio personalities Sway and King Tech who “held him down” during the mid-1990s, helping the LBC MC establish a solo career.
Less than five years following The Chronic, RBX was the only former Death Row Records artist besides Dre to appear on 1996’s Dr. Dre Presents…The Aftermath. “When Dre left, I got wind of that. That was like one of the best days,” X said. “I always wanted a situation where I could just deal with Andre; I don’t have to deal with Sugar Bear (Suge’s childhood nickname). And then it opened up, and it happened. Aftermath [Entertainment] came up, and I went there. I was down with Dre. That’s why I was at Aftermath. If my memory serves me well, I was the first artist at Aftermath. That was a good thing for me.”
The label that is now home to Eminem (who RBX would work with), Kendrick Lamar, and Jon Connor began as an imprint destination for veterans like X, King T, songwriter The D.O.C., along with emerging R&B talents Truth-Hurts, RC, and 3-2. RBX recalled that despite Dre’s advice, he would frequently encounter his former staff and foes in clubs and at the Lakewood Mall. “I would go somewhere,” recalls RBX, who deduces the subsequent altercations with “whoop whoop.”
In the Vlad TV interview (conducted by DJ Vlad), RBX also alleges that his Death Row contracts were forged, and alludes to arbitrating royalties on releases including the diamond-certified Marshall Mathers LP, as RBX appeared on “Remember Me?,” a song which actually interpolated a solo record he had previously used as a diss to Dr. Dre and Death Row.
Along with Dre, and newly-certified Ice Cube, Above The Law’s Big Hutch, RBX also carries the distinction of being one of the only MCs to appear on albums released on Ruthless, Death Row, and Aftermath.