Crooked I (born Dominick Wickliffe), is an American rapper from Long Beach, California. The name "Crooked I" comes from the malt liquor beverage St. Ides, whose logo has a crooked letter "I" on the label. The "I" also stands for 'Intriago', an adopted gangster moniker like MC's Nas (Escobar) and The Notorious B.I.G. (Frank White) have used in their music. Crooked I is currently CEO of his own record label, Dynasty Entertainment, and Senior Vice President of Treacherous Records. Before he became his own boss, Crooked I was also signed to Virgin Records, and most notably, Death Row Records, where he spent four years working under the infamous Suge Knight.

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. At the time, Crooked I was signed under Virgin Records, who handled distribution for 19th Street Records. It's not completely known why Crooked I didn't stay on Virgin Records; some say it had to do with Noo Trybe - their "urban" divison - folding, and Crooked's even said it had to do with one of their top employees committing bad business practices behind the scenes. Either way, Crooked I and Virgin Records no longer did business together as of 1999, and he was once again looking for a new record deal.

During this time, Crooked I started making music independently with two football players, who are 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 to this day. Crooked 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. Later on that year, Daz left Death Row Records to run DPG Records independently, but rather than go with Daz, Crooked was trying to figure out his options.

The 19th Street Era

Crooked I even 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 put him on the backburner until they felt the need to release his music. It was around this time that Crooked I was contacted by Suge Knight, and he set up a meeting to negotiate a solo artist deal, while Suge Knight was still in the penitentiary. Suge promised Crooked I he would get his music released and keep him paid at the same time, which wasn't the same deal other labels had previously offered him. With that in mind, Crooked I accepted the deal with Death Row Records in November of 1999 and knew it was up to him to lead the infamous label into the new millennium.

Death Row's Second Dynasty

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. He did manage to release a mixtape along with Death Row's then in-house producer, Darren Vegas, called Westcoastanostra Vol. 1 in the Summer of 2003.

The Start of a New Dynasty

By 2004, Crooked I's album had not been released, Suge Knight was constantly in and out of jail, and Crooked I's contract had expired by late 2003. He left Death Row in early 2004 to start his own label, Dynasty Entertainment. It wasn't long after that when Crooked I signed a distribution deal with Treacherous Records/Universal, but more legal trouble from Death Row surfaced, and Crooked I had to stop production for his then titled album, Mama's Boy, which was actually going to be the name of Crooked's second release under Death Row Records. Later on the title of the album changed to Mama's Boy Got a Loaded Gun. In the mean time, Crooked I released the online mixtape, Young Boss Vol. 1 through his official website. The mixtape received critical acclaim throughout the underground Hip-Hop curcuit, and even earned an "XL" rating by the Hip-Hop publication, XXL (magazine).

After the legal matters settled, Crooked began recording again, and prepping the release of his documentary Life After Death Row. He appeared on compilations such as Yukmouth's United Ghettos of America Vol. 2, Sway & King Tech's Back 2 Basics, and on fellow Treacherous Records label mate K. Young's debut album, Learn How To Love. In 2005, the name of the album changed to Boss Music, and he created a huge buzz with his song, "Boom Boom Clap" in the Summer of 2005. He also recorded two songs with producer Scott Storch, "Cali Boyz" and "You're So Bad". In 2006, Crooked I released his heavily anticipated mixtape, Young Boss Vol. 2 hosted by DJ Skee, and his DVD, Life After Death Row, surfaced later that Fall.

Present

Since 2006, Crooked I started his own successful weekly freestyle series in April of 2007 titled Hip-Hop Weekly, where he raps over popular beats, and releases them on the internet every Wednesday. Life After Death Row was re-released in the Spring of 2007 in a jewel case with working bonus features, where they didn't work on the original release. Phoenix Entertainment, who handled the distribution for Life After Death Row, are releasing a live DVD of Crooked I in his hometown of Long Beach, California, and a CD will be included, which contains remixes to his infamous Hip-Hop Weekly series, and is intended for release in October, before B.O.S.S. gets released.

The next installment in his mixtape series is Young Boss Vol. 3 hosted by DJ Warrior of the Cali Untouchables. It's set for release before B.O.S.S., and is intended to have nationwide distribution, which is how Young Boss Vol. 2 was originally going to be released.

The name of Crooked I's debut album did change to B.O.S.S. (Beginning of Something Serious), and will be released in October of 2007. The first single will be "N.W.A.(New West Anthem)", and Crooked will start production on the video in late August.

Hip-Hop Weekly

With fans eagerly waiting on music to hold them over until the release of B.O.S.S., Crooked I has started the Hip-Hop Weekly series. Every seven days he releases a freestyle over popular beats used by mainstream artists. Crooked I has been known to answer fan requests and even shout out loyal followers throughout the history of Hip-Hop Weekly. This series began in April of 2007, and is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year.

The freestyles can be downloaded here.

Hip-Hop Weekly Mixtape Cover

On September 7th an official Hip-Hop Weekly mixtape was released throught dubCNN.com. It contains Week 1 to Week 21 of the Hip-Hop Weekly series, as well as the track N.W.A.(New West Anthem). The Hip-Hop Weekly mixtape can be downloaded here for free.

Below is a list of the instrumentals Crooked I has done his freestyles over:

• Week 1 - Straight To The Bank
• Week 2 - I'm Throwed
• Week 3 - Vibe Wit' A "Bo$$" / Take You There
• Week 4 - 2nd Coming / Tuck Ya Ice
• Week 5 - Umbrella / We Takin' Over
• Week 6 - Get It Shawty / Amusement Park
• Week 7 - Cruisin' / Just The King
• Week 8 - Make Me Better
• Week 9 - Deep Cover
• Week 10 - You Know My Steez
• Week 11 - Boy Looka Here / Go Getta (Remix) feat. Horseshoe G.A.N.G.
• Week 12 - Big **** Poppin'
• Week 13 - International Players Anthem
• Week 14 - Pop, Lock & Drop It
• Week 15 - Can't Tell Me Nothing
• Week 16 - My ****
• Week 17 - Oh My God
• Week 18 - Uh Oh
• Week 18.5 - Died In Your Arms
• Week 19 - Real Muthaphuckkin G's
• Week 20 - Big Spender
• Week 21 - Blueprint 2 (Dedicated to Jena Six)

Dynasty Entertainment

While Crooked I's label, Dynasty Entertainment, has not yet released any albums, they did in fact release a DVD documentary titled Life After Death Row in August of 2006. The DVD is about Crooked I's experiences on Death Row, and what he's doing now. It also features the stories of other artists who were on Death Row, and why they left, starting with RBX, who was the first artist to leave Death Row Records. There is also appearances made by Russel Simmons, Master P, Kurupt, WC, Big C-Style, Eastwood, Loon, and more, plus a segment dedicated to Lisa Lopes, also known as Left Eye of TLC, who was signed to Death Row before her untimely death in 2002.