His production steadily evolved and adapted, but “Forgot About Dre” and “The Recipe,” released 13 years apart, find the Doc doing passable impressions of those songs’ leads, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar respectively.
At his best - “Fuck Wit Dre Day” or 2001 highlight “The Watcher,” for example - Andre Young has been a gripping emcee, but not a particularly nimble one. It isn’t hard to imagine that those who worked on the album came to see it as a sort of fool’s errand. You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.Īll of which is great - but why did it take so long? Dre’s protégés promised a famously unreleased LP, Detox, in 2004, 2005, and nearly every year since, only for it to be scrapped altogether. As evidenced on the album’s heartbreaking centerpiece, “Animals,” Dre is bringing his catalogue full circle. The Chronic and 2001 are packed with funk, menace, and decade-defining singles, but Compton isn’t a linear continuation. Dre shirked off the blurred-out Nikes and inexplicable White Sox hats, stepping squarely into the present day with an arsenal of flows that would put upstarts half his age to shame. In the place of the bronzed hip-hop legend’s tried-and-true blueprints are busy, eclectic tracks and improbably precise vocals, edited for the era and formatted to fit your screen. But what took fans and critics aback when he dropped the record last week was the nature of that departure. Dre’s third solo album in 23 years and first after a 16-year dry spell, marks a departure from his prior work should come as no surprise. Was it a watershed moment? I think Walk This Way in combination with MTV starting to play rap videos did more than The Chronic, but that could be age basis.That Compton: A Soundtrack, Dr. That said people I knew that had no interest in rap were all the sudden all about Dre and Snoop after the Chronic. So I was already big into rap by the time The Chronic came along. For me I grew up in the 80's loving punk and thrash, but it was Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet that got me fully into rap (Fight the Power is such a strong song and statement). I use the excuse they are a product of their time, but does that make me a hypocrite (I say yes)? Like I said above at times I do find it hard to listen to, and I have to completely ignore the lyrics.Īlso about what got 'white people' into rap, The Chronic was very important for making rap mainstream. That said I do own The Chronic on vinyl, and it has been on my phone since Apple released it on Apple Music (to be honest I still have NWA and Geto Boys on my phone and they are by far worst). Artist and listeners both need to be responsible for the message of the music. Times have changed, and I think for the better. Still I take blame myself, because when the albums came out I ignored that myself.
I do find it hard to listen to sometimes, given how homophobic and misogynistic the lyrics are (this is true for several groups I loved like NWA the underrated Geto Boys).
I am 47, and this album was big in my life during the early 90's (honestly Ice Cube's Death Certificate was more important to me due to the storytelling).
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