1st off,Dr. Dre is my favorite producer of all time. I'll never love a producer's catalog the way I love Straight Outta Compton,Niggaz4life,No one can do it better,The chronic and Doggystyle.
My favorite era in hiphop is what I call THE CHRONIC ERA. Not just because of deathrow's work but also the beautiful wide range of hip hop from all over the country in the early-mid nineties.
But Dre's ear is not the same anymore in it's entirety.
YES,his ear for a beautiful mix remains intact and the quality of the instrumentation is A1 as usual.
HOWEVER,his ear for outstanding talent,unforgettable vocals and melodies has pretty much disappeared.
These flaws were becoming apparent pretty much soon as he left deathrow and made the AFTERMATH project.
The firm had some ok tracks but would pail in comparison to his deathrow or ruthless catalog.
He would eventually bounce back with Em,2001,then 50,then game.
But the flaws were still present.
On slim shady LP he only did 3 tracks,2 0f which are good.
On 2001 he did them all but despite popular opinion,i only love the first half of that album. I'm not saying the rest is trash but I'm fine with moving on after THE NEXT EPISODE.
Over the years he would make scattered hits for eve,50,mary j,em and others but he wasnt as consistent as before.
If you go back to the ruthless-deathrow time it would be dope record after dope record on albums he produced top to bottom.
By the mid 2000's he would typically produce a few songs pre project and they would usually be good or he'd do more and only half the beats would be outstanding.
But he'd get away with it cause his crew was running shyt prior to kanye and young money taking over.
And the hits that he did get would be huge and backed by huge album sales.
But things were still looking shaky. Dre produced 8 songs on the failure known as Encore,failed with Busta's BIG BANG,did some avg tracks for Jay's KINGDOM COME,did more forgettable tracks for the Curtis album,produced the forgettable RELASPE,did a couple of forgettable tracks for BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT (i like OK YOURE RIGHT), and only did 2 songs on RECOVERY which was a huge success and a personal fav of mine.
He also dropped songs for detox that flopped.
That brings us to COMPTON.
I see that album getting alot of love. ANd i know why. Dre's magic when it comes to mixing and it almost sounds like a perfectly mixed concert,just beautifully mixed with so much clarity.
HOWEVER,it's missing too much for me to give it anymore than 3 mics and i will attempt to break it down vs his better works.
On a basic level there's nothing to hang your hat on,nothing special outside the mixing.
Let's talk beats 1st
Where are the unforgettable bass lines that can rival a DOGGY DOGG WORLD,the shiznit,DRE DAY,A nikka WIT A GUN,natural born killaz etc?
Ok,it's NOT a funk album and it doesnt have to be known for super dope bass lines. But overall where are the beats with any melodies than can rival
D.O.C. funky enough,the formula,always into something,grand finale,N.W.A.,she swallowed it,always into something,g-thang,deez nuts,high powered,in da club,outta control remix,heat,game's HIGHER,still dre,what's the difference,for all my nikkas,serial killa,etc
Where are all the ear catching verses that can rival
nearly any Straight outta compton song,nearly any snoop verse on the chronic and doggystyle,the shyt doc did on his album?
Where are the hooks to rival gin and juice,gangsta gangsta,deez nuts,aint no fun,california love,keep their heads ringin,what's my name,bytches aint shyt,nikkaz 4 life,one less bytch,boyz in the hood,deep cover,rat tat tat tat,real slim shady,forgot about dre etc etc ?
These moments dont exist on this project. Just a bunch of regular forgettable flows,not bad but just non eventful. Same goes for the hooks. A boat load of I NEED A A DOCTOR-esque hooks nearly anytime someone sings,regardless of whom it is. And a bunch of well polished yet forgettable grooves.
Dre is done but he had a hell of a run.
If you think i'm wrong,just go back and listen to his earlier shyt.
Hell you could go back to his last album alone if you want to make it easier.
There;s NOTHING on here that can rival STILL DRE,forgot about dre,next episode,whats the difference,fukk you etc.
It's over
