Dr. Dre. A household name? I’m pretty sure most of us out there have heard of Dr. Dre. Whether it be through his own music career or superstars like Eminem or Snoop Dogg, or maybe even with the revival of NWA with their 2015 film Straight Outta Compton. Dr. Dre has been around. Today, however, we’re going to be looking at arguably his best piece of work. It might not be regarded as his most recognisable work, or most impactful, but nevertheless, Dr. Dre’s 2001 is certainly incredible.
In a similar fashion to his previous solo record, The Chronic, Dre takes on different rappers to rap along with him over beats forged to perfection by himself. At this time, the emerging Eminem was littered over the record with Snoop back and better than ever. Even a relatively unknown rapper, Hittman, made huge, 10/10 contributions helping give the lyrical, mc’ing aspect, a commanding presence. Not to take away from Dre’s production. That’s impossible. The production on 2001 is crisp. The beats are thumping (neck breaking warning) from perfectly picked samples to capture the G-funk sound that Dre consistently shows why it’s a blessing to our ears. Once the samples have formed together to the riff we all hear, the drums come over the top to generate the rhythm that will make us all come back for more.
The first single released, “Still D.R.E”, let’s you know what’s up with Dre and the album. The joint is telling us ‘Yo, it’s Dre, and I’m back and better than ever’. With the notorious ‘gling, gling, gling’ instrumental, it’s infectious and pretty hard for you to forget. Even with a standout beat, the lyrics were penned by none other than Jay-Z who was quickly becoming the biggest name in the hip-hop industry. With Dre on the mix and Jay-Z writing the lyrics, it’s pretty much impossible for this track to sound bad.
“The Next Episode” is another one of those tracks where Dre has gone and found the perfect sample. The riff is perfect for the club/party scene and when Snoop comes along to lay his verse over it’s nothing short of catchy. It’s an extremely uplifting, upbeat song that could get most people into the dancing groove. Tracks like this make us realise why Snoop Dogg actually is a top MC and when he wants to, he can be the best there is.
The only problem I can seem to find with this record as a whole would be that if Dre’s putting the west coast back on the map, a fair few verses (whether actually performed or written for someone else) are from rappers not from the west coast. Does that take away a little bit from a west coast classic? Or should we be happy we got a record that Dre probably won’t ever be able to trump. Who knows, but I’m sure as hell glad that 2001 exists in every way it does.
Hip-hop psa 