RETROSPECTIVE: DR. DRE - 2001

[Byron The Bulb]

Has there ever been a hip hop record with better singles?

Dr.Dre Feat.Snoop Dogg - Still Dre (DIRTY)

Eminem, Dr. Dre - Forgot About Dre (Explicit) ft. Hittman

Dr. Dre - The Next Episode ft. Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Those BEATS. Oh my God

 

[Byron The Bulb]

One of my friends back in middle school put the 'Pause 4 Porno' interlude on a mix CD. That made for some good times at track practice.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

I wonder if Hittman is still living off the royalties from this album.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

That could be argued (I can't dismiss your statement out of hand, so maybe. I'll have to ponder it). Taken as a whole 2001 is really bloated and features too many boring Hittman verses that are doubly lol in light of the fact that none of us have ever heard from him again. You'd probably have to make an effort to.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Only rap LPs that I can think of that boast a comparable slate of stone cold classic singles are the original Chronic, Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, and maaaayyyyyybbbbeeee Get Rich or Die Trying (if 'Wanksta' counts).

edit: and Stankonia

 

[Wario Lemieux]

the original Chronic

I was gonna say, 2001 isn't even the Dre album with the hottest singles. The Chronic sounds dated as all get out, though, much as it pains me to say it.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Yeah, Stankonia's the album I had in mind. I can't be arsed to check which other songs were singles on Wikipedia, but the 'B.O.B'/'Ms. Jackson'/'So Fresh, So Clean' combo is pretty hard to beat.

edit: Illmatic feels like a bit of a cop-out because more than half of the proper songs were released as singles.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

tbf, there's at least three more songs on 2001 that would have been stone cold classic singles if they'd ever been released as such

Dr Dre - Xxplosive

Eminem ft Dr.Dre & Xzibit - What's the Difference

Dr. Dre Big Ego's

 

[Wario Lemieux]

Say what you will about Eminem, but "The Real Slim Shady"/"The Way I Am"/"Stan" probably holds up pretty strongly for people who don't mind that this album is when he got into the whole "i am RAPping and RHYming with THIS exact TIming and WITH sales like THESE this will BE hard to STYmie" horseshit he's done in the decade since.

I like Dre's current production style for other rappers, say, on "Lay Low" by Snoop Dogg. Awful song, great beat. Really high-pitched piano and pizzicato strings isn't any goddamn fun, though. Not very West Coast at all!

 

[Byron The Bulb]

If 2001 ended at 'The Next Episode' it would probably be the best rap album of all time. Or at least worthy of hanging in the Illmatic/Blueprint/Cuban Linx/Aquemini/Purple Haze stratosphere.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Say what you will about Eminem, but "The Real Slim Shady"/"The Way I Am"/"Stan" probably holds up pretty strongly for people who don't mind that this album is when he got into the whole "i am RAPping and RHYming with THIS exact TIming and WITH sales like THESE this will BE hard to STYmie" horseshit he's done in the decade since.

lol

'The Way I Am' is the worst thing that ever happened to Eminem. He's been trying (and failing) to remake that stupid piece of shit for a decade now.

 

[Wario Lemieux]

I still like the song itself, though. Like how I hate every single band that names The Smiths as an influence, but don't hold that against The Smiths themselves.

Speaking of The Blueprint, take "Jigga That Nigga" out and throw in, say, "Heart of the City" and you've got a mighty fine list of singles there. That faux-Timbaland synthy bouncy club nonsense sounds really out of place next to the other three cuts.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Single credentials aside, 'Jigga That Nigga' has always seemed like a sorta bad Vol. 3 outtake. I think I deleted it from my iPod so it wouldn't interrupt my Blueprint listening experience anymore. That things not really a singles-oriented jawn anyway, though, so I didn't consider it when compiling my list up thurr.

 

[Wario Lemieux]

COME ON THE TRACK LIKE DUH DUH DUHDUH. Best rapper alive.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Actually it turns out I didn't intentionally delete it but my iPod did on its own. It's still listed in iTunes, but when I click on it it jumps right to 'U Don't Know.' Technology works!

 

[Wario Lemieux]

Imagine those dark days pre-iTunes and such, when what you got was what you got. It's just after September 11th. There are no flights anywhere. The towers are gone. A chunk of the Pentagon's missing. America is on its' toes. Football is canceled. Everywhere you look is war, war, war. One man has but the latest Jay-Z album to keep him sane.

Track 5 comes on.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

But we're getting away from the topic at hand

Dr. Dre-The Message

It's pretty lol that this was just as ghostwritten as the rest of the album. Good job, Dre. You had to pay someone to express grief for you. Even Puff wrote his own verses on 'I'll Be Missing You' (I'm assuming. If he didn't, he really should have got his money back)

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Imagine those dark days pre-iTunes and such, when what you got was what you got. It's just after September 11th. There are no flights anywhere. The towers are gone. A chunk of the Pentagon's missing. America is on its' toes. Football is canceled. Everywhere you look is war, war, war. One man has but the latest Jay-Z album to keep him sane.

Track 5 comes on.

Never forget.

 

[BUTT]

Even Puff wrote his own verses on 'I'll Be Missing You' (I'm assuming. If he didn't, he really should have got his money back)

He didn't. He doesn't even have a writing credit on the song.

 

[Precious Roy]

the original Chronic

I was gonna say

Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg - Nuthin' But A G Thang

Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg - Dre Day

Dr. Dre - Let Me Ride

the holy trinity

Also, since Dre produced most of the album, Doggystyle

Snoop Doggy Dog: What's My Name?

Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice (Uncensored)

Snoop Dogg ft. The Dogg Pound & The Dramatics - Doggy Dogg World (Uncut)

As far as being dated, Forgot about Dre sounds dated as hell to me.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Even Puff wrote his own verses on 'I'll Be Missing You' (I'm assuming. If he didn't, he really should have got his money back)

He didn't. He doesn't even have a writing credit on the song.

Well then I hope he got his money back.

 

[still fly]

The video for Gin and Juice was shot around the corner from me. I remember the shoot vividly.

And The Chronic still holds up today. That album has meant so much for the West Coast scene. Their will never be another Death Row Records situation ever.

But discussing early 2000s rap is right up my alley. The Marshall Mathers LP, now that I'm 25 and not 15, is trash. The singles are standard MTV fare of the time, and the drug, homo and violence references are unneeded. Eminem got famous for being a homophobe looking back.

98-00 era Jay-Z doesn't hold up either.

 

[still fly]

I don't think there is anything else to say about 2001. It was the last important West Coast album released. After that the band (Snoop, Dre, Daz, Kurupt, Nate, Xzhibit and Eminem) just seemed to go their separate ways.

Then 50 Cent took over Aftermath and that was basically the end of an era.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

98-00 era Jay-Z doesn't hold up either.

False

Jay-Z - Jigga What, Jigga Who

Can I Get A...

Jay-Z - Anything

Jay-Z - Big Pimpin' (Uncensored Version) HD

But I agree about the MMLP. 'Criminal' is like the only good song on that whole record. Eminem Show is loads better.

 

[still fly]

I was more a No Limit (LOL) man back in the late 90's. And Jay-Z was outshined by Ja Rule in Can I Get A..., so negative points.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Everyone is going to laugh at me for this, but I think Original Pirate Material might actually be a contender.

The Streets - Has It Come To This?

Lets Push Things Forward - The Streets

The Streets "Weak Become Heroes"

Don't Mug Yourself - The Streets

 

[still fly]

Speaking of Ja Rule, what's the consensus on him now? Did 50 Cent destroy his career and did he just run the usual course rappers go through?

I liked Venni Vetti Vecci, but somwhere between the Spring of 2000 and the Fall of 2001 he relied on duets with Lil Mo, Vita and Ashanti a little to much.

I still have the Murder Inc. compilation album released in like 2002. Maybe I'll liveblog it.

 

[still fly]

Slim Shady LP is probably Emimen's best work. He didn't seem to be trying to hard and it just seems more personal to me.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Funny, I'd say that 'lack of effort' is the problem with post 2002 Eminem.