Author Topic: Time for my annual Aftermath Presents Appreciation Thread (should of been an EP)  (Read 774 times)

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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I got to do this every year because this album has never gotten the respect or credit it deserved and it actually has grown with time, even I was disappointed when it first came out...I was counting on this album and on Snoop's Doggfather album to save the West Coast after Pac died, and both failed to make noise and the East Coast and Master P swept in and filled the vacuum unfortunately.   There was one track that I thought delivered everything from jump and that was "East/West Killaz" but I literally only saw the video played twice and it failed to deliver commercially even though it was the perfect track at the perfect time at the height of the East/West beef and just after Pac's murder.  So I'm gonna hit on a few points for today...

-This would've been a killer 8 track EP.  They could've removed the filler which Dre said some of which were actually demos (also get rid of the intro and the R&B make it strictly a hip-hop record).  They could've sold it for a discounted price and it could've been a big time EP sort of like Bone's Creepin On A Come Up that would've left fans thirsty for more.  It could've really set up the next big Aftermath release which would've been the FIRM and with that energy who knows what could've happened.  The EP would of been flawless if left like this...

STAIGHT HIP-HOP VERSION (NO R&B)

1.  "East/West Killaz"
2.  "Shittin On the World"
3.  "Blunt Time"
4.  "Been There Done That"
5.  "St8 Gone"
6.  "L.A.W"
7.  "Nationowl"
8.  "FAME"

^^^That's a killer EP right there.  Every one of those songs is large and ahead of its time.  Flawlessly produced.  If you would've put that shit in you would of thought you were listening to the future of hip-hop and it would've been superior to anything else on the market.  Dre made a mistake trying to fucc with the R&B because Dre's R&B sound was good but it wasn't superior.  Dre's shit always had to be next level to meet his gold standard, so average R&B just doesn't cut it for Dre.  I mean, look at that Truth Hurts shit... the single was next level with Quik and Rakim but the album failed.  If it ain't next level Dre's got to trim it out.

-- "Shittin On The World" has got to be the most under-rated cut of all rhyme.  I made a whole thread about a dream I had when this track was on repeat and I fell asleep on a weed high to it.  This song sounds like no other song, and the lyrics are almost like a Biz Markie, Fat Boyz, or Eminem style of self-deprication where a rapper is kind of poking fun at himself.  That style was not familiar at the time, and the production on the track was unlike anything else as well.  The production was next level and elevated Mel-Man to the status that made him a staple on Dre's second 6X platinum album.  Too bad Mel-Man put down the mic cause his lyrics are entertaining as hell. 

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Sccit

blunt time is probably rbx best song

his next solo we producing guna be up there tho

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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blunt time is probably rbx best song

his next solo we producing guna be up there tho

“Blunt Time” was next level and he even came off like you could squint your eyes and see him going platinum with an album of tracks like that.  They would’ve had to do some work with his image though—that song should’ve been a smokers anthem if pushed right.

Even more interesting when he says “I heard a Dogg yelping but no help came” according to the Source article in my sig that previewed the album I think that track was originally set to be a Dogg Pound diss with a line “the Dogg pound had a pimp (Suge)” but Dre probably had him remove some lyrics cause at the time he was gettin away from beef and gangsta rap
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MrNateDizzle

I actually listened to this album properly (and all the way through) for the first time just a few weeks ago and I was really, really surprised! The production is light years ahead of its time and the tracks (especially towards the start) just flow
seamlessly into one another. This album is hugely underrated. It would have definately worked better as an EP but I think that with everything that transpired at the end of 1996 nothing would have saved it, the public were turned off West Coast
Gangsta rap.

One rebuttal though, although I absolutely love the beat for 'Shittin' on the World' I absolutely cannot stand Mel Mans rapping. I honestly wished Dre or even RC had of rapped on it instead.
 
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TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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I actually listened to this album properly (and all the way through) for the first time just a few weeks ago and I was really, really surprised! The production is light years ahead of its time and the tracks (especially towards the start) just flow
seamlessly into one another. This album is hugely underrated. It would have definately worked better as an EP but I think that with everything that transpired at the end of 1996 nothing would have saved it, the public were turned off West Coast
Gangsta rap.

One rebuttal though, although I absolutely love the beat for 'Shittin' on the World' I absolutely cannot stand Mel Mans rapping. I honestly wished Dre or even RC had of rapped on it instead.

Okay cool.. glad you went back and took a listen and added to the discussion.  Great that you see what I see about the production being so far ahead of it's time that headz couldn't really catch up.  Even I didn't exactly love the album when I first copped it.  I loved "East/West Killaz" and felt it was like the perfect song for Dre and the time and the album but nothing really else seemed right to me.  I didn't even really like "been there done that" much when it dropped.  I mean saying I didn't like it I still bumped the hell out of the whole album when it dropped, but it just didn't meet my high expectations--I was hoping Dre would save hip-hop and West Coast rap after the Death of Pac.  I was expecting another Chronic.

--Yes, definitely, nobody sequences albums better than Dre.  There's been articles and interviews about all the efforts and focus he puts into sequencing albums.  It's like he sequenced the hell out of the first half and then was just rushed by a release date for the rest.  He even said as much in an interview, that some of the songs were demos and it was more like a sampler.  But you can tell with that first several tracks that he was really keyed in.  The way B Real spits, "ANYBODY KILLA" accapella and then Mel-Man hits you over the head with the "Shittin On The World" banger is one of the better track to track transitions ever.  Then after "Shittin On The World" the beat rides out a bit and then you hear RBX's voice way in the background and then "BLUNT TIME PULL OUT YOUR PHILLIES" hits you over the head with RBX spittin some intro adlibs that shit is unfadeable and vintage Dre on the sequencing

--As for Mel-Man's voice and lyrics.  You got to like it in the way we love Biz Markie or ODB.  I put it in that category.  It's really unique and highly entertaining in my opinion.  Off the cuff and way original.  I think it really could of worked if he had the charisma of Biz and ODB he could of pulled it off.  So I love his lyrics and the way he spits on that joint.



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Duck Duck Doggy

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Great album that I revisit at least once a year along with The Firm album
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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Great album that I revisit at least once a year along with The Firm album

Yeah the Firm album has some interesting parallels to the Aftermath Presents album. 

—Both album Dre claims he was rushed for time.  With the Firm album he said in a BET RapCity interview in 98’ that he really only spent like 10 days on the album. 

—like Aftermath Presents the album did go platinum.  Some sources were even posting that these albums may have gone double platinum.  I do remember it was #1 the week it was released.  If all that’s true then that’s a big deal to start a new level and have your first to albums go 1-2X platinum.  Dre should’ve been raking in the doe, but they always act like Eminem came in and saved the label.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and they just want to embellish the impact Eminem had a bit more.

—both albums were considered flops at the time in spite of going platinum.  Now people like the Firm album and “Phone Tap” is a classic, it also featured an up and coming Canibus back when he was the next big thing.  But yeah at the time people were expecting a lot from a Dre/Nas supergroup and it didn’t meet expectations
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HighEyeCue

tbh I thought the Firm album could have been cut into an EP...just keep the Dre tracks and "Desperados" with Canibus, I could've done without the filler
 

dnjp4life

I actually listened to this album properly (and all the way through) for the first time just a few weeks ago and I was really, really surprised! The production is light years ahead of its time and the tracks (especially towards the start) just flow
seamlessly into one another. This album is hugely underrated. It would have definately worked better as an EP but I think that with everything that transpired at the end of 1996 nothing would have saved it, the public were turned off West Coast
Gangsta rap.

One rebuttal though, although I absolutely love the beat for 'Shittin' on the World' I absolutely cannot stand Mel Mans rapping. I honestly wished Dre or even RC had of rapped on it instead.

I second this endorsement completely.  I just last week bought the album and listened to it all the way through for the first time and I can't stop listening to it. 

I had only heard a couple of tracks from it before, but aside from a couple of the RnB tracks that I'm not that big on, it's a great compilation, impeccably mixed (no surprise from Dre, although even the clean mixes on here are a step up from his previous stuff) and has something for everyone. 

The intro in particular is such a menacing and dystopian-sounding beat (again, Dre's intros have always been brilliant), loving the King Tee stuff as usual, Nationowl I thought was Hittman at first, funny hearing Mel-man rapping for the first time, RC's contributions are worth hearing - there really is a lot of interesting music on offer here.

However, like others have said, I can see why the album never really landed the way Dre and the label wanted.  People were obviously expecting a Dre solo, or at the very least more raps from him, and gangsta rap I guess had peaked in the public consciousness at the point the album was released.  Still, the production on this album is stellar and you can clearly hear how Dre and his team were evolving their sound towards the beats that were eventually used for Chronic 2001.
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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tbh I thought the Firm album could have been cut into an EP...just keep the Dre tracks and "Desperados" with Canibus, I could've done without the filler

100%.  As usual—you and I have the same take on this era. 
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Sccit

immaculate production on this one

Dee Tha AK