The myth of Detox

[Tanjential]

Now assuming this Under Pressure single that just came out really indicates Detox is forthcoming, this article is relatively moot but maybe it's for that exact reason that I want to tempt fate with this discussion...


Firstly, I almost think it would be a mistake to deflate the myth of Detox by actually dropping an album by that title.
 Detox has become bigger than anything any album can actually be. There are recorded interviews with basically ever rapper and producer worth a shit since 1988 saying "Yeah man, I went to the studio with Dre. We did 3 songs for Detox! Them shits is off the chain! Aw, you know Dre though, he's in the lab...perfectin' em you know?"
It's a concept album that features everyone from Warren G to Lil Wayne.

It's a live band album featuring the restored vocals of The D.O.C.

It's a collab between Dre and people from all over the country, not West Coast centric.

It's the album that's gonna bring back the west coast. It's gonna bring  back Aftermath. It's gonna bring back Rap. It's gonna bring back Jesus.

No album can ever possibly live up to these awesome legends.

No way is this album going to have even half of the guests that came to the studio and worked on it. Half the producers that loaned beats, half the singles that Dre has discussed since 2002....there's just no way.

But there's something awesome about the whole mainstream hip hop community for over a decade talking about the arguably greatest beatmaker producer of the generation's comeback masterpiece. Like muhfucka's all over talking about "Have you seen Clutchy Hopkins?" or some "where in the world is Carmen San Diego?" shit.... The legend is a bigger piece of work than the work can ever be.

And now it's such a household legend to hip hop fans, that Dre himself can't even say it won't happen anymore even though it seems that he's never really been focused on getting this record out. It'd be like killing the Easter bunny or Santa Claus at the same time if he was to tell all the heads of the world, "it ain't happenin'" so not only does he lie and say he's working on it but he makes it sound doper every time he talks about it..."yeah now Eminem's on it...now we got live drums, now it's 13 short but perfect tracks dealing with a new 6.2 audio system never been heard before....now it's a concept record, with everyone I've ever worked with on it!"

Bigger and crazier every time he describes it...I find it fascinating that this record has transcended a generation. In 2002 we were hearing cats like Xzibit and Eminem working on it....10 years later T.I., T-Pain, T-Bag and every new fuck in between has somehow squished a studio sesh in beween W.C. and DJ Quik and made a record or two with Dre.

Think of how good Detox has already been for mainstream hip hop in that regard? These dance making, auto tuned fucks actually took a day and really made music and hip hop with an artist for a day or two an got to learn what it was about. How many musician's games did he sharpen with just jamming and informal studio sessions alone?

Relapse is Detox

After such rants, folks often say I praise Dre too highly and that's a legitimate subjective assessment. That said, I feel the proof is in the pudding (no pun intended) that is Relapse.

I think Detox perhaps at some point was going to happen, but it was going to take the inspiration of MCs and musicians like Eminem pushing Dre to do it. Funny thing happened in the mid 2000s but Eminem had his own little nervous breakdown, creative shutdown while Dre's kid died and all of the momentum of his comeback and Dre's had to combine to create Relapse.

When was the last time Dr.Dre produced a whole album? 2001 basically right?

I don't understand how Relapse didn't cause the collective consciousness to explode in its existence....it's a 14 song record with 13 of them produced by Dre. Once more, that shit doesn't just happen. Furthermore, the title is almost a reference to Detox- we didn't get clean, we relapsed!

For all the guest appearances and collaborations, few things can beat the team of a sick DJ and a sick MC and Dre and Eminem reveal the impressive development of their natural collaboration.

I've always thought it was so awesome that a man who used to do conventionally gangsta, macho fuck a bitch songs like Dre is so down to bolster such a weird sick fuck like Em. Always saw Dre following his R and B/funk leanings to smoother ground and so did he but it never took him so far as when he was pushing boundaries like with Em and N.W.A.

Anyway,I am basically positing that Eminem's personal breakdown was so intense, that the creative momentum that Aftermath studios was building for Detox was absorbed by Em and the product is Relapse.

Not a bad thing....who were you hoping was going to rap on Detox? Dre? Em anyway right?  I think it's as good of a product as we could have hoped for. Frankly, producing whole albums for dope artists is actually what Dre needs to be doing.

Now don't get me wrong...it's not all good.

It's a shame that cats like Hittman, Bishop Lamont, and Slim da Mobster didn't make it to see this era of the label. They would have been great contributions to new works.

Furthermore, I'll be the first to say that much of Eminem's topic matter is still very disappointing. Tracks like Insane, despite being musically enjoyable, impressive even....are pretty dumb and tired especially in context with his catalogue. What counters this, is the utter deftness Em has reached with his craft, his awareness of his repetitive nature and most importantly the song Beautiful where it feels like we hear him grow up in 4 minutes (though his recent disses to M. Carey have me rescinding such thoughts but hey, maybe the truth is somewhere in between)....ironically enough, the one non-Dre produced cut but still a damn good one in my opinion.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm 5 kinds of wrong and that Under Pressure is really the single for Detox and that Detox will have the whole hip hop industry's best on it and it'll be the masterpiece we promised....If it actually exists, I'm sure it is a bomb record. But will it come out this year? Will it even come out? I doubt it and it took till the release of Relapse, but as a Dre/hip hop/music fan...I'm finally at peace with that.

-T

[J$crILLa]

i feel what u sayin man fo sho!!!!!!!! Relapse was dope as fuck by the way, and i hope this record one day comes out. but that under pressure song is not that good.

[For Teh Lulz]

Good read ... I think what you had a point where you said Relapse was detox .. because when was the last time you heard a 'proper' dre beat? all the beats he released were loops or bullshit ones , I mean his beats on relapse were crazy and you can see that they were worked on for hour , unlike his shitty looped beats that we've been hearing for the past 3 years now.

[bullet_wrongkind]

i think the strategy behind detox is to build good buzz behind dres artist and stick makin hits like he did before thru other artists, a better promo what u dont have to pay for.
like everybody says dre is a perfectionist who tries to overcome his own ability/competence.

[Tanjential]

true, it took Em to amp him up ten years ago......maybe it'll go down like that.

and that's a fair point about the quality of the beats, but as I said I am impressed by the fact that he put in work on a whole damn album for the first time in 10 years.

-T

[Nooc210]

the original poster is on to something, awesome perspective!

[Gamestarr]

Whoa.. I never read threads that long but somethin just kept me reading! Great read my dude!

I somewhat agree with you. I think that some of the beats on Relapse were meant for Detox.

And there really is a reason why all Detox beats is put on other projects. Dre is nervous as fuck!

[Detox Is A Myth!!!]

There's basically nothing left to be said on this topic.  Again, Dre is basically retired at this point.  I'm just glad that the catchphrase "detox is a myth" that I started saying a number of years ago is finally catching on.  At first, people were calling me a hater, a wacko, a conspiracy theorist...and now it's pretty much a standard belief.  It took a while for DUBCC to realize, but all's well that ends well.

[bullet_wrongkind]

There's basically nothing left to be said on this topic.  Again, Dre is basically retired at this point.  I'm just glad that the catchphrase "detox is a myth" that I started saying a number of years ago is finally catching on.  At first, people were calling me a hater, a wacko, a conspiracy theorist...and now it's pretty much a standard belief.  It took a while for DUBCC to realize, but all's well that ends well.

ayo tanjential this dude is ya answer. lol

[Tanjential]

There's basically nothing left to be said on this topic.  Again, Dre is basically retired at this point.  I'm just glad that the catchphrase "detox is a myth" that I started saying a number of years ago is finally catching on.  At first, people were calling me a hater, a wacko, a conspiracy theorist...and now it's pretty much a standard belief.  It took a while for DUBCC to realize, but all's well that ends well.

+1, I feel you.


i agree with your main point, but not one of the corollaries....

The idea of Detox as a myth is accurate to me because of its legendary status.

But to call Dre 'retired' because he's not making solo albums is a rash judgement to make I think.

What is a producer supposed to do but produce for other artists? what is a C.E.O./producer to do but produce his artists on his label so they sound tight and do well?

Relapse, to me, is proof that Dre is not retired.

Detox was an exciting prospect because we thought it was the only way to get a whole Dre produced album again but with Relapse we get just that.

were Dre fans disappointed that Dre produced all of doggystyle after The Chronic? Nah, he produced a whole album with the best MC in his stable just like relapse.

Now the fact that after 10 years the best MC in his stable is the same one that was the best MC in his roster 10 years ago additional to the unceremonious departures of bishop, hittman, and slim da mobster are certainly indicative that the talent development of aftermath is really lacking something but to me that's part of what makes the record cool too....em and dre are vets, who've weathered the storm of the last 10 years of personal (painkillers, proof, dre's son) and professional (departure of most aftermath signees, game, rae, bishop, hitt, slim da mobster...) only to come out on the other side with this album that is at once raw, polished and brimming with artistic skill.

any way, to me Dre, or any producer, doesn't have to be doing solo records to be not retired. Producers make music for and bring out the best in other artists music in my opinion and I really hope that Relapse isn't the last time for too long of a time that we see Dre do that for a whole record.

-T

[Tanjential]

+1 to those with kind words in this thread, thanks

detox is a myth- I just read your profile info and yeah it seems you see where I am coming from

but part of my point is that it's so big of a legend now that 3 things

1) it doesn't just market aftermath, it markets all of mainstream hip hop-

everyone from Busta rhymes to lil wayne says they've worked on detox. it markets all of hip hop, cause everyone is so willing to work with and claim association with dre.

2)it's not deceptive because dre producing whole records like relapse is him delivering. I won't feel deceived as long as dre produces whole records and he seems to be able to do that still....what do we want detox more than relapse for? so royce da 5 9 and Jay z can write some verses for dre to rap okay over? I'd rather have dre produce his best rappers like Em, though I admit I wish that was moreso with the bishops and the Hitts and not JUST Em.

3) dre spending time with most of the hip hop artists in the main stream in the studio only makes them better artists.

- You think Lil Wayne's ever worked with someone as perfectionist as Dre? That would push him to his best in the studio? I bet 4 out of 5 artists that had a day or two recording sesh with Dre learned a lot and came out better. Despite Raekwon leaving aftermath, I feel like what I heard on cuban linx 2 indicated to me that his time at aftermath did him good, you know?


i remember you detox is a myth, and yeah you got some points. I'm sorry if I didn't recognize them before but I don't think previous to Proof's death and Dre's son's death we could have figured it would go down like this.

I think those are huge reasons for us seeing things materialize the way they did.

dre's son's death likely threw dre's momentum and proof's death made it so that Dre would have to put his momentum behind Em for Em to come back strong instead of focusing on his own record...but given Em is a better MC, I say all the better as long it's a whole dre produced piece. almost like it was meant to be...

-T

[Jimmy H.]

everyone from Busta rhymes to lil wayne says they've worked on detox. it markets all of hip hop, cause everyone is so willing to work with and claim association with dre.
 

But I don't see how that helps market anything. It's a great look for Detox if all these artists are looking to be involved and talk about it but without that album on shelves, it's just talk. The news of Snoop and Game working with Dre on Detox, which was arguably one of the more well-received pieces of news on that project, didn't instantly push Snoop and Game back on the right path. 50's "Before I Self Destruct" which was supposed to be the second head on the "Three-Headed Monster" didn't do the overwhelming numbers they'd hoped. Detox is the most talked-about album in hip-hop but I've seen very little evidence of Interscope being able to succesfully use that to build up other albums or artists.

[StevenQBosell]

Tanj, this whole thread is why you need to be back here more often. +1

[Tanjential]

You right it doesn't help artists directly but I meant on an artistic level and

that it's odd that it gives the hip hop community this phantom project to rally around. It's just good publicity, but I'll admit the results of that are not immediately tangible. I see your point Jimmy, +1

Thanks Bosell, +1

-T

[BiggBoogaBiff]

lol at both of y'all.  i made a Detox Myth Thread b4 "detox is a myth" and "tanjenitals" came thru.  Remember i said the equation Detox = No drugs (theChronic) which equals no music, which leavez u wanting more of it but u can't get it no matter how bad u crave for it.  let's not get 2 actin' like i ain't come up with that.  check my credentials nigga.