Dr. Dre - Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre (Official Discussion Thread)

[Shallow]

LL Cool J has been doing a great job of balancing the old and the new lately.

lol u cant be serious......this is lightyears ahead of anything LL has done lately.

Maybe in the trap music world.  LL's still making real hip hop and hasn't abandoned his past.  Neither has Public Enemy.

forget the content, the production value is nowhere close to the same.

See, that's the problem with hip hop today.  It's all about production, it doesn't matter what the vocals sound like. The most classic hip hop records in history have a beat loop and very little production.  Hip hop is so overcomplicated now, but it's been infected with technology to the point where it's expected.

The Compton album has autotune and singing all through it, so yea it doesn't sound much different than his recent singles to me.  As soon as I hear autotune I skip the track. 

im sayin, dre is a producer, so his albums have always been about production first and foremost....if ur goin into a dre record focusing on the content, then u lost already. and either way, the content is still dope. it's simply more mature than his previous work, which is what you'd expect from a 50 year old artist. it's like, when you go into a michael bay film, you're not going for the dialogue. you wanna see amazing car chases, explosions, muthafuckaz jumpin off buildings n shit...production value, period. if you want great dialogue, go watch a kevin smith film. it's the same story wit music.....dre is the GOAT producer in hip-hop, and sonically, this is incredible...next level shit. people who heard this in the beats headphones say that dre truly unlocked the potential of them muthafuckaz......at the end of the day, the album is great. people who are hating simply havent let it sink in yet, bottom line.

Did you just equate Dre with Michael Bay AND call Dre the GOAT in the same paragraph?

I like what I'm hearing from the new Dre album but I don't hear the NEW sound if you will. Chronic was the begining of a new sound in Hip Hop. To a lesser extent so was 2001. Now you heard inklings of those same sounds on previous Dre projects like Niggaz4Life and Slim Shady LP/Topp Dogg but Dre's albums were what really set off the new sounds and caused a lot of the rest of the industry to mimic those sounds.

I don't hear that here. The production is different than earlier Dre stuff but it doesn't sound new to Hip Hop. In fact, quite the opposite, it sounds a lot like the beats hip hop has been accustomed to hearing from most major artists.

I do like the way he's rapping on here more than ever.

My only qualm with the album is the main featured artist. Chronic had Snoop all over it and rightfully so. 2001 had Eminem, and should have had more Eminem instead of Hitman. This one should have been more Kendrick in a dominant role. It would have made the album better and would have been great legacy wise for Dre. He would have busted Snoop into the main stream with G Thang, helped soldify Eminem as a serious rapper with Forgot About Dre, and the right Duet with Kendrick as a hit single could have been great. I'll be shocked if Anderson Paak ends up any bigger than Hittman did.

[Sccit]

LL Cool J has been doing a great job of balancing the old and the new lately.

lol u cant be serious......this is lightyears ahead of anything LL has done lately.

Maybe in the trap music world.  LL's still making real hip hop and hasn't abandoned his past.  Neither has Public Enemy.

forget the content, the production value is nowhere close to the same.

See, that's the problem with hip hop today.  It's all about production, it doesn't matter what the vocals sound like. The most classic hip hop records in history have a beat loop and very little production.  Hip hop is so overcomplicated now, but it's been infected with technology to the point where it's expected.

The Compton album has autotune and singing all through it, so yea it doesn't sound much different than his recent singles to me.  As soon as I hear autotune I skip the track.  

im sayin, dre is a producer, so his albums have always been about production first and foremost....if ur goin into a dre record focusing on the content, then u lost already. and either way, the content is still dope. it's simply more mature than his previous work, which is what you'd expect from a 50 year old artist. it's like, when you go into a michael bay film, you're not going for the dialogue. you wanna see amazing car chases, explosions, muthafuckaz jumpin off buildings n shit...production value, period. if you want great dialogue, go watch a kevin smith film. it's the same story wit music.....dre is the GOAT producer in hip-hop, and sonically, this is incredible...next level shit. people who heard this in the beats headphones say that dre truly unlocked the potential of them muthafuckaz......at the end of the day, the album is great. people who are hating simply havent let it sink in yet, bottom line.

Did you just equate Dre with Michael Bay AND call Dre the GOAT in the same paragraph?

I like what I'm hearing from the new Dre album but I don't hear the NEW sound if you will. Chronic was the begining of a new sound in Hip Hop. To a lesser extent so was 2001. Now you heard inklings of those same sounds on previous Dre projects like Niggaz4Life and Slim Shady LP/Topp Dogg but Dre's albums were what really set off the new sounds and caused a lot of the rest of the industry to mimic those sounds.

I don't hear that here. The production is different than earlier Dre stuff but it doesn't sound new to Hip Hop. In fact, quite the opposite, it sounds a lot like the beats hip hop has been accustomed to hearing from most major artists.

I do like the way he's rapping on here more than ever.

My only qualm with the album is the main featured artist. Chronic had Snoop all over it and rightfully so. 2001 had Eminem, and should have had more Eminem instead of Hitman. This one should have been more Kendrick in a dominant role. It would have made the album better and would have been great legacy wise for Dre. He would have busted Snoop into the main stream with G Thang, helped soldify Eminem as a serious rapper with Forgot About Dre, and the right Duet with Kendrick as a hit single could have been great. I'll be shocked if Anderson Paak ends up any bigger than Hittman did.

no i never compared dre with michael bay...u need to pay closer attention. i said u dont go into michael bay films expecting great dialogue, u expect to see some high budget action. music is a lot more about production than movies are.....dre's production is top-of-the-line. dont get any more simple than that.


i do think it sounds different as well...a lot of people are callin these beats trap beats, when theyre really not that. theyre more cinematic with a futuristic fusion. somethin different, for sure.

[jaytee]

How Dre Anointed Anderson .Paak

Dre hasn’t just declared ‘Its All On Me’ on his new album Compton but he’s also done what he does best – introduce the world to future legends in the making.

Fellow Cali native Anderson .Paak has laced a number of tracks with his raspy R&B vocals on ‘Compton’ and Dre clearly knew what he was doing when he added this gritty vocalist on 4 tracks, “All In A Day’s Work,” “Issues,” “Medicine Man” and “Animals”. There’s no doubt it’s definitely perked curiosity around .Paak.

Anderson .Paak’s road to glory couldn’t have come from a better co-sign then two of the most legendary producers in Hip-Hop from the East and West Coast  – DJ Premier and Dr Dre – when their roads collided. When .Paak wrote the fiery ‘Animals’ in support of the Baltimore uprising, Dre knew the powerful and deep spirit of the track was essential to the soundtrack to the movie ‘Straight Outta Compton’.

Still indie although for how much longer who knows – Anderson .Paak, has been honing his craft as a singer/songwriter, rapper and drummer and released his debut album ‘Venice’ last year. Setting his tone with an experimental ’70s soul and funk beat loaded R&B sound, he’s pushing the cart to create a new genre in music.

Previously known as Breezy Lovejoy .Paak ooze’s a confidence when he sings ‘smooth as a motherfucker, suede on the inside’.

Mazza Raja, A Nation of Billions

[Shallow]

LL Cool J has been doing a great job of balancing the old and the new lately.

lol u cant be serious......this is lightyears ahead of anything LL has done lately.

Maybe in the trap music world.  LL's still making real hip hop and hasn't abandoned his past.  Neither has Public Enemy.

forget the content, the production value is nowhere close to the same.

See, that's the problem with hip hop today.  It's all about production, it doesn't matter what the vocals sound like. The most classic hip hop records in history have a beat loop and very little production.  Hip hop is so overcomplicated now, but it's been infected with technology to the point where it's expected.

The Compton album has autotune and singing all through it, so yea it doesn't sound much different than his recent singles to me.  As soon as I hear autotune I skip the track. 

im sayin, dre is a producer, so his albums have always been about production first and foremost....if ur goin into a dre record focusing on the content, then u lost already. and either way, the content is still dope. it's simply more mature than his previous work, which is what you'd expect from a 50 year old artist. it's like, when you go into a michael bay film, you're not going for the dialogue. you wanna see amazing car chases, explosions, muthafuckaz jumpin off buildings n shit...production value, period. if you want great dialogue, go watch a kevin smith film. it's the same story wit music.....dre is the GOAT producer in hip-hop, and sonically, this is incredible...next level shit. people who heard this in the beats headphones say that dre truly unlocked the potential of them muthafuckaz......at the end of the day, the album is great. people who are hating simply havent let it sink in yet, bottom line.

Did you just equate Dre with Michael Bay AND call Dre the GOAT in the same paragraph?

I like what I'm hearing from the new Dre album but I don't hear the NEW sound if you will. Chronic was the begining of a new sound in Hip Hop. To a lesser extent so was 2001. Now you heard inklings of those same sounds on previous Dre projects like Niggaz4Life and Slim Shady LP/Topp Dogg but Dre's albums were what really set off the new sounds and caused a lot of the rest of the industry to mimic those sounds.

I don't hear that here. The production is different than earlier Dre stuff but it doesn't sound new to Hip Hop. In fact, quite the opposite, it sounds a lot like the beats hip hop has been accustomed to hearing from most major artists.

I do like the way he's rapping on here more than ever.

My only qualm with the album is the main featured artist. Chronic had Snoop all over it and rightfully so. 2001 had Eminem, and should have had more Eminem instead of Hitman. This one should have been more Kendrick in a dominant role. It would have made the album better and would have been great legacy wise for Dre. He would have busted Snoop into the main stream with G Thang, helped soldify Eminem as a serious rapper with Forgot About Dre, and the right Duet with Kendrick as a hit single could have been great. I'll be shocked if Anderson Paak ends up any bigger than Hittman did.

no i never compared bay with michael bay...u need to pay closer attention. i said u dont go into michael bay films expecting great dialogue, u expect to see some high budget actions. music is a lot more about production than movies are.....dre's production is top-of-the-line. dont get any more simple than that.


i do think it sounds different as well...a lot of people are callin these beats trap beats, when theyre really not that. theyre more cinematic with a futuristic fusion. somethin different, for sure.

You could have said James Cameron. Just saying. Maybe Bay was a Freudian slip.

And I'm not saying the beats are bad. I just don't hear anything vastly different than 2000s hip hop. I like It's All on Me, but it could have easily been a beat on Jay's Blueprint. Some other songs sound like different aspects of sounds from different hip hop. Talk About sounds like that techno style south hip hop. It sounds like he worked with different guys let them develop the sounds on the tracks they were on ad then he fine tuned it. Which is great. But it doesn't sound like a unified sound or like anything that's going to redirect the sound of hip hop.

He should have just taken the sound from Wesley's Theory; that more mature sounding G Funk and worked with that to create a more mature album that speaks about the times we're in. Mix in a little The Day The Niggaz Took Over vibe. This could have been album that really said something, especially with Kendrick in the lead. And given that its connected with the NWA film.

[Sccit]

LL Cool J has been doing a great job of balancing the old and the new lately.

lol u cant be serious......this is lightyears ahead of anything LL has done lately.

Maybe in the trap music world.  LL's still making real hip hop and hasn't abandoned his past.  Neither has Public Enemy.

forget the content, the production value is nowhere close to the same.

See, that's the problem with hip hop today.  It's all about production, it doesn't matter what the vocals sound like. The most classic hip hop records in history have a beat loop and very little production.  Hip hop is so overcomplicated now, but it's been infected with technology to the point where it's expected.

The Compton album has autotune and singing all through it, so yea it doesn't sound much different than his recent singles to me.  As soon as I hear autotune I skip the track. 

im sayin, dre is a producer, so his albums have always been about production first and foremost....if ur goin into a dre record focusing on the content, then u lost already. and either way, the content is still dope. it's simply more mature than his previous work, which is what you'd expect from a 50 year old artist. it's like, when you go into a michael bay film, you're not going for the dialogue. you wanna see amazing car chases, explosions, muthafuckaz jumpin off buildings n shit...production value, period. if you want great dialogue, go watch a kevin smith film. it's the same story wit music.....dre is the GOAT producer in hip-hop, and sonically, this is incredible...next level shit. people who heard this in the beats headphones say that dre truly unlocked the potential of them muthafuckaz......at the end of the day, the album is great. people who are hating simply havent let it sink in yet, bottom line.

Did you just equate Dre with Michael Bay AND call Dre the GOAT in the same paragraph?

I like what I'm hearing from the new Dre album but I don't hear the NEW sound if you will. Chronic was the begining of a new sound in Hip Hop. To a lesser extent so was 2001. Now you heard inklings of those same sounds on previous Dre projects like Niggaz4Life and Slim Shady LP/Topp Dogg but Dre's albums were what really set off the new sounds and caused a lot of the rest of the industry to mimic those sounds.

I don't hear that here. The production is different than earlier Dre stuff but it doesn't sound new to Hip Hop. In fact, quite the opposite, it sounds a lot like the beats hip hop has been accustomed to hearing from most major artists.

I do like the way he's rapping on here more than ever.

My only qualm with the album is the main featured artist. Chronic had Snoop all over it and rightfully so. 2001 had Eminem, and should have had more Eminem instead of Hitman. This one should have been more Kendrick in a dominant role. It would have made the album better and would have been great legacy wise for Dre. He would have busted Snoop into the main stream with G Thang, helped soldify Eminem as a serious rapper with Forgot About Dre, and the right Duet with Kendrick as a hit single could have been great. I'll be shocked if Anderson Paak ends up any bigger than Hittman did.

no i never compared bay with michael bay...u need to pay closer attention. i said u dont go into michael bay films expecting great dialogue, u expect to see some high budget actions. music is a lot more about production than movies are.....dre's production is top-of-the-line. dont get any more simple than that.


i do think it sounds different as well...a lot of people are callin these beats trap beats, when theyre really not that. theyre more cinematic with a futuristic fusion. somethin different, for sure.

You could have said James Cameron. Just saying. Maybe Bay was a Freudian slip.

And I'm not saying the beats are bad. I just don't hear anything vastly different than 2000s hip hop. I like It's All on Me, but it could have easily been a beat on Jay's Blueprint. Some other songs sound like different aspects of sounds from different hip hop. Talk About sounds like that techno style south hip hop. It sounds like he worked with different guys let them develop the sounds on the tracks they were on ad then he fine tuned it. Which is great. But it doesn't sound like a unified sound or like anything that's going to redirect the sound of hip hop.

He should have just taken the sound from Wesley's Theory; that more mature sounding G Funk and worked with that to create a more mature album that speaks about the times we're in. Mix in a little The Day The Niggaz Took Over vibe. This could have been album that really said something, especially with Kendrick in the lead. And given that its connected with the NWA film.

Duno, bay has been involved in some great high budget action movies .. James Cameron movies are usually pretty focused on the dialogue, so it woulda defeated my point.


It sounds different to me, I dunno .. Outside of the first track, which was prolly the worst, a lot of the production sounds a lot deeper than anything you currently hear in hip-hop.. Like, it's sonically on another level than The Chronic or 2001.. I dunno, beats sound so empty in rap music today. Everything is the same old skeleton sounding generic bs.. I think the way this can change the game (as dre's done in the past) is by getting everyone else to step their game up sonically and add more structure to their beats. It's kinda what raps been missing.

[BlueSwan]

Ehh....people are being way to harsh on this album while being way too kind on Dre's first two solo albums.

I'm 40 years old. While I confess to not being a die hard hip-hop fan - infact my main musical love is electronic music - I've been around for a long ass time. I was 13 when Straight Outta Compton came out, 17 when The Chronic dropped, 24 when 2001 came out.

People are acting like The Chronic just came out of the blue and changed everything up. It did to a certain extent, but it really wasn't a totally new sound. It was more of an evolvement of the Efil4zaggin sound. Tracks like The Day The Niggaz Took Over, Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat, A Nigga With A Gun, etc could just as easily have been on Evil4zaggin. And have people forgot about "Always Into Something" from Efil4zaggin?? That is the Chronic sound right there!

People are acting like everybody loved Still D.R.E. and 2001 as soon as they hit. They didn't. Infact, lots of people were very disappointed in Still D.R.E. Remember that this was the hugely anticipated comeback of the biggest producer in rap and Still D.R.E. initially did almost nothing. Just compare the mainstream chart positions:

Billboard Hot 100:

Nuthin' But A G Thang: #2
Dre Day: #8
Let Me Ride: #34
Keep Their Heads Ringin: #10
Still D.R.E.: #93

#93??? The BIG Dr.Dre comeback single barely scratched the billboard top 100. I couldn't believe it myself at the time, since I loved the track. But what about the album? The most anticipated album in hip-hop, the follow-up to the legendary The Chronic? It didn't make #1, but stalled at #2.

Now time changed all of that. "Forgot About Dre" and "The Next Episode" were hits and "Still D.R.E." was a slow-burner that evolved into a classic. "2001" hung around the charts forever and ended up selling 7½ million copies in the US alone.

Also, while 2001 made Dr.Dre hot again, the sound itself was an evolvement of the mid-nineties Dre sound that was found on tracks like California Love (piano-led beat), Keep Their Heads Ringin, Been There Done That, etc. Yes, it was even more sparse, but don't act like 2001 was a totally new sound, because it wasn't.

The Chronic and 2001 have stood the test of time and are universally regarded as classics, whether the same will be said about "Compton" in 10 years time is anybodys guess, but it is a very capable effort.

[Lucifuge]

Couple day on rotation. Shit is next level. production is crazy as fuck.

[doggfather]

2015 is west coasts year.

kendrick, vince staples and now dre.

[Diggfinger]

The rest of the general public and industry - "Compton is incredible, probably going to be a classic"

Would like to see the evidence to support this claim.

I haven't really checked the hip hop review sites, but New York Times gave it a very mixed review.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/arts/music/review-dr-dre-compton.html?_r=0

And for non-Americans, the NYTimes is the biggest newspaper in the United States.  It's not a rinky-dink gossip paper.

I think a lot of this comes down to a generational divide.  "Compton" is basically Dr. Dre making a Kendrick Lamar album.  Like, if anyone wanted to know what a Dr. Dre-produced K. Dot album would be like, well, now you have it.

And the old school heads like me (I'm 33 years old) who were raised on funk in hip hop, especially in Dr. Dre's hip hop, are lukewarm at best with our reaction to this album; while the younger fans who love the Kendrick sound are naturally loving the continuation of that sound on "Compton" as interpreted/enhanced by Dr. Dre.

I agree; a lot of the writing/delivery sounds 'modern' to me. Some beats Im definitely not feeling such as "talk about it", but also some interesting styles on there.

Reminds of of Quik's Midnight Life which had crappy tracks such as "on the tracks".

Well, based on my first listen of Compton there are a few tracks on there I would like to listen to again. Nothing 'classic' about it though.

[doggfather]

The rest of the general public and industry - "Compton is incredible, probably going to be a classic"

Would like to see the evidence to support this claim.

I haven't really checked the hip hop review sites, but New York Times gave it a very mixed review.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/arts/music/review-dr-dre-compton.html?_r=0

And for non-Americans, the NYTimes is the biggest newspaper in the United States.  It's not a rinky-dink gossip paper.

I think a lot of this comes down to a generational divide.  "Compton" is basically Dr. Dre making a Kendrick Lamar album.  Like, if anyone wanted to know what a Dr. Dre-produced K. Dot album would be like, well, now you have it.

And the old school heads like me (I'm 33 years old) who were raised on funk in hip hop, especially in Dr. Dre's hip hop, are lukewarm at best with our reaction to this album; while the younger fans who love the Kendrick sound are naturally loving the continuation of that sound on "Compton" as interpreted/enhanced by Dr. Dre.

I agree; a lot of the writing/delivery sounds 'modern' to me. Some beats Im definitely not feeling such as "talk about it", but also some interesting styles on there.

Reminds of of Quik's Midnight Life which had crappy tracks such as "on the tracks".

Well, based on my first listen of Compton there are a few tracks on there I would like to listen to again. Nothing 'classic' about it though.

i'm 32, but i like these modern raps too.

[infamous]

I haven't been on this forums for 6 or 7 years but I had to drop in to have my day on Compton
And I think this is on top then 100 piles of shit then everything else out today.
In time this will be looked at as a classic. To me it already is. To me dark side gone, loose cannons, animals, talking to my diary are classics dark side/gone is on repeat. Love the changes in beats during tracks. There's nothing like this out today. Thanks Dre

[Fonkarround]

Dre just came here again to show everybody how to do it. You'll see - hip-hop will have to step its game up.

[me1]

People are acting like everybody loved Still D.R.E. and 2001 as soon as they hit. They didn't. Infact, lots of people were very disappointed in Still D.R.E. Remember that this was the hugely anticipated comeback of the biggest producer in rap and Still D.R.E. initially did almost nothing. Just compare the mainstream chart positions:

Billboard Hot 100:

Nuthin' But A G Thang: #2
Dre Day: #8
Let Me Ride: #34
Keep Their Heads Ringin: #10
Still D.R.E.: #93

agreed! people forget..when Still Dre dropped a lot of people were like WTF. Jay Z-penned, different production style..Dre's still talking about lo los? etc.

the moral of the story is if you are a fan of a great artist..a man or group that has put out great music before, hasn't everyone learned their lesson by now not to judge that work too early? give the work some time to marinate in your lives, see what you think of it then.

it's an honest mistake. even record execs do it time and again. the so called "smart money." how many record companies passed on The Chronic before it was said and done? an unfathomable number, is the answer.

i'm not sure where this album will end up for me. but i know i'm feeling almost of all of it something serious right now.

[So Much Style]

no one hardly talking about genocide? that record is bananas!! the hollow xylophone sounds during "murder... murder" tho

[Sccit]

I haven't been on this forums for 6 or 7 years but I had to drop in to have my day on Compton
And I think this is on top then 100 piles of shit then everything else out today.
In time this will be looked at as a classic. To me it already is. To me dark side gone, loose cannons, animals, talking to my diary are classics dark side/gone is on repeat. Love the changes in beats during tracks. There's nothing like this out today. Thanks Dre

good first post