It's May 05, 2024, 06:40:07 AM
too early to tell if this is a "Michael Jordan on the Wizards" type of album
Dr Dre - "Talking To My Diary" >
The thing I don't like about Kendrick is he either sounds like an alien or an angry dweeb yapping over the track. I am seeing a lot of t of posts aibout aggressive flows etc. am I going to hear a bunch of Kendrick sounding tracks or something you can chill and ride to? Ps I haven't listened to anything yet, waiting for Friday.
Quote from: DJSpin on August 12, 2015, 04:58:52 PMThe thing I don't like about Kendrick is he either sounds like an alien or an angry dweeb yapping over the track. I am seeing a lot of t of posts aibout aggressive flows etc. am I going to hear a bunch of Kendrick sounding tracks or something you can chill and ride to? Ps I haven't listened to anything yet, waiting for Friday. ABSOLUTELY the Kendrick sounding tracks. The only song which is chilled that you can ride to, or at least the only song you'd expect from old school Dr Dre, is It's All on Me. That's a really good song, but everything else has that "aggressive rapping" on "digital" beats.
No Tracy Lynn Curry?
Quote from: donfathaimmortal on August 12, 2015, 02:08:54 AMDr Dre - "Talking To My Diary" > slim the mobster wrote this song and does the hook!
Fav track off Compton...and I also see that Mario "Chocolate" Johnson is there and Ricardo 'Kurupt' Brown seems to be also credited.
Quote from: donfathaimmortal on August 13, 2015, 01:24:05 AMFav track off Compton...and I also see that Mario "Chocolate" Johnson is there and Ricardo 'Kurupt' Brown seems to be also credited.Wikipedia says Russell Brown aka this guy : https://www.linkedin.com/pub/russell-brown-dj-silk/5a/b9b/195
Dr. Dre’s Collaborators on the Making of ‘Compton: A Soundtrack’ Aug 12th, '15 by XXL Staff For more than a decade, Dr. Dre's third album was a myth, a mirage, hip-hop's longest-running joke. Every few months, another rapper or producer would talk about working on Dr. Dre's Detox, about writing in the studio and being inspired by Dre's enthusiasm, work ethic and unparalleled ability to turn a creative spark into the type of magic rarely seen in music these days. And still the wait would continue, with one year blending into the next until the idea of Detox faded away into the history books. It had looked like Dr. Dre's solo career would stop at two albums, The Chronic and 2001, both certified classics and both with an influence so heavy that it seemed like Dre would suffocate under the weight of the pressure. But all that changed this month when Dr. Dre announced on his Beats 1 program The Pharmacy that Detox was scrapped, but that his third solo album was finally on the way. A week later, Compton: A Soundtrack arrived before anyone was fully ready, with 16 tracks of ferocious bars and top-shelf production. Inspired by his work on the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, Dre had finally dusted off the cobwebs and felt confident and excited enough to unleash his first solo album in 16 years. After more than a decade of playing a waiting game, Dre was finally back in the saddle. But all those rumors of people working on Detox weren't unfounded; Dre's creative process in crafting Compton came from a collaborative place, with his team of producers, engineers, MCs and singers all chipping in with ideas, beats and verses. Longtime Aftermath producer Focus... helped helm six cuts; North Carolina rapper King Mez was featured on three but wrote on 12; up-and-coming artists Candice Pillay (two songs), Asia Bryant (one song) and Anderson .Paak (six songs) were brought in to provide their spark; Dallas MC Justus alternated singing hooks and penning verses on three cuts; BJ The Chicago Kid crooned his way to one feature; and Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube, Jon Connor, Cold 187um, The Game and Snoop Dogg all chipped in with verses of their own. As much as Compton is the brain child of Dr. Dre, it's also a collective achievement for a group of artists that were able to see and execute Dre's vision. As Compton keeps blowing up our speakers, XXL spoke with eight of Dr. Dre's collaborators on the album to get a feel for how Compton truly came together behind the scenes, track by track. Twenty-three years after The Chronic hit the streets, it's still Dre Day. —Interviews by Emmanuel C.M., Miranda J., Roger Krastz, Sidney Madden and Dan Rys "Intro" Focus...: Everything in the intro wasn't just produced by me and Dre; Dante Winslow did the very top of the album, which sounds like a movie opening, and that was Dr. Dre's vision and Dante killed that. And then right when the commentary comes in and the music kicks in under that, that was me and Dre. That was, honestly, Dre's whole vision: he wanted it to be very strategic and very direct. He wanted this all to be very dedicated to Compton past, present and future. "Talk About It" featuring King Mez and Justus King Mez: Kendrick was amazing, I remember when he first heard my verse on “Talk About It,” he turned around and smiled at me and gave me the pound. That’s tight, man, that’s an honor to me. I met Kendrick a few times, but the time where I met him for real I was with Dre at this Game concert maybe about six months ago. Kendrick walked up to Dre and dapped him. I stepped back out the way because I know they have a real good relationship [and] I didn’t want to be in the way while they were talking and stuff. He turned around and dapped me and said, "I really like your video," and he started describing to me my video. I was like, "Damn, I didn’t even think he knew who I was and yet he’s describing to me my video." He’s a real humble, down to earth dude, ear to the street and always paying attention. Real humble people; everybody Dre keeps around him are super good people. We’ve been working on this for about 11 months. There’s been a bunch of records before we got there. Justus and I came on the same time, and when we came Dre scrapped the album. He scrapped every idea before us, and we re-created everything. It’s literally like in a vault somewhere and I don’t know if it will ever see the light of day. But there are definitely songs we made that I really liked and Dre really liked that will probably end up on my upcoming project. Candice Pillay (Getty Images) "Genocide" featuring Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosious and Candice Pillay Candice Pillay: "Genocide" came about from an idea that Marsha [Ambrosious] had. I was working on this other stuff at the time with Dre and then Dre came up with the "Genocide" beat and he had been writing with Marsha for a while, so Marsha wrote the hook on "Genocide" and then there was this little part on it that was the rap/singing part. And they were looking for someone to do it, and Dre knew me more for my alternative ambiance vocals, but he didn't have any idea that I can do that. Because if you listen to The Mood Kill, it's exactly a mix between "Genocide" and "Medicine Man." So Dre didn't know I could do that and I approached him and told him, "Let me have that record and get this done." And we tried, and because I mostly do pop writing or have been doing a lot of pop writing, I am very big on clean vocals and very on top of delivery, and it wasn't working for the record. Dre thought that it was too pop-ish and he kept telling me, "You have to sound like you been through the war." And I remember I got sick and caught a cold and my voice was very raspy, so at that point I was hardly able to get my vocals out. And he had an idea to try it again and rap it completely off the beat. I did that and we looked at each other and said, "That sounds dope!" I got to put my own flavor to it. Changed up a couple of words and made it mine and Dre loved it and then he added his verse and he decided he wanted to get Kendrick on it and he killed it. BJ The Chicago Kid (Getty Images) "It's All On Me" featuring Justus and BJ The Chicago Kid BJ The Chicago Kid: As far as the creativity of the song, I don’t even know who produced the record. I just go in and I work. When you work with people like [Dre], you don’t ask 50 million questions about that, you ask 50 million questions about how to stay alive in the industry. You ask advice. You don’t ask the wrong questions, you have to know your place. It’s not like that’s demanded, it’s just everybody in there respects the game to a certain degree to the point where, if a person asks, you’re going to ask something that can further your career. There’s so many producers and writers and everything that goes on there that he’s a beast at what he does. As far as creating a vibe, Doc knows what he’s doing. He’s still Dr. Dre. People say he’s back, but he never left, man. He never went no where. What’s crazy is before me and Doc worked on the Compton album, we spoke for months on the phone, just trying to catch up, but I didn’t know what we [now] know about his business. I was just trying to catch up with him to find the perfect time that he was stationary for at least a day or two, but then he would have to leave and I would have to leave. We could never match up the time. So when we did, it was history. When you go in the studio, you just work. You don’t think about what you’re working on; that can hinder the creative process. If you think too much, it fucks everything up. Just do what you do naturally, just do it. Music stems off emotion and I feel like if you think too much, you can rain on the parade. Anderson .Paak: The first song I heard was "All In A Day's Work" with [Marsha Ambrosious]. And Dre was telling me the vibe they were going for on it and I was like, "Let me hop on the mic." So I hopped on the mic, wasn't really thinking, just freestyling and "all in a day's work" was one of the phrases [that came out]. And Dre was like, that's cold. After that I was there almost every day and we developed a great relationship. And I mean, his reputation goes without saying, obviously, but I have the most respect for him and our work relationship reflects that. "Darkside/Gone" featuring King Mez, Marsha Ambrosious and Kendrick Lamar King Mez: There were a couple of times, like the “Darkside/Gone” record, I was in my car and [producer] Best Kept Secret sent the beat in a while ago. I was just in my car enjoying it, riding around and thinking about the hook for me to use it for myself, because I didn’t even know if Dre was going to write it. But I just brought it to the studio and was recording it for my next project and De heard it and really liked it. So I said, we'll just put this on Compton if you really like it. So that’s where that intro hook came from on “Darkside/Gone” with me Marsha [Ambrosia] and Kendrick Lamar. [The creation process] just depends; it came about a bunch of different ways. Honestly man, [Dre] is like Phil Jackson. That’s what I tell him all the time. He’s an amazing coach and an amazing player as well. He’s a talented guy; you don’t see that a lot. He’s just coached me into exploring different levels of my voice and talent and a bunch of different things. It was an honor working for him. There was a lot of times he trusted my opinion for a lot of records where I picked the beat or the “Darkside/Gone” record where brought that song in. Or if he’s recording, he’ll look at me and say, "What do you think? You think I should try that out?" I’m honored that he trusts my opinion for a lot of things. It’s been a blessing. "Loose Cannons" featuring Xzibit, Cold 187um and Sly Pyper Cold 187um: Dr. Dre called me in to just check out the album on some solo tunes that he was working on and he played a bunch of songs and he had a few ideas that he wanted to get some features on. And maybe after three days of just sitting there and vibing with him, he asked if I wanted to get on it. The producers came in and were working on the track "Loose Cannons," so we went in maybe around 8 o'clock that night and didn't get out 'til maybe 7 o'clock the next morning. We had the track and the idea the first day, and the second day we started to put the vocals down and everything. Originally we didn't have a third person on it and we didn't know who was going to be on it because he had a list of cats who wanted to get on the record. But Xzibit heard me and Dre after we put our vocals [down] and he wanted to get on it, and that's how it came about. Focus...: It's funny because sometimes I'll just play samples. Dre heard me toying around with it and he loved the intro, so we pieced that together. And I was playing different sections of the sample, just playing on the keyboard and treating them or whatever, and he was like, "Put that down." So all of this was orchestrated by him, but there were different parts that we just wanted to be different with, you know what I'm saying? And each one of the pieces, you can hear it, you get a more aggressive MC each time. So it really was one of those songs that Dre put together. At the end it's very dramatic; he wants the entire album to feel like a movie, so that's why everything is so detailed. Dre really pays attention to detail. Cold 187um: The cool thing about "Loose Cannons" was that I was involved with the record from when they first started making the beat to the skit at the very end, so it was like back in the days. We were actually in the studio vibing to the moment. "Issues" featuring Ice Cube, Anderson .Paak and Dem Jointz Focus...: Based on that [Turkish singer] Selda sample ["Ince Ince"], we were just having fun with that. And when Anderson put his part down, we were trying to figure out where we were gonna go, and Trevor Lawrence Jr. started playing this drum loop that was crazy that he created and Theron [Feemster] played over that and it just started building from there, [guitarist] Curt [Chambers] played and we really just started formulating what the record was about to be. That record was really fun to watch come together because it came together really fast. Anderson .Paak: That was recorded the first time I had ever been to Dre's house. That day he invited us over, we broke bread, he let us see a little bit of the movie. He ordered Greek food, so there was this big spread and I pigged out. [Laughs] And after that we went to the studio and I heard it. I heard that guitar riff and I was like, "It's lit, this is crazy, this is the kind of shit I want to make." And we just started writing together. We had been listening to The Doors and all these different rock bands and we kinda just went in and started building lyrics off it and it was a wrap. And it definitely went through phases, and Cube got on it last minute. Focus...: [Dem Jointz is] an amazing person, period, but he just has a really creative way of approaching things. Even on "Issues," Dre was saying we need a hook and over the original beat that was under the verse he wrote the hook. So I just changed the music to fit his hook, but his hook was so perfect for that song because it gave it a dynamic so that we could get aggressive on each verse. He's very artistic and very creative and he doesn't look at music as making beats, he looks at music as making compositions. So he definitely brought his own flavor to the project. "Deep Water" featuring Kendrick Lamar, Justus and Anderson .Paak Focus...: I actually started the music on that record. It was something that Dre wanted to get done—it was one of the last records we put together—and I started the music and my bro Ty Cannon, he's the A&R for the label, he was like, "Yo, you need to get Cardiak in there." So we started making this beat. So once we got the whole foundation put together, Dem Jointz and [DJ] Dahi came in and they started giving us pieces. It just all started rolling after that. So once we played it for Dre, Dre was like, "Put this piece there..." The whole thing was amazing. There was no egos, no problems, everybody just put their pieces in. Anderson .Paak: "Deep Water," we did that at Dre's house as well. I felt like we did that shit the same day at we did "Issues." Dre goes, “I want a verse between me and Kendrick’s,” and I was like, “Damn, this shit sounds done to me already.” But he was very concentrated and he lives by the beach and he broke down the concept to me and he was like, “Every wave that crashes I feel is like an orgasm. And you get all kinds of different ones; short ones, long ones.” And he really wanted to get the concept about deep water and feeling like you’re drowning. So I think he sees a lot of psychedelic funk with it, and I feel like he had a great time bringing that out and playing with different effects. I like my voice with the psychedelic soul aspect, like, “Feel like ya drownin', don't cha?” And I watched them strip away a lot of different things and then add the effects. And when they mastered it, it was like, “Okay, I’m staying on this one too. Dope!” Focus...: I saw Kendrick writing his verse and getting his stuff together and I definitely saw Cube on the mic, but yeah. It's amazing, man... I'm sorry, I'm still kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing, but it really was amazing seeing the whole thing come together like that. "One Shot One Kill" featuring Jon Connor and Snoop Dogg Jon Connor: Man, we was in Hawaii, and it was already crazy. First of all, I'm from Flint, Michigan, man, I'm from a little bitty city, so a lot of this stuff was just so new to me and I appreciate everything that's happened to me on this journey, so I'm in Hawaii for the first time and I'm dealing with purple and peach skies and I'm dealing with beautiful women and all that. So at first I was just stuck in that vibe and just enjoying being in Hawaii, you know? But the way it came together was so cool, 'cause it had been a long day in the studio and it was like 3 or 4 in the morning, everybody was getting ready to go home. And I believe Focus... had pulled the skeleton of what was going to become "One Shot One Kill"—the drums and the sample—and it was like everybody got re-energized, you know? Everybody was like, "Hold up, we ain't going home yet, we ain't going back to the hotel yet, we have to work on this." And it was like, Dre looked at me and was like, "Aight, do you, do what you gon' do." So what you hear on that record is legit, 4 o'clock in the morning, everybody re-energized and it was that feeling that I think people are hearing and responding to. Think about that: a studio full of people that were sleepy and ready to call it a night, and when we heard it it was just like, "Nah, we got to finish this." So it was just a beautiful thing and I'll just remember the energy and the feeling everybody got when that sample was played. Focus...: I think that a lot of the stuff that we did in Hawaii was amazing. It was the first time I had been out to Hawaii with the camp. It's weird how different places bring different vibes and different music and that was one of the last beats we did that day. It was crazy. It was literally just a beat and a little guitar loop, we had a bass line in there, so a lot of the stuff that we added to that song we did back here in California. But out there it was really just a raw, rugged hip-hop feel. While we were out in Hawaii we were doing R&B, we were just making music. It was nothing like, "Yo, we have to do this," it was more like, "What do y'all feel?" Jon Connor: [Being on the record with Snoop is] super crazy. I was telling my sister the other day, when Doggystyle came around I would write down the lyrics to Snoop's "What's My Name" so that when my sister came around I would rap it and she would think I was a cool little brother. And now years later I'm on a record with Snoop. It's crazy; it's like the Twilight Zone, man. I'm just humbled and appreciative, man. "Just Another Day" featuring The Game and Asia Bryant Asia Bryant: To be honest, it was kinda surreal. Like, it’s Dr. Dre, but he’s super humble. It’s not like he talks to you like he’s above you. You may meet some artist or producers who kind of have this stuck up attitude. He’s nothing like that. He’s completely humble and talks upon first meeting him and working with him. The very first day we actually did “Just Another Day” with Game. But we sat down, we watched him explain the Straight Outta Compton movie. He talked to us about the scenes and how they happened in real life and then [would] show us the scene. This would be the normal thing when we came to the studio... “Just Another Day” is actually in the movie. Just because I knew what he was feeling, the hook just came. Game did his verse on the side; I didn’t know what The Game was saying, he didn’t know what I was saying. But it matched. It was just crazy. “Just Another Day” is really about... Like, I’m from the hood, I know a lot of people from the hood. There are things that happened in the hood on a day-to-day basis and it’s just like another regular day. Its something that we go through every day, it's not something that everybody gets a chance to hear or completely see about the real things that happen in Compton or in the hood unless they live there. A lot of people, it's going to touch close to home, because it's going to be something that you felt before. For other people it’s going to be an eye-opening. It’s in the movie and it's going to tie it all together when you see it. "For The Love Of Money" featuring Jill Scott, Jon Connor and Anderson .Paak Jon Connor: We was in the studio, me and Cardiak, and we was just going through records—Cardiak, that's my dog by the way, that's my dude—and we was just vibin' out in the studio. And that line, "Say what's up to the broke nigga at the rich party," that line was in my head for a month. I'm like, "Man, I wanna say that, that would be some hard shit to say." And I said it to that record and added my "Whoo" or whatever after it and Dre walked by the studio and was like, "Hey, what's that?" I was like, "This is just something I'm messing around with." [Laughs] He caught me. He sat with the record for like a day, called me up and was like, "Hey man, we might need to finish that." And so we went in and we finished it. The cool thing about that was that when we were listening to it in the studio, Dre looked at me and was like, "Yo, this is like one of Eazy's last joints." You know what I'm sayin'? Sometimes we look at Dre, Eazy and all of them and look at them as these folk heroes and mythical characters, but at the end of the day Dre and Eazy were best friends. So for me, for Dre to feel like what I was bringing to that record—knowing how he feels about Eazy and how he feels about that song—for him to say, "Yo, let's do this," that meant the world to me. And that joint will always be special for me just because I know about the relationship between Dre and Eazy and how Dre felt about me hopping on that joint. "Satisfaction" featuring Snoop Dogg, Marsha Ambrosious and King Mez King Mez: It’s never the fact that I didn’t know that I could [write for Dr. Dre], I just wasn’t adamant about writing for anybody else. Of course there were naysayers and doubters, people like, “Oh man, you’re going to write for Dre, why are you writing for an album that's never going to come out?” I had a bunch of people say that. But come to find out Dre telling me that I inspired him to be in the studio, with my talent and the way that I am. Man... Everything is an honor, man. "Animals" featuring Anderson .Paak Anderson .Paak: "Animals" was actually a song I brought to Dre. I had that song written and done. I premiered it in a show and it was during the time when all this stuff was going on with Michael Brown, the riots, and I went in and wrote. I felt like I should do my part to make the soundtrack for the people. And I'm not the most... You know... But I can't help but be affected by what's going on and share my perspective. I'm a musician and I was just sick of it, you know? So I wanted to make something out of it. I wanted to make something true to hip-hop but soulful as fuck. And I'm so proud of that one. "Medicine Man" featuring Eminem, Candice Pillay and Anderson .Paak Focus...: That's from the mind of Dem Jointz. He's a beast, and when we put the last part on it... 'Cause Dre was like, "Let's orchestrate it for Em, let's do something different, let's orchestrate it for him." So I just went in with Dem Jointz and just started doing some stuff that's real recognizable for Em. Instead of just keeping it a regular beat, we orchestrated it. Dem Jointz really gave me carte blanche, he was just like, "Go do what you gotta do." He sat there with me and we pieced it all together. We had Curt come in, we had Candice [Pillay] come in to sing some opera parts, so it was really really dope how it organically came together, and how it almost seemed seamless, like we did it on purpose. Anderson .Paak: "Medicine Man" is a crazy story. That was one... There are always those records that are in danger of not making it and then they end up being one of the best joints on the album. That right there was running the risk of not making the album all the way up until the last day. There was some communication issues with the second verse and Em wasn't sure. Like, they thought he heard the new version but he didn't, and I believe at one point Em wasn't going to be on the record at all. But then he took it upon himself to really go in on that track. And at first, he had inserted an old verse from previous recordings—'cause there's like a vault of recordings—he put in an older version and Dre left it, but there was a bridge they didn't like. So I wrote my little part and I wasn't even sure what they were going to think. That was a process. And when Em finally heard it he was like, "Woah." He loved everything about it. So he wrote that crazy verse. Candice Pillay: That's my baby right there. I just wanted something that showcased what I want to sound like myself as an artist and what that is is really different to the sound that you hear on the Compton album. The "Medicine Man" record is a far reach from the other songs; it's a little bit more alternative and it's hard sometimes to sell that when everything they're getting is more soulful, so I had to find a way to be on that record. Me and Dre had the idea to sing my vocals with a very sample-sounding hook on his beat and I was really writing about how I felt about the industry and music, life in general and how I was feeling invincible at the time. I was really speaking from the heart on that hook and I went in with a sweet voice, but I had to add some attitude to the record, so Dre loved it. For the bridge we brought in Anderson .Paak, and he's an amazing vocalist. He got on the beginning of the track and killed it. And then the only person at the time that we thought we [could] put on the record was Marshall, because it sounded like an Eminem record. We didn't have Em in mind when we first made the record, we were just making a record. We knew Eminem was busy working on other stuff, but Dre sent it to him and he loved it and Eminem was the last part of the record. On The Compton Studio Sessions BJ The Chicago Kid: Dr. Dre works day in and day out. I work day in and day out on my album and that at the same time, so who knows how many songs were created. When you go, you just go and create. I went every day for a mass amount of time. The vibe was addictive, the rush was addictive and creating with [Dr. Dre] is addictive. Jon Connor: [There was] a lot of fun energy. When I think about the creative process of this album I just think about having a good time and everybody having a good time and everybody wanting to do their best for Dre. Everybody that worked on the record has so much respect for Dre; the respect is through the roof. So we just wanted to show up, to make sure that we brought all the creative ideas to the table that we might have so that we could make the best possible project on our end, and then for Dre to take everything that we contributed and take it to that next level, it was just like, the energy in the studio was always crazy, always laughs, always fun. And that's how Dre works, man. He wants to feed off energy. It's all about energy, the energy from the people will translate into the music, so if we was gonna have a good time making it, then that mean the people that listen to it are gonna have a good time and enjoy it 'cause we enjoyed it. Focus...: They were just really creative, man. It's never tedious when you get to do more than just make a beat, you know, we started implementing a lot of live instrumentation, a lot of transitional work. So it was really fun, it was no-holds-barred, we just really went for it. It was really fun, really amazing. I think a lot of the stuff that's on the album was done in California, but we did save a lot of the beats that we did out in Hawaii and just re-look at them; that's how "One Shot One Kill" made it. It wasn't half and half, it was less than that. California, we really got active when we got back out here. Cold 187um: It's crazy, because back in the days we had the same vibe and we always had a real passion for detail. And it's funny coming back to the studio with him 20-plus years later and we still had the same vibe. It was heavy. Coming back in the studio with him, it didn't feel like we missed a beat. I think for me it's different than a lot of people. I started in the game with him, so I look at it a lot different. For some people, it may be overwhelming to work with Dre, but for me, it's right where we left off. Candice Pillay: I actually worked really heavily with Dre for about three to four months. I came in at a time which was great, because Dre was trying to put this together and we kind of moved the process along, I feel like. You know, when you have chemistry with someone in the studio, it's just amazing. We were coming up with great records and concepts and when I first worked with Dre I was working on a completely different song. And the first record that we actually got on the project was "Genocide," which I worked on with Marsha, Kendrick and Dre. The way Dr. Dre works is that he's very instrumental in every part of the recording process. He's a part of the writing, he's a part of the vocal production, the actual production, so we went back and forth every day and every night and it was awesome to take it all in. Anderson .Paak: What Dre did was let me go off and then go back like, "Yes, no, this is going to work." And when I would do my vocal performance, that's when I got to see why Dre is who he is, because he got such a great vocal performance out of me and he really pushed me. And he really got the dynamics of the soul and the pain of the record. The fire. Asia Bryant: You get to learn a lot from a legend and someone who’s done a lot in this music industry. Working with him has been amazing. It was scary, especially since you record in the room with him. It’s not like you go in the booth and you hide behind autotune. No, you have to be able to hold your own, you sing. A half-baked artist can’t get in the room and do anything; you have to know what you’re doing. I appreciate that aspect of it, because I’m like sitting in from of him and I’m recording right in the next room. It’s very humbling to have someone of that stature really believe in what you do as an artist. It’s also an all hands on deck thing, everybody in the building or in the entire studio. Everybody is completely capable of doing hits a day. You’re around great company. King Mez: Man, the creation process was interesting. Honestly, first it was me and Justus and we worked in the studio with Dre most of the time going back and forth. Justus sung on a lot of the hooks. Justus wrote on like, I think, seven to eight songs and I wrote on about 12. So behind Dre I’m like the highest-credited writer on there. We be in the studio and just throwing out ideas. Cold 187um: It was more like the old days, because Dre, to me, is very strong when it comes to creating, but he does value people with the same type of creative integrity, so that was really cool for me. We want people to understand us down to the intricate details, so we are always very careful because we want the same for each other. I think that's the best part of it, because I grew up being a musician so I understand being open to ideas and receiving constructive criticism and trying new things. And that's really what me and Dre do when we're in the studio: we stay open with each other. On Being Part of the Compton Album Candice Pillay: Oh my God. It's something that I didn't really think about 'til very recently, because I just kept on working and working and doing what I have to do to solidify everything. But when I finally realized what was happening... Actually yesterday we went to the Straight Outta Compton premiere and they were playing "Medicine Man" when we walked into the after party, and the DJ was scratching the record. And at that moment I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. It didn't even strike me when I was reading the tracklist or when we were mastering with Dre or even when I heard it on the radio. It's real surreal for me, but it's finally here and I'm super excited. BJ The Chicago Kid: I just felt like it was another brick to my wall of people understanding what I do. This isn’t the first incredible thing that God has blessed me with to show me that I’m doing the right thing. I’ve done Coachella with Dre, I performed at The Grammys with Usher and James Brown. I’ve done so many crazy things that when things are not crazy, that’s when I’m worried. Jon Connor: Oh man, just to know that now I'm forever cemented in hip-hop history. Me being a fan of hip-hop first; I never get caught up in the artist thing or anything like that, I just look at it like I started out like everybody else, as a fan of hip-hop, as a fan of Snoop and Dre and Eminem and all of them and the legacy of Dre. So I look at it from two perspectives; I look at it like, as an artist, it's a crazy accomplishment, and as a kid from Flint, Michigan who grew up listening to and trying to imitate Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg to now being on Dr. Dre's third and final album, man, there's no feeling that can truly describe it. It's an overwhelming feeling, man. Focus...: I'm gonna be honest with you: the album coming out is my proudest moment. I think a lot of people try to discount Dre because he's a perfectionist, and as a perfectionist he's not gonna just put out music for the sake of putting out music. So when he made the announcement about Detox and made the announcement about Compton on The Pharmacy, no one could negate the fact that he didn't put it out because he didn't like it. You can't negate that fact. He put out Compton because he loved it. And he felt it. And he would tell us, "I got that feeling, I got that feeling." So for him to put out Compton, that's my proudest moment. For him to put out this whole album is the proudest moment for all of us. Anderson .Paak: It all just came together. People hearing and seeing that it was really going to happen, people wanted to be a part of the moment. King Mez: It was an honor to be a part of it and so heavily invested. A lot of people don’t know I wrote 12 of the 15 songs, not including the intro. It’s an honor, man. He works more than anyone in hip-hop music and works harder than anybody in hip-hop music. It's weird to know people who don’t work as hard as him, but he’s way further beyond the average artist. Like, he can chill, he didn’t have to do this album, so that the fact that he’s working harder than everyone is interesting. Asia Bryant: [Dre is] an extreme perfectionist. One of the things I learned is to just keep going back and making sure you’re completely 100 percent satisfied with your project and you’re completely satisfied with what you’re putting out, because that’s your identity. You’re giving the world a piece of you when you put a project out. So you have to be patient and keep moving forward and keep being positive. It was crazy, because when I did that song, my father got murdered in October. So for a second I was just out of the loop, I didn’t know what was going on. But it takes things like this that bring you back to the light. It makes you feel like, Okay, things I do aren’t in vain. Bad shit happens every day, but so do great things. If you stay positive, believe in God, believe in your craft, you study your craft, do everything you can to go for your dreams—that’s what Dre instilled in a lot of us. Focus...: Number one, this is the biggest project I've ever been involved in in my whole career. So that being said, it's pretty much overwhelming for each and every one of us that had anything to do with this project because of the magnitude of the project, you know what I'm saying? So right now we're all just kinda tryna figure it out. [Laughs] I don't even know what to say; we're just soaking it in day by day. I'm just really happy that it came together. We have a lot of really great artists—Jon Connor, Mez, Justus, Candice, Marsha—there's so many great people on the album. I'm just really excited that it's out there and that people understand that we've been working and that we haven't just been turning a deaf ear to the people wanting the music. Cold 187um: It's incredible. One thing I say is that it's important for us to show some kind of unity in hip-hop, especially cats that came up together. And I think that's the most important thing. Dre brought me in to be a part of supposedly his last album, and that's definitely a monumental thing for me, because I started in the game with him. And to be a part of the finale part of his career was just an honor. Jon Connor: The thing is, everybody that's on this album—me, Candice, Mez, Justus, everybody whose names you see in the credits—it's like all of our baby. We lived with this record. We ate, slept and breathed this record every day when we woke up 'til there was days and nights we were there until the sun came up. I was hearing the record since the day it was conceived, you know? So now that it's out in the world I'm proud of what all of us did as a team, I'm proud of the whole crew. But what it was like every day listening to it in the studio, it was amazing. I feel just like y'all feel when you heard it and I still get the same feeling to this day when I listen to every song. And I'm just proud of everybody and what we all brought to the table.
good to see that kurupt was actually involved. he wrote talking to my diary
Quote from: Morphine on August 13, 2015, 02:07:10 AMQuote from: donfathaimmortal on August 13, 2015, 01:24:05 AMFav track off Compton...and I also see that Mario "Chocolate" Johnson is there and Ricardo 'Kurupt' Brown seems to be also credited.Wikipedia says Russell Brown aka this guy : https://www.linkedin.com/pub/russell-brown-dj-silk/5a/b9b/195Oh, that's DJ Silk who co-produce this song, OK. Thanxx
Quote from: David Gutterman on August 12, 2015, 07:56:42 AMNo Tracy Lynn Curry?Quote from: BANGADOSHISH!! on August 12, 2015, 05:05:33 PMQuote from: donfathaimmortal on August 12, 2015, 02:08:54 AMDr Dre - "Talking To My Diary" > slim the mobster wrote this song and does the hook! Fav track off Compton...and I also see that Mario "Chocolate" Johnson is there and Ricardo 'Kurupt' Brown seems to be also credited.
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