I hate to make another dre/aftermath thread....

[Don Seer]

but...

confidence in Dre's ability to run and manage a label was already low.
after this bullshit with Rakim no one can trust him again.

but...

how much say Dre actually had in the matter is another thing...
if interscope did this behind his back like they did with hittman surely he's going to be pissed off.


i think we need to stop jumping to conclusions and wait for some clear cut answers as to why they decided 'mutually to go their own ways'.


you can be sure people everywhere wants to know why, so i guess we'll find out in good time.

[T.J.]

well theres nothing really else to say in this thread but.....
O.K.

[mauzip]

rakim and aftermath ===>  

[Twentytwofifty]

Fact or Fiction  - Dre is fucking over Rakim.  The worst thing Rakim ever did was sign to Aftermath. Oh My God has been worked on for 4 years. Its Dre's fault that Oh My God is not out yet.  

All 4 of these statements are FICTION.  Dre is taking care of Rakim better than anyone else could. Dre gave Ra a great contract, many large advances, and has been helping him out personally and financially way beyond what he is required to do.  Also, Dre is giving Rakim room to breathe and is working hard to not only make sure Rakim's album is as good as possible, but more importantly giving it the best chance to be successful sales wise.  Dre and Rakim are both perfectionists, both are very patient, and both want to make sure that Oh My God is a classic.  Oh My God has probably been worked on for a actual total of 8 to 10 months, and that has been since early 2002.  Except for a few sessions, it took Ra almost 2 years to get prepared mentally and physically for this album.  Ra gave serious thought to retiring for good a few years back.  Universal Records fucked him over so bad that ra was ready to give it all up.  The Master was a good album but a total bomb sales wise. ra takes some of the blame but the label pressured him to rush the album, promoted it terribly and didn't give him the budget or freedom to put together the album Ra wanted.  Aftermath signed Ra to a bigger contract, by far, than anyone else was offering.  Aftermath and Interscope give Rakim unlimited budget, freedom, will not apply any pressure, and will spend a lot of money promoting the album -  and most importantly Aftermath gives him Dre.  But since interscope is putting so many resources and dollars into the project they get final word on everything.  the original target date was nov, 12 2002.  I thought we had an album good enough to get released, but dre knew jimmy would reject it so we kept working.  A few months ago Dre submitted a final album to Jimmy.  it was rejected back for us to fine tune some things.  and yes hooks are part of the reason.  as well as not having a good enough first single.    as far as hooks go - i don't think rakim needs hooks - his early classic albums had no hooks only eric b breakbeats and scratches.  rakims songs are not about hooks. he's deeper than that. but alas jimmy and interscope get to make the final decision. some have suggested ghost writers to write the hooks. believe me NO ONE will EVER ghost write for Rakim.  Rakim will write every single lyric he ever raps to.
even though dre and ra disagreed with the decision to reject the album(so did i, but my influence is very limited.) we trust Jimmys instincts. after all, he rejected em and dre's original final album for the Marshall Mathers LP, and the two songs that em and dre came up with after that were The Real Slim Shady and The Way I am. so we believe jimmy knows what he's doing.  
Oh My God will be released this year, or else.  if not there would only be a slim chance that it would come out after Detox, but most likely the album would be dropped. but have no fear we all believe in our hearts Oh My God will drop soon.  and when it does it will be the classic album we have worked very hard to give you.  if the album does not come out I will most likely leave interscope (not Dre). i will stay til detox drops because of my loyalty and love for dre. i believe in Oh My God that much that I will gve up everything if jimmy drops the ball.  it is not dre's fault. he is doing his job  - creating a classic and giving Rakim the career defining album he deserves. its all on jimmy right now.
i have 3 more fact or fictions left - i will put them on the reply to this post.

I guess mellowman is going to leave Dre's production team.

[Shin]

dunno why, but i think jome might be right.... this is some really weird publicity stunt... i mean, it's all over the net.... you can even find the news of ra leaving the math on some arcane japanese boards...

[_That_Cracka_J]

Has there been an OFFICIAL word that Rakim has left Aftermath?

[Jome]

Has there been an OFFICIAL word that Rakim has left Aftermath?

That's what I wanna know too..

If it was a publicity-stunt, Rakims manager would of course be included in it too.
MTV is not a official Aftermath-source, they just a brick in a big game.. been wrong before.
I don't believe this, unless Dre or Rakim say it themselves.. and even then it might be part of a gameplan.. they could always flip the script and say that they're back together again.

[_That_Cracka_J]

Just with Dre's past experience of artists, I would tend to believe that this new is TRUE though.

[pappy]

now imagine if this was all bull shit an with no hype for a release date this shit dropped this tuesday.  its would be a huge stunt to get around bootleggers an shit

[Don Breezio]

now imagine if this was all bull shit an with no hype for a release date this shit dropped this tuesday.  its would be a huge stunt to get around bootleggers an shit

very true but im sure bootleggers arent gonna stop looking for this just because rah supposedly left aftermath...if anything this shit will probably end up online sooner cuz nobodys sure if it will get scrapped or not now...i think it would be some huge bullshit but extremely funny if he left aftermath and signed to shady records and this was a total publicity stunt...i dont know who said that but it wasnt a bad prediction...according to mtv he has deals with other record labels being proposed right now...i think this could go either way...it could be a Pub. stunt or it could be true...there is nothing making me lean one way or the other...i think the best thing to do is sit back and wait...and be on the lookout in case Maderchod is right and this shit hits shelves on tuesday lol

[_That_Cracka_J]

now imagine if this was all bull shit an with no hype for a release date this shit dropped this tuesday.  

That would be a great idea.....They defo won't play it like that though.  Delays, delays, delays, delays,.......

[Trauma-san]

My thoughts are this:

Dre doesn't really know all the ins and outs of running a label.  He's worked CLOSELY with Jimmy Iovine ever since he left NWA! Most people don't realize Jimmy distributed some of Deathrow's stuff, too.  Jimmy, and Suge, always handled the business side of things.  Suge's made the comments before that Dre isn't very intelligent, and doesn't make smart business moves.  I don't know if that's true or not, but it may be... or it may just be Suge insulting Dre again.  

Jimmy RUNS things at Interscope.  Anybody that doesn't think so is kidding themselves.  Dre's said before, and Em, that they let Jimmy hear things, and if he doesn't like the album, they redo stuff.  Jimmy is the final word, because he's the one that pays for all the production costs of making and distributing the album.  He's not going to put out something that won't make money, and Dre's already lost them money a couple times... The Wash, Anyone?  

Interscope wants to throw months of promotion behind an album.  You need at LEAST 4-5 months of promotion time before you can release an album, most albums have singles come out a good month or even two before the album drops, now.  Dre's telling these guys he'll drop their album at the end of summer, but if Promo isn't started by JULY,.... come on.  That album ain't gonna make it before November.  

I've been skeptical since Dre started, because REALLY, what has he done to launch anybody?  Look at it...


1. He starts off with NWA, they get a record deal through EAZY, who made all the connections and handled all the deals.

2. He leaves, with a GREAT record under NWA, and gets signed, Jimmy helps distribute the stuff, because it was a DRE album, and Dre was already successful.  They knew it was money in the bank.

3. He features Snoop heavily on the album, everybody loves snoop, so they do a snoop album.  It does great.

4. They featured the dogg pound on both of those, so they release a dogg pound album, it does pretty good, with appearances from Dre and Snoop.  

ALL SAFE releases.

He leaves, goes and starts aftermath, releases the aftermath, it doesn't really do that great, but at least turns a little profit.  Again, it was a safe release, since it was basically a Dre album, not enough dre = not enough profits.  I think it went Platinum, though.

This is where dre was about to collapse, when he signed Eminem, it SAVED his ass.  He'd already cut loose everybody on the Aftermath camp except Mellman.  Jimmy thought a white rapper, THAT TALENTED, would probably sell good, and cross over.

They were right, album sold tons.

Now, Dre does another solo album, featuring a lead single from Eminem, with Dre... after "Guilty Conscience", Dre and Em, had already proven successful.  ANOTHER SAFE ALBUM.  Sells tons.

Another Em album, sells tons.

D12 album, FEATURING Em.  SAFE BET.  Sells decent.

A Wash album, bombs.

Truth hurts, does So-so, doesn't REALLY make an impact, with a lead single featuring Rakim.  

ANOTHER Em album, sells tons.

50 cent, was an EASY bet... he was king of the mixtapes, everybody knew this guy would blow up.  Eminem was confident in him, Em's running the show now with all those millions sold, so they went with it, on Em's suggestion.  Another PRETTY safe bet.

Rakim just ain't a safe bet for them.  Jimmy is NOT going to put out a Rakim album, because he's not 100% sure that it will sell.  He's already been dissapointed in the Wash album, and on Truth Hurts album.  Rakim is another Truth hurts, it would have went Gold, meanwhile Eminem will sell 8 million each album?

Jimmy has only once taken a real chance on dre, and that was when he signed Eminem.  He ain't gonna take a chance on Rakim unless the album he heard was just amazing, and I guess it wasn't.  I wasn't that impressed with Ra's verse on Truth Hurts, that's nothing Mindblowing.  Basically Eminem raps miles around him, that's what people want to hear now, commercially.  Ra is a legend, but nobody's gonna buy it, they don't like his style anymore.

Notice, too, that when Jimmy has a hunch, he's almost ALWAYS right.  

[Trauma-san]

Oh, and please believe me, there is a difference between a great album, and a smart business move.

For instance:

Doggy's Angels was a great album.

Doggy's Angels wasn't a smart business move.

Ra would have had a great album, but is it a smart business move?

[Don Seer]

depends how smart a move it is upon how the project is when it finally lands.

whichever way, faith and trust towards the label are probably now at their lowest ever.

[Trauma-san]

^ Yup, but really, are we surprised?  This happens ALL THE TIME in Hiphop, and most of the time when Dre or Snoop is involved.  Snoop's even worse, but Dre drops albums once in a blue moon.  I was shocked when the Wash came out.  It sounded like another b.s. idea he was mentioning.  Rakim's about the 20th person he's dropped.  And Yes, I'm STILL mad about King T.