West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: Conan on September 20, 2007, 12:54:32 PM
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Taken from MTV.com:
"First Dr. Dre makes an appearance at the VMAs, and now he's got an interview in the latest issue of GQ — maybe Detox really is on the way. The notoriously reclusive producer appears in the 50th anniversary issue of the men's magazine and, for the first time, goes on record about the rift between his Aftermath artists 50 Cent and Game. "It was definitely a conscious thing," he said of his decision to not speak up in the past about the feud. "This is something that's between labelmates. I've said, 'When you guys are ready to make some music, let's get down. Let's get in the studio.' All that other stuff, that's not for me. This is something they created, so it's something they have to handle. I don't feel like I have to choose a side." Dre also revealed that, at the behest of Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine, he once asked Game not to dis 50 during a New York show. "I knew that this one wasn't gonna go away," he said. "I know these guys, and I know nobody is gonna back down." "
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That's cool and all, but what's up with Dre giving his first interview in a stupidly long time to GQ of all outlets?!
*DPG2K7 bounces to GQ.com to see if this feature's online...*
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Damn cant wait to read this
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hmm... interesting
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Damn cant wait to read this
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Already posted in Outbound.
Anyways heres my reply:
I couldnt care less about the beef, the most important thing is maybe Detox really is on the way
:P
For real though, hes right, why would he loose any sleep over this pathetic beef. They started it, they gotta end it.
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Why Outbound when the focus of this is clearly Dre? Lol. Oh well.
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Not taking sides huh?
Removes Game from Aftermath, still gives 50 beats for his projects etc... ::)
Anyway why not give DubCnn an exclusive rare interview with info on Detox, as its us who are amped to hear his new sounds not some bludclurt GQ readers >:(
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dre is about the music so why not just keep it that way.simple.
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Not taking sides huh?
Removes Game from Aftermath, still gives 50 beats for his projects etc... ::)
Anyway why not give DubCnn an exclusive rare interview with info on Detox, as its us who are amped to hear his new sounds not some bludclurt GQ readers >:(
Fuck 50 Dre should of been on the westcoast side man 50's a bitch and he stright flopped man should been with game the stright westcoast california kid man game's cd was way better and if dre would of been fuckin with him it would of been better
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hmm... interesting
8)
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Yeah...it seems like he somehow became the most mysterious legend out there, just because he stays ghost and we don't hear as much from him...so just hearin or seein an interview with him is always major.
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Its gonna be about the same old, hes working hard with other people but the same time working on his, and its coming real soon lmao!!!
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Yeah...it seems like he somehow became the most mysterious legend out there, just because he stays ghost and we don't hear as much from him...so just hearin or seein an interview with him is always major.
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dre ain't droppin' shit for another 10 years....
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Damn cant wait to read this
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In recent years, it's always been rare to get something from Dre in the media. He keeps a really low profile, but he does pop out every now and then. Like in 2004, over a 2 month period he did 106 & Park w\ 50 and Game, the Vibe Awards, that Shady Convention on MTV, interviews for MTV Direct Effect, an interview with Scratch...he had a lot going on at the time.
It'd be great if he gave Dubcnn an interview sometime.
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I think he'll pull 50 and Game on some tracks on Detox as a hype.
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dope news, when does the mag come out?
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GQ is high status... thats like Jay Z doing SuperBowl commercials... Thanks for the info...
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WELL NOW I KNOW THAT DETOX IS REALLY COMING OUT. THE REASON I SAY THAT IS BECAUSE THE LAST TIME DRE DID AN ARTICLE IN THE L.A. TIMES WAS A FEW MONTHS BEFORE 2001 CAME OUT. YEAH i AM NOW 100 PERCENT SURE THAT THIS SHIT IS DROPPING SOON. THE SIGNS ARE ALL THERE IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. THE GOD IS BACK!!!
THIS IS A DOPE ARTICLE WITH DRE ;D
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THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TITANS
Dr. Dre, mix marathon man
The studio-obsessed producer has left his mark on Eminem and 50 Cent, to name-drop a few. And he's not about to rush his final solo CD.
By Robert Hilburn
Special to The Times
September 23, 2007
"We go until it happens," rap producer Dr. Dre says about all the time he spends in the recording studio searching for hits, once as long as 79 hours in a single stretch. "When the ideas are coming," says the man who is one of the half-dozen most influential producers of the modern pop era, "I don't stop until the ideas stop because that train doesn't come along all the time."
Some hip-hop fans, however, must be wondering if this particular train isn't off the track. Dre (real name: Andre Young) has been working on his third solo album, "Detox," for nearly eight years, a time frame that invites uncomfortable comparison with such earlier pop music train wrecks as Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and Axl Rose. All three were fabulously successful artists who found it so hard to live up to their own expectations that they each ran into creative paralysis.
But there are differences between Dre and the others, he and those close to him say. The 42-year-old Compton native hasn't just been working on his own album all these years.
As a producer and head of Aftermath Entertainment, Dre has also contributed to albums by Eminem, 50 Cent, the Game and others. Plus, he has "mixed" tracks -- fine-tuning the musical dynamics -- for more than a dozen other artists, including Gwen Stefani, Eve and Mary J. Blige.
Dre will now devote two months to working on Eminem's new album. "We'll be trying to get his thing done and work on a few things on my own project," Dre says.
It's an exhausting pace and it's possible only because of what Dre calls his obsession with the studio.
To achieve his level of success -- Dre has put his seductive hip-hop stamp on albums that have taken in more than $1 billion worldwide -- you obviously need musical talent.
"Dre is 'the Natural,' " says Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine. "Lots of producers have hits, but he does far more than that. He's a creator who has moved popular culture three times . . . with gangsta rap, G-funk and Eminem."
Yet the more you talk to Dre, the more you realize that another key element has been a mental toughness that enabled him to walk away from fast-lane excesses and a runaway ego.
Dre's greatest gift, in fact, may be the strong will that has helped him to recognize the most important things in his life -- the recording studio, his family and, most recently, weight training -- and strip away everything that doesn't serve those priorities.
In the early '90s, Dre was being hailed as the new king of hip-hop for defining gangsta rap with N.W.A and then expanding rap's mainstream appeal with the alluring G-funk style that combined melodic, old-school R&B and hard-core hip-hop sensibilities.
But amid the sudden fame, Dre appeared to be spending as much time partying and in court as he did in the studio. The turning point came after he served time in jail in 1995 for violating the probation he received after breaking another rap producer's jaw in 1992.
He jettisoned the bad behavior and, among other things, severed ties with trouble-plagued Death Row Records, signing a multimillion-dollar deal with Interscope Records and the Universal Music Group that resulted in Dre's Aftermath label.
The accompanying hoopla and dollar signs led to another hazardous period. After closing the deal, Dre went on a signing spree, convinced he could turn out hits with virtually anyone. He admits the move took a personal and professional toll.
"When we started Aftermath, we had something like 20 artists and it was driving me crazy," the 6-foot-1 producer said on the patio of his English-style country estate in the West San Fernando Valley. "I couldn't sit down and focus on any of it, plus it was doubly hard because you ended up crushing these people's dreams when you had to let them go."
On the strength of his name, "Dr. Dre Presents . . . The Aftermath," a 1996 album, was certified platinum (1 million sold), but it had little lasting effect. The humbling experience taught Dre that even with his talents he, as a producer, needs quality artists and a top support crew to make noteworthy records. Aftermath too went through a stripping back process. Its roster now includes fewer than a dozen artists.
"People are always coming up to me, thinking I've got some magic wand that can make them a star and I want to tell them that no one can do that," he says. "Making hit records is not that easy. But it took me time to realize that myself."
Now, Dre is planning another dramatic move, one designed in part to give him even more time in the studio. The long-awaited "Detox," he says, will be his final solo album.
Though claims of "final albums" have often proved to be as short-lived as farewell tours, you sense a burden lifting as Dre talks about saying good-bye to the solo career. He loves being in the studio, whether working on his songs or someone else's. But he doesn't enjoy the other duties that go along with a solo career, including interviews, live shows and other promotional activities. By eliminating all that, Dre is further sharpening his focus on his studio obsession.
"The actual making of a record is the most exciting part of this business," he says. "I don't make records so I can sit down afterward and listen to them. I make them so other people can sit down and listen to them."
Talk about hits
DRE appears as relaxed as can be on the grounds of his gated mansion on a weekday afternoon, refreshed from a couple of hours at the gym and looking forward to going into the studio later in the day. You'd never know from his easygoing manner that the rap kingpin dislikes interviews so much that this is his first one in three years.
He's a wonderful storyteller who delights in the surprising details behind some of his hits. At the moment, he's in the middle of a story about how he found Snoop Dogg, whose silky vocal style contributed greatly to the G-funk classic, "Nuthin but a 'G' Thang."
Dre was at a bachelor party in the early '90s when he heard Snoop's voice on an amateur tape. He liked the way Snoop rhymed over the beats and invited him into the studio.
"I was mainly interested in how he responded to directions," Dre continues. "That's always an important test with me. Talent gets you in the door, but there are other things I consider, like, 'Do I want to work with this guy? Can we click? Can we laugh and talk in the studio?' If not, I'd rather work with someone else."
Seriously? Would Dre really pass up a sure-fire hit if it was brought into the studio by an absolute jerk?
Dre pauses briefly at the question, then laughs. "Well," he says, finally. "I'd probably take the song and then have him sit out in the lobby while I worked on it."
It's the music that matters
DRE has been talking freely for nearly 90 minutes about the studio. The only pauses are to talk to Nicole, his wife of 11 years, about spending the weekend with their kids at their house in Malibu.
For Dre, spending as much time as possible in the studio is as important as keeping your ears open, a point that leads to the matter of interviews. Nothing personal, he says, they're just another distraction.
Dre was blessed with a gift for music, a mom who encouraged him to pursue that gift rather than gangs and an aunt who just happened to live down the street from another young hip-hop fan, O'Shea Jackson, who adopted the professional name Ice Cube.
"I always loved the way music made me feel," Dre says, sipping water from a bottle. "I did sports at school and all, but when I got home, it was just music. Everybody in my neighborhood loved music. I could jump the back fence and be in the park where there were ghetto blasters everywhere."
By the time Dre and Ice Cube hooked up in the mid-'80s, both had spent countless hours honing their skills. Dre, four years older, was a master of turntables, his confidence boosted by all the nights he played records for the dance crowd at the Eve After Dark nightclub in Compton. Cube's forte was lyrics.
After they joined N.W.A, Dre supplied the sonic explosiveness, while Cube wrote the key raps for "Straight Outta Compton," the alternately angry and witty late-'80s album that made gangsta rap a sensation. The success of N.W.A showed Dre the importance of following your instincts and not worrying about the latest trends.
"I mean, think about it," he says. "We couldn't have done anything more unlikely in music business terms. We were making a record that we knew no one would play on the radio because of the language and that no major label would even release."
Dre followed his instincts again with 1992's "The Chronic" by using live instruments when the vogue in rap was building tracks around turntable dynamics and "samples" from old recordings. "There is some sampling on my records and a lot of what I call replays, where I'd have musicians come in the studio and replay the sample from the original record," he says. "But mainly, we'd come up with our own music."
Dre's favorite moment during the making of "The Chronic" may have been the time Snoop Dogg phoned the studio from jail while Dre happened to be working on "Nuthin' but." "I can't even remember why he was in jail, but I thought his voice would be perfect for the song," Dre says, smiling. "So, I told him to stay on the line while I duct-taped the receiver of the phone to the microphone. That's how he did vocal for our demo for ' "G" Thang.' I wish I could find that demo now. You could hear all the jail sounds in the background. It was crazy."
Fifteen years after that recording session, Dre still seems to savor the moment -- as much as the success of the record itself, which was named single of the decade by Spin magazine.
For Dre, a hit record starts with a hit sound, which sounds simple. But the search is what requires those long hours in the studio. The producer normally heads into the studio around 3 p.m. weekdays, the weekends being reserved for the family and for his hobbies, which include sports and photography. Because the studio in Sherman Oaks is like a second home, Dre likes the atmosphere to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
"One of the most important things for a producer is to realize you don't know everything," says Dre, whose studio techniques are largely self-taught. "I love having people in the studio that I can feed off and who can feed off each other."
When putting together a track, lyrics and themes are important, he says, but you've first got to catch a listener's ear with a melody or a beat. To create that beat, he either starts from scratch or builds on something he heard on an old recording, which he did when he worked a few seconds of Leon Haywood's "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" into "Nuthin' but." He used a piano riff from Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman" to jump-start "California Love," the spectacular 1996 single he made with the late Tupac Shakur.
On "California Love," Dre went into the studio in his former Chatsworth home and played a sample from the Cocker single over a drum beat. He then had some horn players come in to fill out the sound and finally stacked some strings on top.
While recording the track, Dre remembered a festive line -- "California knows how to party" -- from another song ("West Coast Poplock") and he brought in Roger Troutman, from the old Zapp band, to deliver the vocal line on the record.
As Dre recounts the process, you can imagine his head racing through ideas with the speed of a computer. Does this work? What else can I do? What's missing? Is that too much? Seeing him amid his arsenal of state-of-the-art equipment brings home the complexity of his approach.
But everything he does is rooted in the age-old search for a hook. In looking for musical ideas, Dre sometimes goes randomly through crates of old records to see if anything catches his ear, something as short as five to 10 seconds of music. Most of the time, however, he'll sit in the studio with a couple of other musicians and simply start playing, hoping one of them will come up with a key riff. Dre usually sits at a synthesizer or drum machine, joined by, say, a bassist and/or guitarist.
"It's great when everybody is working together and feels something is happening," he says about his time in the studio. "That's when it's all smiles in the studio. You don't want to see any clock or any daylight or hear any phone. You just cut yourself off from the rest of the world and make music.
"I don't necessarily even call it work. I call it fun. I even like the pressure, it makes me work all the harder if I know people out there are waiting for the record."
The quality Dre looks for in a recording artist is uniqueness -- a distinct voice that will stand out from the crowd. Sometimes the writing will catch Dre's ear, other times the rap delivery.
Dre's biggest star, Eminem, came from as far out in left field as Snoop Dogg. An intern at Interscope Records had heard Eminem on an L.A. radio show and passed a tape along to Interscope's Iovine, who in turn played it for Dre.
Dre was so excited that he got together with Eminem the next day. He was surprised to see that the young artist was white, which might have led some industry figures to think twice, given the bad name Vanilla Ice gave white rappers. But Dre swears -- holding his hand up playfully as if testifying -- he knew that Eminem had the goods.
"His writing is like no other," Dre says, "the way he puts together certain words and the way he makes certain words rhyme that to me most of the time don't even seem like they are supposed to rhyme. I also loved the fact that Eminem, I think, was setting out to be shocking. I love it as dark as it can get, and I thought the public would feel the same way."
In turn, Eminem has been lavish in his praise for the producer. "Dre showed me how to do things with my voice that I didn't know I could do," Eminem told me early in his career, such as "the way to deliver rhymes. . . . I'd do something I thought was pretty good, and he'd say, 'I think you can do it better.' "
It was Eminem who introduced Dre to 50 Cent, whose first three Aftermath albums have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. "I loved his delivery more than anything," says Dre, who produced two tracks on 50 Cent's latest CD. "He had so much authority and strength in his voice."
When it came to the Game, the Compton rapper who has become another multimillion-album seller, Dre heard something in the rapper's raw voice that reminded him of the N.W.A days. The Game's Aftermath debut, "The Documentary," was produced by Dre and 50 Cent, and it has sold more than 2.5 millioncopies in the U.S., but the Game has moved onto Interscope's sister label Geffen after a nasty, public feud with 50 Cent. There has been much speculation in hip-hop that the Game was shifted to Geffen after Dre picked 50 Cent, the larger seller, but he denies it.
"I told them, 'I love working with both you guys. I don't have a problem with either of you,' " he says. "It was more like what is going to be the best move under the circumstances. I don't even remember who came up with the idea of putting Game on Geffen, but it was absolutely not me picking 50 over him."
A little heavy lifting
DRE made a rare public appearance this month when he announced the video of the year winner on the MTV Video Music Awards telecast in Las Vegas.
For fans, the appearance was notable for two things: Dre didn't give a release date for "Detox," renewing fears that the album may be lost in some twi- light zone, and his arms and chest were notably buff.
"That's another of my obsessions," he says a few days later of the new look. "I go in the gym two to 2 1/2 hours Monday through Friday. It makes me feel better and look better."
Before Dre started on the weights about four years ago, he often went out drinking and eating after leaving the studio at night, and his weight swelled to 270 pounds. It's back to 220, and he has cut his body fat from 29% to around 6%. Playfully pumping his arms, he says, "I feel like I can kick a brick wall down now."
And what about the album release date?
"I was really hoping to have it out this year, but it's going to have to be pushed back a while because of some other things I've got to work on," he continues, sitting in the lounge of the recording studio where he spends all those hours behind the buttons. He's still two or three tracks away from calling it finished, he says.
Any second thoughts about "Detox" being his final solo album? No, he says emphatically. "I think it's time to move on," he adds, calling rap performing "a young man's game."
More important, the move will free him to pursue his long-standing interest in films. He has signed a multiyear production pact with New Line Cinema. Dre, who will team with director Philip G. Atwell, is also interested in scoring films and eventually directing.
But he expects recording studios to continue to be the center of his world, and he's optimistic.
"When I think of the future, I think a lot of Quincy Jones and how he is an inspiration," Dre says. "Look at the quality of his work over so many years. He didn't even make his best record, 'Thriller,' until he was 50.
"That gives me something to look forward to. Nothing pulls you back into the studio more than the belief that your best record is still ahead."
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8)
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Nice! That's great to hear from Dre finally. LMAO at the fact that the article got "leaked" 3 days early. I wish they would have gone into Detox more though.
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Good lookin on this, cant wait for his new shit!!!
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8) its coming
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Good stuff... although it's one less article to read now for my Sunday subscription, but its all good... :)
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Dope article, but they could've talked about "Detox" a lil bit more, maybe who's featured etc...
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Whatever, this shit better be hotter than 2001 or it will be a flop at dubcc i guarantee that. he took so long
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nice long read.. still waitin on detox tho
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8)
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hmm... interesting
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detox is oming
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Nice!Just need detox 2 drop now!
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Great to hear from Dre again 8)
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and his weight swelled to 270 pounds. It's back to 220, and he has cut his body fat from 29% to around 6%.
who the fuck cares ?
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Great to hear from Dre again 8)
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Nice read... but no mentioning Bishop?
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Great to hear from Dre again 8)
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Dre doing 2 interviews, signs are good. Too bad it won't come out this year tho
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He may have mentioned Bishop but the thing is it seems like the article and whoever editted it wanted to show off Dre's success's thats why they dont even mention Eazy, Ren, Warren G, and any rappers that arent house hold names these days
sad but it aint dres fault
good to hear Dre confirm he aint involved in Game and 50 beef. Hopefully Game and Dre will work together again
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It's nice to see the man speak out again, sure. But damn it, I want the fucking records already: The Reformation & Detox. And it's gonna be interesting to hear what they do with Eminem's record.
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Dr._Dre-Detox-2008-SAW ;D
it's coming!
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props on the article, it is coming, and will most likely blow our minds.
and to the people who say it will be a flop on DubCC, cause it will, y'all have got too high expectations. even if it is the best rap album since 2001 it wont be "up to Dre's standards"
one real fan, really looking forward to this record.
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Dre. Spoke for 90mins. Im sure Dre spoke a lot of interesting things that we may find amusing but the reporter must have edited alot out. Thats why I like Live audio interviews. Give us the whole scoop.
Cant wait till detox drops.
* It may not be the best thing since sliced bread but I can guarantee it will serve all these wack rappers albums out the gate.
* The quality and the sonic behind the record will be on another level. I listened to Big Bang at a surround film studio and that shit moves.
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It's nice to see the man speak out again, sure. But damn it, I want the fucking records already: The Reformation & Detox. And it's gonna be interesting to hear what they do with Eminem's record.
True... and if they do finalize the album in two months... than that'll be the longest they've ever spent on an album together.
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I see Eminem's album coming out in the 1st quarter of '08. Maybe 2nd quarter is more realistic.
Slim Shady ( 1st quarter '99 )
M. Mathers ( 2nd quarter '00 )
Eminem Show ( 2nd quarter '02 )
Encore ( 4th quarter '04 )
Curtain Call ( though not a full length album, 4th quarter '05 )
The Re-Up ( compilation, 4th quarter '06 )
The last 3 years in a row, Em's dropped his projects around November\December. Maybe if they work fast, they can get it out for a late November release. Unless they've been working on it all summer and they wanna downplay it till the times right...
You know Interscope is going to want something big for the 4th quarter.
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Good lookin out
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Good read but nothing about the record. Times are changing fast, will the songs he porduced today be relevant for tommorrow.Will he change up next year and decide not to release the record when the vibrations don't blend to his satisfaction and the synchronization factor. It's all about timing and more importantly his lyrical content because what he is talking about today in rhyme form will it be compatible for what is going on next year.The beats are always going to be there but will is content be relevant,Will it sync up in time frame like the chronic and his other records.
It aint about the beats it's about his timing and what he is talking about that will fit the time. He can have a thousand beats and make it sound like a movie but his wait to release the record has put him in a sitaution to where he is trying to anticpate the timing and with this he may never know the right time to put the record out that will fit his perfection.
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I see Eminem's album coming out in the 1st quarter of '08. Maybe 2nd quarter is more realistic.
Slim Shady ( 1st quarter '99 )
M. Mathers ( 2nd quarter '00 )
Eminem Show ( 2nd quarter '02 )
Encore ( 4th quarter '04 )
Curtain Call ( though not a full length album, 4th quarter '05 )
The Re-Up ( compilation, 4th quarter '06 )
The last 3 years in a row, Em's dropped his projects around November\December. Maybe if they work fast, they can get it out for a late November release. Unless they've been working on it all summer and they wanna downplay it till the times right...
You know Interscope is going to want something big for the 4th quarter.
Curtain Call and Re-up don't count. They're not solo Eminem albums. Ems last solo LP was Encore back in '04.
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They should not release Em soon. By the sound of that radio interview, he's not ready and why have another Encore put out ?
They should really concentrate on Bishop and drop him in January/ February, let him have his 6 months and then release Detox in summer or maybe September.
And then let Busta and Em drop in 09.
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good to hear Dre confirm he aint involved in Game and 50 beef. Hopefully Game and Dre will work together again
Yeah Hopefully
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Cool little interview. I think Dre knows his fans are getting impatient with all this waiting so he decided to bite the bullet and do a couple interviews/appearances. Hopefully he doesn't go completely back into hiding until the release of the record.
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Can someone hook me up with the link to that article?
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So it's gonna be September or November 2008? 8)
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I think im realliy tired of these Detox threads :-\
be eazy on the diss button 8)
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dopeness 8)
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good read i'd also like to hear that demo he was talking about where snoop is rappin from jail on nothin but a g thang demo
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Nice article. Good to hear he's still planning on releasing Detox 8)
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So now Dre wants to be Mr. Talkative...
XXLMag.com just reported that he's done another interview with the L.A. Times. Nothing too amazing. If you really want to check it, just head to XXL's front page and it's currently posted under news. Otherwise, I've got the summary:
- No Detox 'til next year...surprise, surprise.
- Says he's "two or three" tracks away from completing the project.
- Is dedicating the next two months to finishing work on Em's next solo. (This better shit on Encore)
- Denies picking 50 over Game, says he loves working with both.
- Says he was not responsible for Game's switch to Geffen.
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They should not release Em soon. By the sound of that radio interview, he's not ready and why have another Encore put out ?
They should really concentrate on Bishop and drop him in January/ February, let him have his 6 months and then release Detox in summer or maybe September.
And then let Busta and Em drop in 09.
Em's not being rushed like he was on "Encore"... it's been 3 years since then... the longest between his solo LPs... and believe me, Dre as well as Aftermath prefer he come out before Bishop for many reasons.
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In recent years, it's always been rare to get something from Dre in the media. He keeps a really low profile, but he does pop out every now and then. Like in 2004, over a 2 month period he did 106 & Park w\ 50 and Game, the Vibe Awards, that Shady Convention on MTV, interviews for MTV Direct Effect, an interview with Scratch...he had a lot going on at the time.
It'd be great if he gave Dubcnn an interview sometime.
can some1 hook me up with that Dr.Dre & Game & 50 106 & park video?
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Full L.A. Times article mentioned in my previous post:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-ca-dre23sep23,0,1721511,full.story?coll=la-home-entertainment
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Great to hear from Dre again 8)
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Full L.A. Times article mentioned in my previous post:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-ca-dre23sep23,0,1721511,full.story?coll=la-home-entertainment
Already a thread (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=154610.0), dope article indeed 8)
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Good stuff... although it's one less article to read now for my Sunday subscription, but its all good... :)
NICE DJ SLIP - SIG thats a big ass suge knight looking nigga !!!!!
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IMO, If it ain't Dre or EM Aftermath should not release anyone else..
put all these Bishop's & lamont's (LOL) in the back bunner for the moment.
The Big Album need's to come out.
(These Rookies can wait their turn)
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8)
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No big deal.....It still will be a loooooooooong time away...
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Nice! That's great to hear from Dre finally. LMAO at the fact that the article got "leaked" 3 days early. I wish they would have gone into Detox more though.
Word. Hopefully DubCNN gets some more info on Detox very, very soon...
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nice read
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how about just somebody come out with something good on aftermath. crappy 50 cent albums not included!
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even if dre did find that track of snoop rhymin over the g thang beat from jail, i doubt dre would even release that shit
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Dr. Dre, mix marathon man (L.A.TIMES article September 23, 2007 )
(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-09/32691308.jpg)
Dre (real name: Andre Young) has been working on his third solo album, "Detox," for nearly eight years.
The studio-obsessed producer has left his mark on Eminem and 50 Cent, to name-drop a few. And he's not about to rush his final solo CD.
"We go until it happens," rap producer Dr. Dre says about all the time he spends in the recording studio searching for hits, once as long as 79 hours in a single stretch. "When the ideas are coming," says the man who is one of the half-dozen most influential producers of the modern pop era, "I don't stop until the ideas stop because that train doesn't come along all the time."
Some hip-hop fans, however, must be wondering if this particular train isn't off the track. Dre (real name: Andre Young) has been working on his third solo album, "Detox," for nearly eight years, a time frame that invites uncomfortable comparison with such earlier pop music train wrecks as Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and Axl Rose. All three were fabulously successful artists who found it so hard to live up to their own expectations that they each ran into creative paralysis.
But there are differences between Dre and the others, he and those close to him say. The 42-year-old Compton native hasn't just been working on his own album all these years.
As a producer and head of Aftermath Entertainment, Dre has also contributed to albums by Eminem, 50 Cent, the Game and others. Plus, he has "mixed" tracks -- fine-tuning the musical dynamics -- for more than a dozen other artists, including Gwen Stefani, Eve and Mary J. Blige.
Dre will now devote two months to working on Eminem's new album. "We'll be trying to get his thing done and work on a few things on my own project," Dre says.
It's an exhausting pace and it's possible only because of what Dre calls his obsession with the studio.
To achieve his level of success -- Dre has put his seductive hip-hop stamp on albums that have taken in more than $1 billion worldwide -- you obviously need musical talent.
"Dre is 'the Natural,' " says Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine. "Lots of producers have hits, but he does far more than that. He's a creator who has moved popular culture three times . . . with gangsta rap, G-funk and Eminem."
Yet the more you talk to Dre, the more you realize that another key element has been a mental toughness that enabled him to walk away from fast-lane excesses and a runaway ego.
Dre's greatest gift, in fact, may be the strong will that has helped him to recognize the most important things in his life -- the recording studio, his family and, most recently, weight training -- and strip away everything that doesn't serve those priorities.
In the early '90s, Dre was being hailed as the new king of hip-hop for defining gangsta rap with N.W.A and then expanding rap's mainstream appeal with the alluring G-funk style that combined melodic, old-school R&B and hard-core hip-hop sensibilities.
But amid the sudden fame, Dre appeared to be spending as much time partying and in court as he did in the studio. The turning point came after he served time in jail in 1995 for violating the probation he received after breaking another rap producer's jaw in 1992.
He jettisoned the bad behavior and, among other things, severed ties with trouble-plagued Death Row Records, signing a multimillion-dollar deal with Interscope Records and the Universal Music Group that resulted in Dre's Aftermath label.
The accompanying hoopla and dollar signs led to another hazardous period. After closing the deal, Dre went on a signing spree, convinced he could turn out hits with virtually anyone. He admits the move took a personal and professional toll.
"When we started Aftermath, we had something like 20 artists and it was driving me crazy," the 6-foot-1 producer said on the patio of his English-style country estate in the West San Fernando Valley. "I couldn't sit down and focus on any of it, plus it was doubly hard because you ended up crushing these people's dreams when you had to let them go."
On the strength of his name, "Dr. Dre Presents . . . The Aftermath," a 1996 album, was certified platinum (1 million sold), but it had little lasting effect. The humbling experience taught Dre that even with his talents he, as a producer, needs quality artists and a top support crew to make noteworthy records. Aftermath too went through a stripping back process. Its roster now includes fewer than a dozen artists.
"People are always coming up to me, thinking I've got some magic wand that can make them a star and I want to tell them that no one can do that," he says. "Making hit records is not that easy. But it took me time to realize that myself."
Now, Dre is planning another dramatic move, one designed in part to give him even more time in the studio. The long-awaited "Detox," he says, will be his final solo album.
Though claims of "final albums" have often proved to be as short-lived as farewell tours, you sense a burden lifting as Dre talks about saying good-bye to the solo career. He loves being in the studio, whether working on his songs or someone else's. But he doesn't enjoy the other duties that go along with a solo career, including interviews, live shows and other promotional activities. By eliminating all that, Dre is further sharpening his focus on his studio obsession.
"The actual making of a record is the most exciting part of this business," he says. "I don't make records so I can sit down afterward and listen to them. I make them so other people can sit down and listen to them."
DRE appears as relaxed as can be on the grounds of his gated mansion on a weekday afternoon, refreshed from a couple of hours at the gym and looking forward to going into the studio later in the day. You'd never know from his easygoing manner that the rap kingpin dislikes interviews so much that this is his first one in three years.
He's a wonderful storyteller who delights in the surprising details behind some of his hits. At the moment, he's in the middle of a story about how he found Snoop Dogg, whose silky vocal style contributed greatly to the G-funk classic, "Nuthin but a 'G' Thang."
Dre was at a bachelor party in the early '90s when he heard Snoop's voice on an amateur tape. He liked the way Snoop rhymed over the beats and invited him into the studio.
"I was mainly interested in how he responded to directions," Dre continues. "That's always an important test with me. Talent gets you in the door, but there are other things I consider, like, 'Do I want to work with this guy? Can we click? Can we laugh and talk in the studio?' If not, I'd rather work with someone else."
Seriously? Would Dre really pass up a sure-fire hit if it was brought into the studio by an absolute jerk?
Dre pauses briefly at the question, then laughs. "Well," he says, finally. "I'd probably take the song and then have him sit out in the lobby while I worked on it."
It's the music that matters
DRE has been talking freely for nearly 90 minutes about the studio. The only pauses are to talk to Nicole, his wife of 11 years, about spending the weekend with their kids at their house in Malibu.
For Dre, spending as much time as possible in the studio is as important as keeping your ears open, a point that leads to the matter of interviews. Nothing personal, he says, they're just another distraction.
Dre was blessed with a gift for music, a mom who encouraged him to pursue that gift rather than gangs and an aunt who just happened to live down the street from another young hip-hop fan, O'Shea Jackson, who adopted the professional name Ice Cube.
"I always loved the way music made me feel," Dre says, sipping water from a bottle. "I did sports at school and all, but when I got home, it was just music. Everybody in my neighborhood loved music. I could jump the back fence and be in the park where there were ghetto blasters everywhere."
By the time Dre and Ice Cube hooked up in the mid-'80s, both had spent countless hours honing their skills. Dre, four years older, was a master of turntables, his confidence boosted by all the nights he played records for the dance crowd at the Eve After Dark nightclub in Compton. Cube's forte was lyrics.
After they joined N.W.A, Dre supplied the sonic explosiveness, while Cube wrote the key raps for "Straight Outta Compton," the alternately angry and witty late-'80s album that made gangsta rap a sensation. The success of N.W.A showed Dre the importance of following your instincts and not worrying about the latest trends.
"I mean, think about it," he says. "We couldn't have done anything more unlikely in music business terms. We were making a record that we knew no one would play on the radio because of the language and that no major label would even release."
Dre followed his instincts again with 1992's "The Chronic" by using live instruments when the vogue in rap was building tracks around turntable dynamics and "samples" from old recordings. "There is some sampling on my records and a lot of what I call replays, where I'd have musicians come in the studio and replay the sample from the original record," he says. "But mainly, we'd come up with our own music."
Dre's favorite moment during the making of "The Chronic" may have been the time Snoop Dogg phoned the studio from jail while Dre happened to be working on "Nuthin' but." "I can't even remember why he was in jail, but I thought his voice would be perfect for the song," Dre says, smiling. "So, I told him to stay on the line while I duct-taped the receiver of the phone to the microphone. That's how he did vocal for our demo for ' "G" Thang.' I wish I could find that demo now. You could hear all the jail sounds in the background. It was crazy."
Fifteen years after that recording session, Dre still seems to savor the moment -- as much as the success of the record itself, which was named single of the decade by Spin magazine.
For Dre, a hit record starts with a hit sound, which sounds simple. But the search is what requires those long hours in the studio. The producer normally heads into the studio around 3 p.m. weekdays, the weekends being reserved for the family and for his hobbies, which include sports and photography. Because the studio in Sherman Oaks is like a second home, Dre likes the atmosphere to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
"One of the most important things for a producer is to realize you don't know everything," says Dre, whose studio techniques are largely self-taught. "I love having people in the studio that I can feed off and who can feed off each other."
When putting together a track, lyrics and themes are important, he says, but you've first got to catch a listener's ear with a melody or a beat. To create that beat, he either starts from scratch or builds on something he heard on an old recording, which he did when he worked a few seconds of Leon Haywood's "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" into "Nuthin' but." He used a piano riff from Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman" to jump-start "California Love," the spectacular 1996 single he made with the late Tupac Shakur.
On "California Love," Dre went into the studio in his former Chatsworth home and played a sample from the Cocker single over a drum beat. He then had some horn players come in to fill out the sound and finally stacked some strings on top.
While recording the track, Dre remembered a festive line -- "California knows how to party" -- from another song ("West Coast Poplock") and he brought in Roger Troutman, from the old Zapp band, to deliver the vocal line on the record.
As Dre recounts the process, you can imagine his head racing through ideas with the speed of a computer. Does this work? What else can I do? What's missing? Is that too much? Seeing him amid his arsenal of state-of-the-art equipment brings home the complexity of his approach.
But everything he does is rooted in the age-old search for a hook. In looking for musical ideas, Dre sometimes goes randomly through crates of old records to see if anything catches his ear, something as short as five to 10 seconds of music. Most of the time, however, he'll sit in the studio with a couple of other musicians and simply start playing, hoping one of them will come up with a key riff. Dre usually sits at a synthesizer or drum machine, joined by, say, a bassist and/or guitarist.
"It's great when everybody is working together and feels something is happening," he says about his time in the studio. "That's when it's all smiles in the studio. You don't want to see any clock or any daylight or hear any phone. You just cut yourself off from the rest of the world and make music.
"I don't necessarily even call it work. I call it fun. I even like the pressure, it makes me work all the harder if I know people out there are waiting for the record."
The quality Dre looks for in a recording artist is uniqueness -- a distinct voice that will stand out from the crowd. Sometimes the writing will catch Dre's ear, other times the rap delivery.
Dre's biggest star, Eminem, came from as far out in left field as Snoop Dogg. An intern at Interscope Records had heard Eminem on an L.A. radio show and passed a tape along to Interscope's Iovine, who in turn played it for Dre.
Dre was so excited that he got together with Eminem the next day. He was surprised to see that the young artist was white, which might have led some industry figures to think twice, given the bad name Vanilla Ice gave white rappers. But Dre swears -- holding his hand up playfully as if testifying -- he knew that Eminem had the goods.
"His writing is like no other," Dre says, "the way he puts together certain words and the way he makes certain words rhyme that to me most of the time don't even seem like they are supposed to rhyme. I also loved the fact that Eminem, I think, was setting out to be shocking. I love it as dark as it can get, and I thought the public would feel the same way."
In turn, Eminem has been lavish in his praise for the producer. "Dre showed me how to do things with my voice that I didn't know I could do," Eminem told me early in his career, such as "the way to deliver rhymes. . . . I'd do something I thought was pretty good, and he'd say, 'I think you can do it better.' "
It was Eminem who introduced Dre to 50 Cent, whose first three Aftermath albums have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. "I loved his delivery more than anything," says Dre, who produced two tracks on 50 Cent's latest CD. "He had so much authority and strength in his voice."
When it came to the Game, the Compton rapper who has become another multimillion-album seller, Dre heard something in the rapper's raw voice that reminded him of the N.W.A days. The Game's Aftermath debut, "The Documentary," was produced by Dre and 50 Cent, and it has sold more than 2.5 millioncopies in the U.S., but the Game has moved onto Interscope's sister label Geffen after a nasty, public feud with 50 Cent. There has been much speculation in hip-hop that the Game was shifted to Geffen after Dre picked 50 Cent, the larger seller, but he denies it.
"I told them, 'I love working with both you guys. I don't have a problem with either of you,' " he says. "It was more like what is going to be the best move under the circumstances. I don't even remember who came up with the idea of putting Game on Geffen, but it was absolutely not me picking 50 over him."
A little heavy lifting
DRE made a rare public appearance this month when he announced the video of the year winner on the MTV Video Music Awards telecast in Las Vegas.
For fans, the appearance was notable for two things: Dre didn't give a release date for "Detox," renewing fears that the album may be lost in some twi- light zone, and his arms and chest were notably buff.
"That's another of my obsessions," he says a few days later of the new look. "I go in the gym two to 2 1/2 hours Monday through Friday. It makes me feel better and look better."
Before Dre started on the weights about four years ago, he often went out drinking and eating after leaving the studio at night, and his weight swelled to 270 pounds. It's back to 220, and he has cut his body fat from 29% to around 6%. Playfully pumping his arms, he says, "I feel like I can kick a brick wall down now."
And what about the album release date?
"I was really hoping to have it out this year, but it's going to have to be pushed back a while because of some other things I've got to work on," he continues, sitting in the lounge of the recording studio where he spends all those hours behind the buttons. He's still two or three tracks away from calling it finished, he says.
Any second thoughts about "Detox" being his final solo album? No, he says emphatically. "I think it's time to move on," he adds, calling rap performing "a young man's game."
More important, the move will free him to pursue his long-standing interest in films. He has signed a multiyear production pact with New Line Cinema. Dre, who will team with director Philip G. Atwell, is also interested in scoring films and eventually directing.
But he expects recording studios to continue to be the center of his world, and he's optimistic.
"When I think of the future, I think a lot of Quincy Jones and how he is an inspiration," Dre says. "Look at the quality of his work over so many years. He didn't even make his best record, 'Thriller,' until he was 50.
"That gives me something to look forward to. Nothing pulls you back into the studio more than the belief that your best record is still ahead."
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lol
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I know the article is long,but it's interesting
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fuck if this cd ever comes out
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I hope he drops it in 2008 though, Raekwon's album too... As long as he puts it out, i'll wait as long as it takes unless it drops when i'm 50 years old, lol
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detox is an urban legend, like bigfoot and the lochness monster
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This was posted a couple days ago already.
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Dr. Dre Says Detox Delayed Again: 'I Like The Pressure'
Dr. Dre Says Detox Delayed Again: "I Don't Want To Sell Even One Record"
From Now On Im Not On The Look out for this muthafucking album
FUCK DR. Dre.. its gettin' ridiculous
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Re-post...
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I hope he drops it in 2008 though, Raekwon's album too... As long as he puts it out, i'll wait as long as it takes unless it drops when i'm 50 years old, lol
detox is an urban legend, like bigfoot and the lochness monster
;D ;D ;D
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"Detox" is efnawfijaweoaw[jdan;lkas...My bad, I feel asleep on the keyboard....Now, "Detox" is going to be asdfnaslfdfjasfjoejwoaf :sleep:
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Seriously guys, you guys need to chill out, Dre hasn't given an interview in years...it IS coming, thats all you need to worry about, just enjoy the wait, the music will deliver...don't let the expectation crush the eventual realisation!
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Seriously guys, you guys need to chill out, Dre hasn't given an interview in years...it IS coming, thats all you need to worry about, just enjoy the wait, the music will deliver...don't let the expectation crush the eventual realisation!
+1
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How is this "breaking"? It's not like they are airing a live cop chase on the news.
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How is this "breaking"? It's not like they are airing a live cop chase on the news.
lol, true say
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who gives a fukk anymore?
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who gives a fukk anymore?
yeah word...its past the point of anticipation
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It's closer than yall might think, and that's evidenced by this interview and his appearance on the MTV awards. Dre is reclusive as fuck, and he's now starting the very early stages of the hype. I never comment on Detox threads and I don't think about the album hardly ever. It'll come when it's ready.
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yeah, it's a big deal that he even gave this interview.
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Which producer had his jaw broken from Dre?
Dammn all these years, and I hadn't heard of that one......well thats because not a huge Dre fan, and since most seem to be, I tend to tune out.....hmmm
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Seriously guys, you guys need to chill out, Dre hasn't given an interview in years...it IS coming, thats all you need to worry about, just enjoy the wait, the music will deliver...don't let the expectation crush the eventual realisation!
props, that is real talk right there. i try to say that in most Detox threads, just not in that way.
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How is this "breaking"?
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who's Detox?
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who's Detox?
Where's Detox?
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Dre's next interview should be with Source magazine. Bout 2 months before Detox.
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its a myth just to keep the buzz up at aftermath hes punkin the shit out of all of us haha
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Somebody needs to scan the whole shit, here's another piece:
The new issue of GQ has a rare interview with Andre Young. He talks about a bunch of stuff like the N.W.A. days and the Curtis and Game beef, but of course this is what caught my attention. Maybe it’s common knowledge that Dre still burns trees, but these days I tend to think of him as an old fogie elder statesmen type of dude, so it kind of bugged me out to actually hear him say it.
So you actually smoked “the chronic,” that particular strain of weed?
Yeah.
You didn’t freak out the first time?
Nah. I liked it.
Did it become part of your creative
process?
Weed doesn’t make me more creative. I don’t smoke before I work. I like to smoke when I’m done and listen back to the music, under the influence. [laughs] Some people can go in and smoke from morning to evening and it doesn’t affect them. But it slows me down. I’ve definitely created stuff high before, but I prefer to do it the other way.
When was your peak of weed smoking?
Um—last night? [laughs] It’s still goin’. Nothing’s changed.
Also interesting is where he claims to have left Death Row with adequate compensation and then acts as if Suge never took one penny from him that he didn’t deserve. Which is funny seeing as Dre has a lawsuit pending against what’s left of the company as we speak.
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He was clearly buzzed during the original Chronic sessions, you can hear him giggling and sounding all charge up over that album.
He also in the past admitted to dropping E pills during the recording sessions of Slim Shady or Marshal Mathers album.
Lately though his music reflects like Dre has been on sleeping pills in the studio.
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He was clearly buzzed during the original Chronic sessions, you can hear him giggling and sounding all charge up over that album.
He also in the past admitted to dropping E pills during the recording sessions of Slim Shady or Marshal Mathers album.
Lately though his music reflects like Dre has been on sleeping pills in the studio.
lmao, props that shit made me laugh but its so true. de beats are starting to sound his age, like out of touch for more than a few years, dre needs to update and future his sound like he did with 2001...i feel like dre is sleeping when his making those beats or hella tired....maybe nigga needs to stop hittin the gym before work, at his age he probably fucked walking into the studio
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Somebody needs to scan the whole shit, here's another piece:
The new issue of GQ has a rare interview with Andre Young. He talks about a bunch of stuff like the N.W.A. days and the Curtis and Game beef, but of course this is what caught my attention. Maybe it’s common knowledge that Dre still burns trees, but these days I tend to think of him as an old fogie elder statesmen type of dude, so it kind of bugged me out to actually hear him say it.
So you actually smoked “the chronic,” that particular strain of weed?
Yeah.
You didn’t freak out the first time?
Nah. I liked it.
Did it become part of your creative
process?
Weed doesn’t make me more creative. I don’t smoke before I work. I like to smoke when I’m done and listen back to the music, under the influence. [laughs] Some people can go in and smoke from morning to evening and it doesn’t affect them. But it slows me down. I’ve definitely created stuff high before, but I prefer to do it the other way.
When was your peak of weed smoking?
Um—last night? [laughs] It’s still goin’. Nothing’s changed.
Also interesting is where he claims to have left Death Row with adequate compensation and then acts as if Suge never took one penny from him that he didn’t deserve. Which is funny seeing as Dre has a lawsuit pending against what’s left of the company as we speak.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre001.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre002.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre003.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre004.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/twbrkzzk1/Dre005.jpg)
Prop Bones1 for the OG post.
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^
thanks for that, that 1986 picture is crazy