After making us all wait a decade plus, almost billionaire, hip-hop legend and Apple employee Dr. Dre is back with ‘another classic CD for y’all to vibe with.’
Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre is a breath of fresh air from the moment you hit play. In short, the album bangs.
Dre’s always been a master of two-bar loops, but the crisp 808s on “Talk About It” are immediate reminders of why Dre is a god to beat bangers around the world.
It’s great to see Dre bringing this mish mash of sound smiths together and taking them each out of their element just a touch by adding a bit of that classic west coast bounce to each composition.
We’ll get back to Dre in a minute, but let’s take a minute to appreciate DJ Dahi’s contribution to the aforementioned banger, Dem Jointz’ Battlecat impersonation on “Genocide”, and the classic boom bap loop on “Animals” by DJ Premier.
It’s great to see Dre bringing this mish mash of sound smiths together and taking them each out of their element just a touch by adding a bit of that classic west coast bounce to each composition.
It’s also great to hear from a guy like Xzibit, who pops up out of obscurity for “Loose Cannons” or see BJ the Chicago Kid get some shine on “It’s All On Me”.
In fact, it’s hard to pick a favourite feature on Compton.
Eminem stops the beat on “Medicine Man” so you can catch all the intricate alliteration and then continues on to absolutely destroy the last half of the song.
Kendrick Lamar ups the ante by playing with his flow on “Deep Water” and Snoop Dogg flirts with the guitar riffs on “One Shot, One Kill”.
Compton is an amazing companion piece to Straight Outta Compton, but more importantly, if this is Dre’s final opus, it’s a high note.
As amazing as Dre is behind the board, at 50 years old, his age is starting to show when in front of the microphone. Though he’s always been at the mercy of whoever is penning his rhymes, his once gruff and intimidating mic presence is gone.
Listening to him next to Ice Cube on “Issues” is telling. One can only assume $600 million might suck a little hunger out of a brother.
Nonetheless, Dre’s peerless ear, pedigree and talent continue to make waves. Compton is an amazing companion piece to Straight Outta Compton, but more importantly, if this is Dre’s final opus, it’s a high note.
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