861 Dr. Dre - 2001 (1999)

 861 Dr. Dre - 2001 (1999)


Studio album - Hip Hop



About the Act:

Dr Dre is a rapper. producer and label owner. He was part of NWA who were a seminal rap group from the 80s. He has produced on, and appeared on, many albums, but only has 3 solo albums. very much spread out in time.


About the Album:

This was his second album. It has a huge plethora of guests (I think every single track has a guest rapper) and guest producers. It is conceived like a movie, and has the now almost obligatory sound effects and acted vignettes between tracks. It sold really well and reviewed really well too, although some reviewers found the subject matter and language distasteful.


My History with this Album:

None


Review:

This album made me sad, and I guess a bit angry.

Musically, and production-wise it is finally a hip-hop album I can enjoy and admire. Maybe I have been broken in now, but there is definite music here in the backing, sometimes quite funky. Some great use of predominantly synth sounds with the beats, and the production is really quite exquisite, there is a rhythm and flow to is, to the extent that sound effects are perfectly blended and timed. I wouldn't say it is all my favourite music, but it's good, good enough for me to wish more rap albums were like this. The rapping is.. well I couldn't tell you good rapping from bad, or given that much of the rap I have heard has been on this list of well-regarded albums, maybe I have only heard good rapping. I could catch most of the words, and there is cleverness and humour and what I assume is a nice delivery. I recognised one of the guests, Eminem, who is quite distinctive. He appears several times. I know he was signed to Dre's label, and Dre produced much of his album. Seriously, all this impressed me.

There is one track, near the end of the album, called "The Message" about his dead brother, which is honest, and introspective and beautiful, as good a rap track as I have heard, I think.

And then there is the rest of the album. And this is what makes me sad. The music has quality, the words in the most part are pure filth, possibly the worst I have heard in rap, and that is saying something. Part of me wants to justify my opinion by explaining, but mostly I want to wash my brain and my ears out. 

So that's what makes me sad. It's good rap, some of the best I have heard, and I never want to hear it again.


5/10


Spotify & YouTube: If you really want to seek it out and listen, then find it yourself. I'm not going to facilitate that.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_(Dr._Dre_album)



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