Compton - Dr. Dre

[Guest broke]

It's pretty dang good. Not as good as The Chronic but blows 2001 completely out the water.

No it isn't and no it doesn't. 2001 is still the best album he's put his name to.

[djdiggla]

 

It's pretty dang good. Not as good as The Chronic but blows 2001 completely out the water.

No it isn't and no it doesn't. 2001 is still the best album he's put his name to.

Serious or kidding? I hope kidding.

[Steve]

I just had a listen through it. It's alright. I would describe it as "an OK hip-hop album".

 

I should get a job writing reviews for Melody Maker. That's still a thing, right?

[Jon]

Didn't missin linxs track come out a year before the next episode too?

 

I like one track from the new Compton lp, maybe my ears can't be formatted for widescreen either

[Mike-L]

^

Yeah. I'd say at least a year before next episode.

[JHouse]

I miss Milli Vanilli. Real talk.

[Guest rasteri]

I'm liking the secret messages for people listening to it through Beats headphones.

[Steve]

"The speakers in your ear cups cost 75 cents from China....."

 

"I'm rich, bitch!....."

 

"You feckin' mug!....."

[Guest rasteri]

"...Everyone on the bus thinks you're a tool..."

[Guest petesasqwax]

Shux Wun put this up recently on his Facebook - may be of interest to somebody here:

 

So… Some unknown young white kid from Texas wrote a lot of Dre's lyrics for the new Dr. Dre "Compton" album. I was studying the liner notes of Dr. Dre’s Compton album and discovered some interesting things I shall explain below...

First of all, I really like the album, it's dope, extremely well produced and all the rhymes are on point in my opinion.

Lyrically it's pretty dark, but I suppose if it was a Dre album filled with happy rhymes then I'd be like wtf?

Remember this name though, King Mez. He's dope. He is credited for writing most of what Dre says on the Compton album. He is also featured rhyming himself on 3 songs.

King Mez is not the white kid from Texas, he’s a black kid from North Carolina. More about the white kid from Texas later below.

Looking at the liner notes you'll see King Mez is credited (by his real name Morris Ricks II) for writing on 12 out of the 16 songs. I don’t know about you but 12 out of 16 is a lot of songs to be a featured writer on, for someone else’s album.

He's got independent solo stuff from years ago up on youtube, look him up, he’s dope.

Ok so he’s a Dre ghostwriter, and that's nothing new but what I didn't realize was that Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube did not write the 3 songs they have appearing on the Compton album.

Makes me wonder about a lot of their more recent work, aside from their features here.
Lots of other names are credited for writing but no Calvin Broadus aka Snoop or O'shea Jackson aka Cube are credited on the songs they appear on.

A friend of mine mentioned Eminem probably wrote Snoops verse on “One Shot Kill” (track 10), and it does sound like an Em style, but there's no writing credits for Marshall Mathers except on “Medicine Man,” which is a song Eminem is featured rhyming on.

Either way, Snoops ghostwritten track “One Shot Kill” is dope. Cubes ghostwritten track “Issues” (track 8) is kinda whatever to me, but Snoop actually sounds better than ever haha.

Dre doesn’t actually sound like Dre to me on any of his songs on this album, except the very last track “Talking to My Diary” which features other writers credits on it, even though last time I checked no one else is rapping on the song.

Aside from the writing, lets talk about what Dr Dre is really known for... Beats. Guess what, there is not one beat on that album produced by Dr. Dre. However, there are beats produced by many other people together with Dr. Dre included with them.

For those as geeky as me who actually read the liner notes, Dr. Dre is shown with credits on every song because it is technically his album and his name is there to collect his publishing money for putting out this album.

However, if you notice, he’s also credited on the tracks he doesn't rap on, as well as other writers being credited on the track that only Dre raps on.

In terms of how much he wrote or produced himself, well apparently nothing, based on the information he provides you. I love the album, I just hear it differently after studying a bit.

The beat production is great, it’s the work of many different producers… So to me it’s more like a compilation project more than Dre’s album, once you read and realize who actually did what.

Then when I hear people like Snoop and Cube and of course everything that Dre says on the album, I think about how whoever penned those lines for them had to really get into character and create something to suit these guys for each track.

What I hear is pure genius when I realize all of that. The ghostwriter keeps these old guys relevant and connected to the culture & music by their words and delivery.

The actual rapper you hear might not have it in them to create rhymes as creatively as they used to, or like Dr. Dre, never had lyrical talent even back in the day when rhymes were being written for him.

I’m looking forward to dig more into the solo projects of these mc's and producers behind this Compton project.

Aside from one producer who I actually used to book with his group at my hip hop events in LA and NYC about 10 years ago who is also credited on this Compton album for producing ”All In a Days Work" (track 5), DJ Khalil of Self Scientific, I don't know much about any of the other producers on this project.

Their names are there and I shall start digging on them. I’ve known Khalil has been working with the Aftermath realm for many years now so that's not surprising, but producer Dem Jointz is one I’m really looking out for from this project now though.

Last but not least… There is ONE MORE name featured the album which turned out to be VERY surprising. Justin Morhle is credited as a writer on that same track with Khalil, even though Morhle doesn’t rap on that track himself. He’s featured on other songs though.

Justin Morhle aka Justus is a singer/rapper, and is featured on 2 songs on the album. He is heard featured on 2 songs, but he's credited for writing 7 of the 16 songs on the album.

He’s the guy you hear singing like Drake on the first song on the album, not to mention, based on his rap style, it is very he likely he also wrote Dre’s verse on that same song as well.

So just like King Mez, it’s obvious he’s writing a lot of rhymes for Dre, that is not a secret.

HOWEVER, the fact that Justin Morhle aka Justus, is a 20 something year old white kid from Texas is what is most surprising.

So when you hear those hardcore dark gangsta rap lyrics from Dre and some others, just think about that next time. Dre, did you just say Compton? LOL.

I know this is going to be hard to believe, but apparently here is a video of one of Dre’s prized ghostwriters, Justin Morhle aka Justus doing his solo thinghttps://youtu.be/uKQESXQqQQo

There is no reason why Dre would feature this guy ghostwriting on 7 songs, and appearing on 2 songs, of a monumental project for Dr. Dre such as “Compton,” without some serious game plan involved.

Not only is he a young white kid not even from LA or California at all for that matter, but he is virtually unknown as a rapper to anyone at all, even where he’s from. How do you get on a Dre album with stats like that?! LOL

Wait for it folks, Dre is planning to shock your world once again… I predict this Justus guy will be seeing a lot of cameras and bright lights in the near future, and some bitter old black hip hop geeks will still find a way to blame white people for white rappers winning hip hop awards. LMFAO!

Somebody else commented that Justus "was signed to The D.O.C. for a minute before being introduced to Dre. Or so the story goes..."

[Guest petesasqwax]

http://www.djbooth.net/index/news/entry/2015-08-12-all-44-people-credited-on-dr-dre-compton-album?noredirection=true

[djdiggla]

That's crazy.

[Guest broke]

So, still no follow up to 2001 yet, just a promo record for the movie?

[Guest petesasqwax]

basically, yep

[DJ Rock Well]

So, still no follow up to 2001 yet, just a promo record for the movie?

Somobody's got to say it...

 

Dre's afraid. In his own mind, the only two solo LPs he's ever dropped, we're both stone cold classics. Depending on how much of his own coolade he's been drinking, he might ever think they're the greatest hip hop albums of all. He's terrified of 'difficult third album syndrome'. What if after a decade and a half of hype and anticipation, he drops a new proper solo album and everyone slates it? The wait and hype and well documented perfectionist ways only make it harder, anything less than the best LP of the decade and he's been farting around for nothing. That's the reason for this Compton movie tie-in, by its very nature it comes with ready made excuses attatched. He didn't even write or produce any of it FFS!!! If it's lauded, it's his. If it's slammed, he just exec produced it.

 

Man up Dre, I can see your bottom lip quivering from the other side of the world.

[Guest broke]

YEAH BUT FOOTJOY'S SAYING IT'S STONE COLD CLASSIC NUMBER THREE OH WAIT DRE DIDN'T ACTUALLY WRITE ANY RAPS OR MAKE ANY BEATS *BUZZZZZZZZZ* I'M SORRY DIGGLES "BETTER THAN 2001" WAS NOT THE ANSWER WE WERE LOOKING FOR

[djdiggla]

^^^Woah there, lay off the Fosters Light Ice. I never said it was a classic. 2001 isn't even a classic in my book. You got to have more than 2 or 3 good songs on an album to be a classic.

 

 

 

So, still no follow up to 2001 yet, just a promo record for the movie?

Somobody's got to say it...

Dre's afraid. In his own mind, the only two solo LPs he's ever dropped, we're both stone cold classics. Depending on how much of his own coolade he's been drinking, he might ever think they're the greatest hip hop albums of all. He's terrified of 'difficult third album syndrome'. What if after a decade and a half of hype and anticipation, he drops a new proper solo album and everyone slates it? The wait and hype and well documented perfectionist ways only make it harder, anything less than the best LP of the decade and he's been farting around for nothing. That's the reason for this Compton movie tie-in, by its very nature it comes with ready made excuses attatched. He didn't even write or produce any of it FFS!!! If it's lauded, it's his. If it's slammed, he just exec produced it.

Man up Dre, I can see your bottom lip quivering from the other side of the world.

 

 

Probably so. I'd think he has loads of material. Don't drop one album, drop a few or do something insane like a triple disc.

[Guest broke]

2001 isn't even a classic in my book. You got to have more than 2 or 3 good songs on an album to be a classic.

Seriously? As you might have guessed, I'm having processing this. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of 'widescreen rap' and was even less into that highly polished sound fifteen years ago, but even I had to admit 2001 was almost end to end bangers.

 

(Un)interesting trivia: I don't think you can get Fosters in Australia anymore. Not for 15 years at least. It's brewed and sold overseas, but not here. It's like you're being sold a make believe version of Down Under.

[djdiggla]

I remember being pretty disappointed with 2001. And the Aftermath for that matter. The Chronic is one of the best albums of all time tho. I want to listen to 2001 start to finish again... If you're saying its that good maybe I'm need a refresher.

[Guest petesasqwax]

http://gawker.com/heres-whats-missing-from-straight-outta-compton-me-and-1724735910

[DJ Rock Well]

Just been reading that Pete... the Floyd Mayweather of widescreen production

[Guest petesasqwax]

yeah, man. if anyone was unsure: Dre is clearly a grade A cunt, I'm afraid, & he pretty much has been ever since NWA dropped

[DJ Rock Well]

The name of his headphone company has just become a whole lot more sinister.

[Guest petesasqwax]

I always knew this stuff, I just didn't realise the extent of it. clearly he missed the word "women" from the company name :/

[Jam Burglar]

 

(Un)interesting trivia: I don't think you can get Fosters in Australia anymore. Not for 15 years at least. It's brewed and sold overseas, but not here. It's like you're being sold a make believe version of Down Under.

 

 

Whoah, whoah, whoah, hold the phone. You're telling me that you live in Australia? I thought you and WeakSauce moved to NYC to start a music carreer a-la Flight of the Conchords. Mind blown.