4.5/5
Compton
Artist: Dr. Dre
Compton, the third album from Rap’s first billionaire Dr. Dre, has been billed as several things: a companion piece to the Dre-produced blockbuster biopic Straight Outta Compton, his long-awaited third album (that isn’t Detox, the greatest album that never was), and his supposed grand finale. The most fitting if the last. Compton serves as a grand synopsis for the seminal rapper’s influential, three decade-long career. Only an artist as massive as Dr. Dre could influence the rap game so much with only two solo albums: 1992’s G-funk creating, Snoop-introducing The Chronic and 1999’s 2001. For most artists, a look-what-I’ve-done-in-the-meantime album would feel like a self-congratulatory pat on the back, but most artists are not Dr. Dre.
Even if the fifteen tracks - not including the spoken “Intro” - were not as enjoyable musically, Compton would still be a fascinating historical document. I'm pressed to say that no other studio album has encapsulated one artist’s career trajectory with more efficiency and style. This may be attributed to Dre’s timeless production; the beats, feel, and samples of Straight Outta Compton (the album) still feel as groovy an impassioned as they did thirty years ago. From the G-funk thump of "Darkside/Gone" to the retro soul-sampling of “It’s All On Me” to the more contemporary sounds of “Talk About It,” every track runs seamlessly into the next. It’s not all nostalgia, either. Dre makes sure we know he still has some tricks up his sleeve. You will get audio high from the groovy descending bass line of “Genocide.”
The guest list is just as telling. Everyone with a chapter in the Gospel of Dre makes an appearance, each one hotter than the last. “Issues” grants us the long-awaited Dre/Ice Cube reunion we have always dreamed of. Two songs down is the Snoop Dogg-assissted “One Shot One Kill,” which finds Snoop tapping into his old Gangsta Rap roots and sounding more inspired than ever. The penultimate track, “Medicine Man,” is the inevitable Eminem track. Shady is his usual technical genius self, with one delightfully twisted rhyme after another. Sadly, the track comes off as one of the album’s weakest. The references to rape don’t help matters much. Tellingly, the similarly-violent shock-rap of the Xzibit-featuring “Loose Cannons” is another weak track in an album full of winners.
As far as guest rappers go, no one elevates the material better than Dre’s most recent superstar prodigy, King Kendrick Lamar. “Genocide,” “Deep Water,” and, most impressively, “Darkside/Gone” are all capped with K.dot verses as priceless as anything on his own 2015 masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly. Does “Darkside/Gone” feature a hidden Drake diss? Who cares? No way Drizzy eliminates Lamar like he did Meek Mill. On the subject of new rappers, Dre also finds time to introduce new talents like Justus, Anderson .Paak, and King Mez.
The greatest thing about Compton is that you do not have to be a rap junkie or historian to appreciate the record’s many delights. Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic are not required preliminary listens - but, I mean, what are you waiting on if you haven’t heard them? So catch up…or don’t. It does not matter. Whatever you do, find Compton and get to listening.
Compton
Artist: Dr. Dre
Compton, the third album from Rap’s first billionaire Dr. Dre, has been billed as several things: a companion piece to the Dre-produced blockbuster biopic Straight Outta Compton, his long-awaited third album (that isn’t Detox, the greatest album that never was), and his supposed grand finale. The most fitting if the last. Compton serves as a grand synopsis for the seminal rapper’s influential, three decade-long career. Only an artist as massive as Dr. Dre could influence the rap game so much with only two solo albums: 1992’s G-funk creating, Snoop-introducing The Chronic and 1999’s 2001. For most artists, a look-what-I’ve-done-in-the-meantime album would feel like a self-congratulatory pat on the back, but most artists are not Dr. Dre.
Even if the fifteen tracks - not including the spoken “Intro” - were not as enjoyable musically, Compton would still be a fascinating historical document. I'm pressed to say that no other studio album has encapsulated one artist’s career trajectory with more efficiency and style. This may be attributed to Dre’s timeless production; the beats, feel, and samples of Straight Outta Compton (the album) still feel as groovy an impassioned as they did thirty years ago. From the G-funk thump of "Darkside/Gone" to the retro soul-sampling of “It’s All On Me” to the more contemporary sounds of “Talk About It,” every track runs seamlessly into the next. It’s not all nostalgia, either. Dre makes sure we know he still has some tricks up his sleeve. You will get audio high from the groovy descending bass line of “Genocide.”
The guest list is just as telling. Everyone with a chapter in the Gospel of Dre makes an appearance, each one hotter than the last. “Issues” grants us the long-awaited Dre/Ice Cube reunion we have always dreamed of. Two songs down is the Snoop Dogg-assissted “One Shot One Kill,” which finds Snoop tapping into his old Gangsta Rap roots and sounding more inspired than ever. The penultimate track, “Medicine Man,” is the inevitable Eminem track. Shady is his usual technical genius self, with one delightfully twisted rhyme after another. Sadly, the track comes off as one of the album’s weakest. The references to rape don’t help matters much. Tellingly, the similarly-violent shock-rap of the Xzibit-featuring “Loose Cannons” is another weak track in an album full of winners.
As far as guest rappers go, no one elevates the material better than Dre’s most recent superstar prodigy, King Kendrick Lamar. “Genocide,” “Deep Water,” and, most impressively, “Darkside/Gone” are all capped with K.dot verses as priceless as anything on his own 2015 masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly. Does “Darkside/Gone” feature a hidden Drake diss? Who cares? No way Drizzy eliminates Lamar like he did Meek Mill. On the subject of new rappers, Dre also finds time to introduce new talents like Justus, Anderson .Paak, and King Mez.
The greatest thing about Compton is that you do not have to be a rap junkie or historian to appreciate the record’s many delights. Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic are not required preliminary listens - but, I mean, what are you waiting on if you haven’t heard them? So catch up…or don’t. It does not matter. Whatever you do, find Compton and get to listening.