New Music Friday: Dr. Dre's Grand Finale
By Michael Cerio
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Dr. Dre has been many things over the past thirty years.
He brought gangsta rap to the masses and blew the minds of white suburban kids everywhere with N.W.A., introduced the G-funk bounce and Snoop Dogg in a smokey haze of the early nineties, and launched the career of an aggressive white kid from Detroit and that's all before he invented headphones.
Well, not invented as much as made them colorful and more expensive.
There's a Dre for every generation, and most of them meld in this moment with the release of his third album Compton.
A week out from the N.W.A biopic 'Straight Outta Compton', Dr. Dre unveiled his latest effort on Apple's Beats1, a company of which he Is now a part of. The kid that once ushered in a new era of hip hop, is now a business mogul coordinating album releases with movies of his life and a gazillion dollar company. Quite a feat for a "producer that can rap and control the maestro".
Compton is dubbed as "A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre", likely because of its inspiration from the upcoming film but also in the manner of which it's constructed. It's packed with guest spots and showcasing of established Dre protégés like Snoop Doog and Kendrick Lamar, but also young talents like King Mez and Justus. Here Dre is the conductor, ducking in for appearances in his own production of what hip hop should sound like in 2015. It's not a throwback or nostalgic, but the same trunk-rattling West Coast vibe built for a different era.
Ironically, hip hop has been dominated by the subject of ghostwriting for the past month due to the Drake and Meek Mill feud, and now returns Dr. Dre who has long been known not to write his own rhymes. Yet with Dre it's celebrated because he's always been the mastermind more than the main attraction. It's evident in the way he launched the careers of both Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
Dre has said that Compton will be his "grand finale", and it's a fitting one. It's a love letter to the city that birthed him, with all of his artist royalties going to build a performing arts center in Compton. It's a layered production that's expertly crafted and sonically reflective of its time. It features many of the talents he gave voices to along the way. It makes Snoop Dogg sound hungrier than he has in years, finds Kendrick Lamar at the top of his game, and creates a platform for a few young MCs that only a select few can offer. It's a grand goodbye indeed.
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Also out this week a new set from country charmer Luke Bryan with Kill The Lights, more rock n' roll gospel from Frank Turner with Positive Songs For Negative People, and Night Beds returns with the expansive electronic indie effort Ivywild.