Dr. Dre - 2001

Interscope Records: 1999

A Very Important record, this, accomplishing many things all at once (hay, guys, remember all those G-funk rappers!?), forming ripples in the world of hip-hop still in effect. For sure it brought Dr. Dre back to the forefront of rap discourse, a strange achievement when you reflect on what he'd accomplished as a producer throughout the '90s: popularizing G-funk, discovering Snoop Dogg, crafting some of the biggest hits Tupac and Blackstreet put out. Hip-hop is fickle though, eager to flock to the next big hype as established vets start piling on the years. Following the flop that was The Firm, with Southern rap making huge commercial inroads (never mind its quality, No Limit Records was a marketing juggernaut), and you can understand why folks figured a guy who made his name ten years prior would have been regarded as old-hat.

Then along came a white saviour, and suddenly everyone was talking about Dre again. Eminem must have done more than given the good Doctor a new protégé though, as Mr. Young hit the studio again for a new album of his own. Not that he needed to prove he could still drop rhymes as he did with The Chronic, but hey, when you want to emphatically put to rest whether you 'still got it', you go at it with all you got. And he sure done did that, folks still holding out against hope that he'll release a way-overdue follow-up to this album. Man, just let it go already. Dre's got headphones to sell, yo'.

Right, Dre's not much a lyricist, and the truth is 2001: The Nu Chronic doesn't do much to dispel that fact. When he's poppin' off about his past successes, reflecting on changes in the rap game, taking down his doubters (The Watcher, Still D.R.E., What's The Difference, Forgot About Dre), or even offering a heartfelt tribute to his dead brother in The Message, the Doctor easily holds his own among the plethora of guest spots. Half this album goes on about fucking women though, topics far more capably handled by smooth cats like Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg (and outright douches like Kurupt). Anytime Dre goes on about “fucking bad bitches”, he almost sounds apologetic to his wife in doing so. Sorry, hun, but the boys need their strip club anthems.

Whatever your thoughts on lyrical content, no one denies that 2001: A Chronic Odyssey is all about the beats Dre and Mel-Man crafted here. No matter how tuned out I get hearing about 'guns, blunts, 40s, and bitches', each G-funk cut on here keeps me coming back for more, rhythms packing trunk-rattling punch with twitchy keyboards, plucky strings, and triumphant horns. And with so many of Dre's big rap friends on hand dropping rhymes (Snoop! Em'! X'! Dogg Pound! Devin! Roq! ... Hittman? Who that? And why's he all over this album?), 2001 comes off like a big ol' Westcoast gangsta' party that you're invited to. Yes, even you suburban white kids in middle-America.

ACE TRACKS: March 2016

It feels so strange only doing this once a month now. Like, such a significant gap of alternate content on this blog, no longer breaking up the monotony of just reviews over and over again. Might have to come up with some other thing, but with the insane backlog I’m accumulating at present, I kinda’ want to keep trudging through first. At least finish off the last of these massive letters before venturing onto other ideas.

Speaking of, the first half of ‘T’ is almost finished, which means that big bundle of used CDs from another will finally be tackled. Including the music I was already gathering myself, we’re looking at a pile of nearly fifty releases. That’s a significant chunk of time this electronic music blog that’s gonna’ be spent talking about rock, folk, alternative rock, metal, dark ambient, pop, punk rock, and maybe a little techno too. I won’t blame if some check out until June, but surely few of y’all are just anxious to read my thoughts on bands like The White Stripes, The Cranberries, The Clash, and The U2s. Meanwhile, here’s the ACE TRACKS for this past month of March:


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Moodymann - Technologystolemyvinyle
Skin To Skin - Temenos
And, technically, a lot of cruddy compilations, but most of their tracks are on Spotify anyway.

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 25%
Percentage Of Rock: 4%
Most “WTF?” Track: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry - Crazy House (how could it not?)

Hey, diversity! Boy, it sure was nice to compile a playlist with more variety compared to the previous couple months. Not that I’m treading that far from my go-to fav’ genres like downtempo dub (Sounds From The Ground, Mick Chillage), ambient techno (Si Matthews, The Black Dog), trance-pants (Stephen J. Kroos, Legend B), and quirky outliers (Autistici, DJ Hell). But with house, funk, g-funk, Detroit techno, EBM, synthwave, and alternative metal all getting a look in, March turned out a decent, interesting month’s worth of music.

But just wait for what April has in store…!

Kurupt - Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha

Attic: 1999

For all the time Kurupt’s spent in the Westcoast hip-hop scene, he’s never quite crossed over on his own as so many of his peers did. Pairing with Daz Dillinger as Tha Dogg Pound certainly was successful, and he’s made many memorable appearances on albums with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac… basically anyone on Death Row Records during the label’s glory years. By the time he ventured out as solo artist though, the Death Row empire was crumbling, no longer a sure thing in an evolving hip-hop scene (much less a safe working environment). So off Kurupt went, establishing his own Antra Records print, and dropping nothing less than a double-LP as a debut. Um, oversell much?

Right, every rapper was doing the 2CD deed in the ‘90s, but usually with some established market, and Kurupt’s rep was as an ace wingman, not an MC who could carry two discs worth of material. The fact Kuruption! did end up as strained, thinned, and disappointing as it did surprised no one. It also unfortunately made interest in the quick follow-up Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha fly way under the radar, folks figuring Kurupt just wouldn’t have much luck in the solo scene. Turns out everyone who thought as such were dead wrong, Young Gotti bringing the fire here for a record that became a true underground hit.

From the quality of the beats, to the quality of guest spots, to the quality of… well, everything, Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha is some top grade Westcoast rap. Snoop Dogg makes multiple appearances, along with Nate Dogg, Xzibit, Soopafly, Daz Dillinger (naturally), and a plethora of associated homeboys you probably never heard of (nor care to know). And just in case you forgot his Eastcoast roots, Kurupt has a wicked boom-bap session with KRS-One in the bonus cut Live On The Mic. Boom-bap, on a g-funk rap album!

The beat flavors don’t just end with an outlier or two, this album offering a bumpin’ mix of styles. There’s way old-school rap with Loose Cannons, block party bounce (Who Ride Wit Us, Represent Dat G.C., Girls All Pause), orchestral looping (Trylogy), smooth g-funk groove (It Ain’t About You, Neva Gonna Give It Up, Ho’s A Housewife), and more. Even when the lyrical content goes more misogynistic than I’m comfortable hearing, I can’t help but keep bobbin’ to that funky-ass Moog action (Your Gyrl Friend). Throughout it all, Kurupt is fired and inspired, out to prove he stands tall in gangsta’ rap. He definitely done did that here.

While Dr. Dre’s 2001: Chronic Harder would overshadow the hip-hop world at this time, Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha comes off like an opening volley from the Westcoast – lighting up from nowhere, reminding everyone how united everyone still was despite their label wanderings. It may not have been Kurupt’s intent to make a statement for his geographical brethren on this album, but he nonetheless released one of the best Westcoast LPs of the late ‘90s.

Snoop Dogg - Tha Last Meal

Virgin: 2000

Though Snoop Dogg’s commercial revival with The Neptunes was still a few years off, the Long Beach resident was seeing a significant turnaround in his career when this album came out. Hot off the heels of the epic Up In Smoke tour and classic spots on Dr. Dre’s 2001: The Re-Chronikling, those who figured Mr. Broadus had lost the plot in joining No Limit Records were lured back by the promise of a return to Westcoast G-funk roots in Tha Last Meal. Technically, he’d already made those reconnections in his prior album, No Limit Top Dogg, but after the poorly received (yet two-times Platinum selling!) Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told, you can forgive folks being wary of anything else ol’ Snoops would put out on Master P’s print.

Well, worry not, for he’s got Dr. Dre in the studio for three cuts on Tha Last Meal …which is the same as Top Dogg. Ah, well, we also get Dre-blessed Scott Storch in here, plus Snoop-blessed Meech Wells, and Westcoast alums DJ Battlecat and Soopafly. Also, in a remarkable coup, Timbaland, at the peak of his powers, provides two cuts, including Set It Off, an absolute banger of a track. The only No Limit Records representation is second-to-last track Back Up Off Me, with all the dirty South gang vocals, cussin’, and cheap beats you’d expect from the label. It’s also the dumbest cut out of seventeen. Shock, I know.

So music wise, we’re firmly in Westcoast G-funk land throughout, and hey, Snoop’s brought in a bunch of his buddies from the region too. Kokane takes up the bulk of guest spots, doing warbly croons in choruses. Nate Dogg gets in a few verses, including a wonderful little ditty in Set It Off. Long time Dogg Pound associate Butch Cassidy also shows up, and Snoop’s gotta’ get his short-lived posse Tha Eastsidaz in there somewhere. In a surprise spot, N.W.A. alum MC Ren and Ice Cube drop some bars in the awesome Set If Off (have I mentioned how dope this track is enough?). And through all this sausage fest, Eastcoast star Eve has a great tag-up with Snoop in Ready 2 Ryde, while another Westcoast legend, The Lady Of Rage, shows up in… wait for it… Set It Off!

So how’s ol’ Snoop on the mic, then? He’s still a gangsta’, still down with DPG, still smokin’ that endo, playa’-hatin’ hoes, and all that. Vintage Snoop, though a couple things do lyrically date Tha Last Meal. One, there’s a lot of Bill Clinton quips, because late ‘90s. Two, he’s dropping hints of a career less centered on rapping, and being a business mogul instead, including owning his own label, producing new talent, and the whole shebang. While that all came true after a fashion, it seemed he was more thinking of hanging up the mic for good, hence Tha Last Meal. Then along came a Pharrell, and put to rest that plan.

Warren G - I Want It All

Restless Records: 1999

Though he arose from the same g-funk scene as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Warren G took quite a different path compared to his contemporaries. Rather than signing with Death Row Records like the rest of 'em, he took his talents elsewhere, hopping around labels as an independent artist and producer during his '90s run. The gambit paid off, establishing a strong solo career when he could have instead been lost among the Death Row stars (to say nothing about escaping the tribulations that came with being on Suge Knight's label). After a while, his former association with Long Beach faded from the public consciousness, despite having quite the hand in helping define the original g-funk style of music. He may have broke big with the Nate Dogg duet Regulate from the Above the Rim soundtrack (itself released on Death Row), but the biggest hit I recall him having was a take on I Shot The Sheriff in '97, a tune with ‘crossover appeal’ square in its sights.

Still, his former friendships endured even if Mr. Griffin The Third went elsewhere in the world of hip-hop. As the ‘90s drew to a close (and most of his old associates finally freed themselves of Suge Knight), it seemed all the original g-funk party crew were reconvening, collaborating with greater frequency. It was almost as if something big was going to happen, like a return to the glory days of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. What could it be, mang? Oh, wait, we already know. Chronic 2001. Well shiiite, no wonder then.

I Want It All, Warren G’s third full-length, has collaborations galore, especially from his Long Beach days (or would that be... ‘daze’? Ahahaha! Haha! Ha. Er...Um, what was funny again?). Tha Dogg Pound’s here! RBX is here! Nate Dogg is here! Snoop Dogg’s here! In fact, the inclusion of both Snoop and Nate on Game Don’t Wait marked a proper reunion of the trio’s original group, 213, which existed even before they showed up on The Chronic. Small surprise it’s one of the best tunes on I Want It All, an easy, breezy, spliffy recollection on their music careers and where they may head (though they never properly released anything as 213 until a number of years after).

Most of this album’s like this - laid back and mellow, even for g-funk. Not much in the way of club bangers, ‘hood anthems, or r’n’b crossovers, yet still maintaining the ‘everyday is summer days’ vibes you’d expect of West Coast hip-hop. As for Warren G himself, he mostly steps back into the studio, letting his guests handle the lyrics (also included: Jermaine Dupri, Eve, Drag-On, Slick Rick, Memphis Bleek... holy Hell, I could go on). As Mr. Griffin The Third’s never been an exceptional rapper (similar to Snoop’s drawl, but with less playfully smug sneering), it’s just as well he lets his beats do the talking, as the music’s mint for recalling those warm sunny days you just want to cruise.

Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle

Death Row Records: 1993

One of one Snoop Dogg albums you’re supposed to have, even if you’re not much of a Snoop Dogg fan (say what!?). Yeah, ol’ Cal’s released tons of albums since, but ask any discerning fan of hip-hop, and they’ll immediately point you to this one, and let you figure out the rest later. Doggystyle was huge the year it came out though. Along with Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, it properly kicked off the G-Funk era of hip-hop, and cemented Death Row Records as the West Coast label to be reckoned with. And while an album’s legacy can distort some viewpoints, this one’s rep is totally deserved. Everyone got a kick out of Atomic Do- …whoops, I mean Who Am I? (What My Name).

So once again, I’m left with a classic album to talk about without much to add to the chorus. Eh, you noticed something odd about the title? I’m sure everyone knows Snoop Lion initially went by Snoop Doggy Dogg while still on Death Row. Technically, all copies of Doggystyle should still carry his original moniker, so here it is thus. Yep, even these reissue copies that came out in 2001. Speaking of this reissue copy, why was Gz Up, Hoes Down removed from the tracklist? To make room for the Who Am I? video? Curse this still limited turn-of-the-century ‘Enhanced CD’ technology. One benefit of the reissue is having most of the skits merged with the tracks, but they’re stupidly put at the beginning of each one. Dammit, that’s annoying if you want to skip W Balls, funny though it is.

Right, less ramble, more music talk. Gin & Juice. Classic! Seriel Killa. Classic! Doggy Dogg World. Classic! Hell, they’re all classics, perfectly capturing the ‘every day is summertime’ vibe that persists throughout Doggystyle. Even with darker moments like Murder Was The Case, this is one of the quintessential summer albums to own. Bouncing electro-funk basslines, squealing Moogs… you can practically smell the ganja smoke wafting by your nose as you drive past palm trees.

One thing that makes me double-take while listening to Doggystyle today is how much Snoop’s voice has changed over the years, and for the better. He’s always had a charming drawl with a touch of menace, but as he’s aged, the drawl’s now more lyrical, turned deeper, and filled with less venom. Understandable, as Mr. Broadus of 1993 was a very different individual compared to Mr. Broadus of 2012. Wow… nearly two decades since Doggystyle came out, huh. Can’t wait to see what the next reissue will have in store for us!

You don’t need me to tell you this is a classic album that you should own. Either you already know that and have it in your collection in some format, or you haven’t heard anything beyond Gin & Juice and Who Am I? I suppose some might be turned off by the gangsta overtones, but compared to the misogyny the dirty south promotes, Doggystyle is downright quaint.