Dr. Dre — 2001

Seven years after his groundbreaking solo debut, Andre "Dr. Dre" Young releases his second studio album, one of the events in the hip-hop season. The album is a direct sequel to "The Chronic": the original title is "The Chronic 2000", Suge Knight isn't as powerful as in previous years, but he's still powerful, he can still be so annoying and decides to steal the title from Dre and use it for his compilation "Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000", in which, of course, there's no song realized by the former NWA. The producer chooses to change the name to "The Chronic 2001" and is again hampered until he gives up the word "Chronic". It comes out 2001. In 1999. The cover is a classic: entirely black, the author's name at the top left, the title at the bottom right, flanked by the marijuana plant ("The Chronic"), thus bypassing all obstacles. It's one of the few clever things in the whole project.

The album was born as a mixtape to demonstrate to the crowd, people, fans and casual haters that Dr. Dre is still the best hip-hop producer of the moment and that he can still churn out classic albums even as a rapper. Subsequently, the effort is built in the form of an LP, but the soul of the mixtape remains. The production is performed entirely by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, except for the track "The Message", produced by Lord Finesse. The mixing is done by Dr. Dre and the effort uses heavy live instrumentation, performed by several people: Mike Elizondo on bass, Sean Cruse on guitar, Camara Kambon, Scott Storch, Carl Breeding and Lord Finesse on keyboards and Taku Hirano on percussion. As on the previous record, there are dozens of guests, mostly unknown rookies whose solo career is expected to launch by the album, as was the case with Dre's friends seven years earlier. Well-known names are Eminem, Dre's new protégé, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit, Kokane, Mary J Blige, Devin the Dude, the only guest member of NWA MC Ren and King T, who's among the first rappers to sign for Dr. Dre's fledgling label in 1996, Aftermath. Among the lesser-known, there are Hittman, 6Two, Ms. Roq, Big Tray Deee of Snoop Dogg group Tha Eastsidaz, Time Bomb, Defari, Knoc-Turn'al, and Rell.

The record is based exclusively on the goodness of the music chosen by Dre. Suge stole his title and g-funk, nevertheless, the boy proves he can still make good music even with few elements. The production is simple, cool and effective, consisting mainly of dry, hard and gaunt midtempo drums, the deep bass of Elizondo and the brilliantly synthesized electronic keyboards of Storch and Camara: Dr. Dre & Mel-Man build solid and at times excellent funky rhythms, the sound seems g-funk, it's an attempt to do a modern g-funk that sounds rusty and detached, dark and introverted, saddened, unfairly resentful. The renunciation of the samples (twenty scarce in seventy minutes) is a very hard blow for being an official studio album by Dr. Dre, but as a listener you hardly notice it, his beats are at this level.

On this musical carpet, a numerous series of performers alternate, including the unknown Hittman: he plays the role of Snoop, he should be the new Snoop Dogg, the emerging to the limelight who takes the hip-hop scene and makes it his thing, the new popular face, he's the biggest protagonist of the project and covers half the album with ten appearances (he's not credited in "Some L.A. Niggaz"). Hittman, like most of the other performers, appears completely devoid of personality and fails to give a firm imprint to his verses, performing his lyrics with a rap style that is too soft, bland, forgettable. The record should launch this whole series of emerging acts, Hittman, Ms. Roq, 6Two, etc., but it's not even known what happened to these people after the release of the album. Every moment with these artists feels completely unnecessary and there isn't a single song among the finest ones that has at least one of these dudes.

Lyrically, the entire record revolves around violence, sex, drugs, girls, guns, gangsterism of all kinds and rampant and uncontrolled misogyny. Overall, it's really poor and scarce lyricism: it's hard to ask for more on a gangsta album, however, the collective interpretation of these dudes leaves a lot to be desired and the choice to put in so much sexual material is questionable. In the words of Dre himself, «you've even got a 'Pause for Porno.' It's got everything that a movie needs», but which movie needs that? What kind of films do they broadcast in Los Angeles?

In any case, the best moments of the disc are represented by the songs released as singles and those written by the best ghostwriters: Dre doesn't write most of his lyrics, however, his interpretation is excellent and the songs earned something by his rapping, when he's fit. I would start from "Still D.R.E.", everything has already been said, I know, I just want to repeat it. It marks the official, solo return of Dr. Dre, as a producer and as a rapper. It anticipates the album by two weeks. The rhythm of the song is iconic. The instrumental is iconic. The first thing you hear is the piano. Scott Storch plays it. The loop is simple, it's just a few keys, but it's an enveloping, captivating, fantastic, mesmerizing loop. It's beautiful. It breathe independently for a few seconds, then Snoop arrives with the intro, suddenly the skinny drum falls, accompanied by strings.

Dre delivers three braggadocio-gangsta stanzas with a clean, crisp, hardcore, confident style, he's at his best. Snoop Dogg is on the hook with his friend and delivers a few lines in the middle of the verses, always relaxed, perfect. The electronic keyboards loop on the hook is also great. Snoop's excellent outro makes you crave a verse of him here and proves he can pull off a classic all by himself on this sensational soundscape. The lyrics are an extraordinary work by Jay-Z who, paid, and credited, he delivers to Dr. Dre his signature song and one of his classic singles in one day. From the point of view of sales, the single enters the Hot 100 and reaches the top 15 in the rap chart, being more appreciated in Europe, where it comes first among the singles rnb in the UK and rips several certifications.

"What's the Difference" is one of the other high points of the tape, one of the few really strong points. Dre, as the great man of culture that he is, samples the Master Charles Aznavour's "Parce Que Tu Crois". As in his top moments, also in this case the Doctor succeeds in the transition from Classic to Classic. Intro by a dude who doesn't seem to be credited, then Dre's verse on a simple boom bap, dry midtempo drum, distant synths, thin and shrill, cloud the track. The hook is performed by the same guy as before: this is Phish, actually credited on the record as background vocals, but who does an effective job here. Xzibit flows well, smoothly, confidently, then, the song is closed by Marshall Mathers. When Eminem arrives, the music changes, literally: he asks and gets the beat to be stopped to make props to the producer, then kills the cut. Perhaps he's not yet at the best level, but he's certainly among the best performers in these seventy minutes.

Eminem is again the protagonist of the next top track of the album, "Forgot About Dre": urgent strings, light-hearted electronic piano keys, tight and lean drum machine. Dre and Em deliver Mathers lyrics in a tight, hardcore, energetic and youthful style, in one of the freshest tracks on the LP. The song is extracted as a second single, ranks on three continents and was awarded best rap performance by a duo or group at the 2001 Grammys.

Finally, last but not least, "The Next Episode". Classic. Perhaps, the best rhythm of the ex N.W.A on this album. Fantastic sample, from David McCallum's "The Edge", sickly electronic piano, perfect drum, midtempo, hard, dry, hook by Snoop Dogg & Kurupt, effortless verse by Snoop with his bewitching, magical, fluid, dope flow. The bridge is ethereal, it seems to come out of a late eighties dream pop song, it's one of the best things in 2001. There's a line of synths falling and sliding down from the sky exactly like the girl sliding off the pole in the video, it's fantastic, as you imagine in your mind the falling synths, it comes the real image of the video: the timing is brilliant, it's beautiful. Dre still delivers hardcore, relaxed, elegant, effortless, great performance. Great contribution by The D.O.C. who proves for the umpteenth time that he has one of the best pens on the circuit and that he's one of the top West Coast artists of the nineties. Again the bridge, then comes the chanted contribution of Nate Dogg, it's a blessing that brings the cut to be an absolute gem in the season. It goes strong in the charts, especially in Europe, certified in several countries, second among rnb tracks in the UK. The song lends itself to remixes. The San Holo one went strong. The dubstep one is a masterpiece. After that, there's really nothing, not at these levels.

Until the last song, powerful track that puts an end to the prominent West Coast gangsta era, "The Message": Dr. Dre dedicates the song to his recently deceased younger brother, Tyree. It's the only track made by Dre that doesn't feature curse words on the album and perhaps, in his entire career. The beat is different from the rest, it's made by Lord Finesse, DITC. It's boom bap, pure, opened by elegant piano keys, there's Camara Kambon credited to keyboards along with Lord Finesse. The drum is perfect, midtempo, dirty, dusty. Distant, but not excessively, the xmas bells typical of the producers of the crew. Soulful song by Mary J. Blige, wonderful, then Dre delivers with a different style than usual, it's concentrated, clean, clear, tidy, regular. Simple and excellent hook by Mary J Blige accompanied by soul strings, then another hook sung with Rell. Great cut, great lyrics written by Royce da 5'9".

Released by Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Jimmy Jovine's Interscope Records, it's distributed by Universal: it's Dr. Dre's biggest commercial product, first among rap records, second on the Billboard 200, third in Canada, fourth in the UK. At the end of the year, it's the best-selling rap album of the year in the United States, fifth in total, and it's certified six times platinum by the RIAA. It obtains certifications in twelve countries on three continents, double platinum in Europe and is the best-selling rap album in the decade 2000-2009, among the top twenty best-selling in the United States in the same period. It's something gigantic.

But it's not a classic. I know, you know, Andre Young himself is aware of it. It can't be. Even pretending that sexual skit doesn't exist and ignoring the lyrics, the production isn't the best they can offer. Then, of course, come the lyrics, the skits, those comedy thangs, that useless sexual skit. Dre seems to have stayed in the early nineties. Around "The Chronic" years. No, even earlier. "N*****4Life" years. The production comes close to that quality, but it's not as good as that. The lyricism comes close to that quality, but it's not as good as that. They're pretty much all in that mode on this album. Hittman is in that mode. Kurupt is fully in that mode, perhaps he embodies it most of all and best of all, you see it, you feel it, you read it clearly in "Xxplosive". But he's not The D.O.C. He's not MC Ren. He's not Eazy-E. He doesn't have that lyrical ability to take things beyond the ordinary. He doesn't have that technical ability to spit things in your face more aggressively than anyone else. He doesn't have that personality to drop the most hideous verse of the year and make it look his finest ever. You could say that at least he has tried, but in reality, he's not even trying. The bars are there. They suck, but they're there. He wrote them, he read them, he said them. He doesn't perform them. They fall flat on the drum. He's pulverized by a Nate Dogg in great shape and outclassed by 6Two.

The album is universally acclaimed by critics, and is considered an excellent sequel to a classic record, a solid work and by some fans even better than the debut, and in turn, another masterpiece album. Among the pros, only XXL has the courage, or the ruthlessness, to take the album to a maximum score, in retrospect, after a few years. For everyone else, it's a few steps down and, personally, that's actually the case. There's no good rap most of the time, and what was done here is already almost completely present in N.W.A's "Efil4zaggin", 1991. Go rediscover that album. That one is a classic. There are all the shocking bars, the sexual bars and all the gangsterism of this album, better written and better rapped by better artists on better music, made again by Dr. Dre. The protagonist is one of the best to do it, MC Ren: he's also present here, but in order not to make the others pale, Dre reserves him an intro that fades into the background. The album is a must for g-fans, the singles are mandatory for every head. 8/10.