![]() Nice Guy, it was Dre’s work ethic that attracted him to the project as much as his talent. (It’s unclear if Dre will release that version at a later date.)įor Primo, who first met Dre at a 1989 record-release party for Gang Starr’s debut album, No More Mr. Dre was like, ‘Yo, I want this on the album, and I want to rap on it too.’ I was like, ‘Hell, yeah.'”ĭre and Premier continued to work on the track together in Dre’s home studio, with Talib Kweli recording an unused verse for the song. When they met, his manager brought it up to Dre, and Anderson played it for him. “The song was basically done before Dre heard it, and Dre was meeting with Anderson on a separate issue. “He was extremely angry over what happened to Freddie Gray,” Primo recalls. Premier tells Rolling Stone it wasn’t coincidence that Paak - who wrote his verses first, when the song was originally called “FSU” (“Fuckin’ Shit Up”) - penned his contribution to the track after the death of Freddie Gray and shortly before the unrest in Baltimore. Paak came in as a replacement to record his vocals in Moscow shortly after. MF Doom originally signed on to handle vocals but backed out when he had to have surgery. Fuck you.”īefore Dre was involved, Primo and BMB Spacekid created the skeleton of the beat in Moscow earlier this year as part of a project for Boiler Room TV. Otherwise, we ain’t giving you respect back. ![]() Until then, that badge and gun need to be dealt with with honor and respect. Stop the madness on us, and we’ll stop the madness on you. Then y’all wonder why y’all get shot at and dealt with. “Not every cop is bad, but the bad ones really deserve a payback for all the bullshit they do,” Premier tells Rolling Stone. It’s in this capacity, as shrewd mentor, that Dre’s abilities are most needed in hip-hop’s future.According to Premier, working with Dre for the first time in his 26-year friendship with the N.W.A-member-turned-solo-star, the polemical track addresses a continuing problem head-on. But perhaps the most positive aspect is the restoration of Dre’s talent-spotting, not just through the drafting of Kendrick Lamar on tracks like “Genocide” and “Deep Water”, but also the widespread involvement of youngsters like King Mez (Morris Ricks II), and the multi-talented black/Korean musician Anderson.Paak, most effectively with his reflective observations on ghetto life in “Animals”. There’s no denying the extra jolt of energy Eminem brings when he pops up to do his hyper-manic madman thing on “Medicine Man”, and even Snoop Dogg sounds angrier than his usual genial, laid-back self on “One Shot One Kill”. It’s all the preamble the project needs, as the album slips into a febrile combination of reminiscences, boasts and complaints that manages to keep an eye firmly on the present whilst gazing fondly back on former tribulations. Significantly, both those stalwart collaborators are featured here on what, if Dre’s explanation on his Beats 1 Radio show The Pharmacy is to be believed, is his “grand finale”, the valedictory conclusion to his career.įor once, the “Intro” opening a hip-hop album is justified, as its film-studio-ident fanfare leads into a voiceover explaining Compton’s shift from bosky seaside suburb to “an extension of the black inner-city”. We’ve waited years, whilst he amassed millions flogging ugly headphones and getting into bed with Apple, for him to release an adequate follow-up to The Chronic and 2001, as he deflected attention away from his lacklustre label compilations The Aftermath and The Wash, which merely demonstrated how dramatically his A&R nous had slipped since his mentorship of Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Dre’s eye has been off the ball as his core business shifted to hardware. Many’s the performer, I imagine, who has wanted to stand up at a showbiz awards ceremony, grasping their trophy, and instead of earnestly trotting out a corporate litany of thank-yous just shout proudly, “I did it all myself!” – which is effectively what Dre has the opportunity to do here.Īnd not a moment too soon, either. Despite its title, Compton is not a film soundtrack, but rather, according to Dr Dre, an album “inspired by” the forthcoming NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton – which lends an intriguing, immodest circularity to the matter of artistic influence.
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