Dre bravely exited, abandoning his master recordings. When insurmountable issues with Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight could only be resolved by leaving the label, Dr. All the MTV-friendly clips lensed to promote The Chronic were further proof of his business acumen, and there’d be much more to come. To the degree that anyone could know that formula would work, Dre knew. But in a rap era when only pop confections by Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer could sell multi-millions, Dre cut hardcore themes and ghetto narratives with melodic funk-pop song structures, making The Chronic a mega-successful blueprint for all hip-hop to come. The record’s a musical masterwork generally ranked by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. Dre’s first Quincy Joneseque solo album The Chronic in 1992 felt even greater. and the Posse (1987), the controversial gangsta-rap classic Straight Outta Compton (1988) and Eazy’s solo turn Eazy-Duz-It (1988) all signaled a seismic shift in hip-hop.
When Compton “street pharmaceuticalist” Eazy-E recruited Dre into the rap outfit N.W.A., his burgeoning style was a perfect match. But Dre initially built his reputation on sampling funk from 1970s bands like the Ohio Players and overlayering synthesizer lines inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell to create a sound altogether new in hip-hop music. Dre would eventually transcend the role of strict record producer, becoming more of an Ellingtonian bandleader of vocal performances, music, sound effects and personalities. The quartet’s shiny, sequined outfits and the dance-romance aesthetic on World Class (1985) and Rapped in Romance (1986) exposed nothing about the direction of West Coast hip-hop soon to come. Tooling with a four-track studio at the back of the club, Dre constructed his first demo recordings, joining the electro-inspired World Class Wreckin’ Cru. J, in a nod to famous Philadelphia 76ers basketballer Julius Erving.
#All dre albums series#
The series pairs his journey with producer-entrepreneur Jimmy Iovine, but Dre’s shadow looms so large that he could’ve shouldered all four episodes alone.Īndre Romelle Young came straight outta Compton, California, and entered music deejaying at the Eve After Dark nightclub-initially as Dr. Dre by club DJs, boardroom execs and grassroots hustlers in the past three decades comes from a personal history of innovation and perseverance detailed in The Defiant Ones, a four-part documentary premiering on HBO July 9. Dre as the colossus of L.A.? His mere trio of solo albums - The Chronic (1992), 2001 (1999) and Compton (2015) - belie the titanic impact he’s made on music, business and rap culture on a whole since charging into the record industry over 30 years ago.
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