It presented Dre’s ear in a new way, outside of West Coast Gangsta Rap. It’s like, ‘Okay, The Slim Shady LP, they like that.’ Now that we know what works, wait til’ they hear this.'” In early 1999, Dre executive produced Eminem’s major label debut, which eventually was certified quadruple-platinum. “We found out that what we were doing really works, and that’s all we needed. We just clicked, and that just brought everything and everyone together that was happening at the time,” Dre says. Hearing demo and how it made me feel, and then meeting him, and how we say eye-to-eye as far as the work goes, and what we wanted to do in the studio-he was hungry, I was hungry, and it was just that spontaneous combustion. The introduction changed things, even before 2001. Dre Operated On His Career & Brought It To Life (Video) But the second time, I had Jimmy.” Iovine, who had been in the music business for more than 30 years, was taken by Marshall Mathers. So I know what the feeling of starting over feels like. Fortunately for myself, I had done it once before when I separated from Eazy and Jerry Heller and Ruthless. And I have to go find new artists and musicians to work with. “In the ’90s, Hip-Hop was a contact sport. Dre and those around him, including Eminem and Snoop, were being trolled in the years before the term existed. The friend-turned-foe and his staff refused. As legend has it, Dre offered Suge points from 2001 to recant the name. Dre’s former manager-turned-partner used matching artwork to The Chronic, and originally planned to pack the double-album with unreleased and remixed Dre tracks. Meanwhile, earlier in ’99, Knight released a compilation, The Chronic 2000, shoplifting Dre’s touted title. His 1996 album single “Been There Done That” was remade disparagingly by J-Flexx, a disgruntled writer from Dre’s Row team. Namely, Suge Knight’s label had used artists to take jabs at Dre, personally and musically. Dre’s 2001 & Defends Dre’s Production Contributions (Video) talked me into getting on the mic and doing this thing.” However, few could deny that Dre was the biggest star on his label. I just wanted to produce-find artists and produce ’em. I didn’t want to appear on the album at all, to be honest. It sounds and appears like I’m on more, because of the way I sequenced the song and structured it. My first album, The Chronic and 2001, I believe I might be on four or five songs. , I’m just trying to get on a song or two, here and there.
Dre recalls, “It was the same approach, because I’m trying to put myself in the studio with a lot of great artists, as far as the microphone, and where it goes. At Interscope’s Chairman’s house, Dre heard a demo tape and reportedly some battle material from a Detroit, Michigan MC by the name of Eminem.Īt that time, Dre was looking for talent. “That day at Jimmy’s house, in his garage, completely changed the course of my life forever,” Dre says. Dre and Jimmy Iovine appear together for a video that recalls the making of 2001. However, even with Nas’ project topping the charts, many fans felt like Dre’s new venture was lacking compared to the glory of N.W.A. He also released Nas’ super-group The Firm’s Album, compromised of Escobar, AZ, Foxy Brown, and last-minute Cormega-replacement, Nature. In its first year, Dre released a compilation of his new roster. Leaving Daz, Sam Sneed, and others, Dre created a new musical team of West Coast pioneer Chris “The Glove” Taylor, as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Mel-Man and Bud’dha, among others. King T and Death Row’s first pardon, RBX. Dre’s early signings included Compton O.G. This label, using the mantra “We don’t set trip we set trends,” began as something of a musical playground. Dre had launched Aftermath Entertainment, also distributed by Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope. In a new interview, he compares that year to “Vietnam.” In the exit, he’d reportedly forfeited an ownership stake and his personal song publishing in a Gangsta Rap empire. The Compton, California producer, rapper, and DJ had left Death Row Records three and a half years earlier, in 1996. Personally and musically, plenty had happened since The Chronic, which marked Dre’s first album since leaving N.W.A. It became a benchmark album that book-ended a decade that the producer and rapper had fueled. Dre released his sophomore solo album, 2001. Twenty years ago today (November 16, 1999), Dr.