Review Summary: "It's still Dre, and it's all still really iconic..."
The year of 1999 was a pretty solid year for hip-hop music; Eminem was introduced on a major label, albums like Operation: Doomsday, Things Fall Apart, and Black on Both Sides were dropped, and one of the most recognizable producers in rap returned back to the scene after a seven year hiatus from 1992's groundbreaking release The Chronic. Though some may wonder whether it lived up to expectations after such a lengthy wait.
Now typically when it comes to albums like this I tend to feel like I've outgrown a lot of them, there is a whole lot of stereotypical gangsta lyrics on here that are featured from beginning to end, I don't hate it - It just seems more dated to me than other types of rap going on at the time. I know that Dre doesn't really write his own lyrics so I'm not going to take off points for a known fact, but it still doesn't excuse some of the content.
When people complained about the lyrics on this album they said that they were 'too misogynistic,' however to me the lyrics just come off as very frivolous at times, you should know what I'm talking about here eventually if you already don't, trust me.
Let's get the obvious out of the way here, the entire project is littered with great Dre beats, (and no, I'm not talking about those ridiculous headphones the guy puts out) from iconic tracks like "Still D.R.E.", "The Next Episode", "What's the Difference", and of course the legendary "Forgot About Dre." It's all just so recognizable and catchy.
Now since that's out of the way let's talk about the clutter, this album is so damn long - and normally I wouldn't penalize the album itself for that if it wasn't filled with a lot of what I consider to be filler tracks and other pointless things; take the skits for a small example, they don't do anything to enhance the experience in my opinion, some of them are actually more annoying than pointless such as "Pause 4 Porno" - man, when I heard this damn skit for the first time I had to take a break from the album for a good couple of minutes to recover.
Staying on the 'pointless' train; let's take a look at some of these features, I know there's a lot of gigantic names on here and most of them don't really bother me too much as long as they contribute something good for the song they're on, but as for the smaller names... why the hell is Hittman on eleven tracks? How much did he pay Dre? Who the hell is Ms. Roq?
Like damn, Hittman even has a whole track to himself, Dre didn't even show up! Did he sleep in or did his car break down? Cause I don't see any other excuse.
Finally, the entire second-half of this project is filled with a lot of sub-par filler tracks that don't live up to the first-half in my opinion - "Light Speed", "Bitch N-ggaz", "Murder Ink", "Housewife", "Ackrite", and "Bang Bang" just don't do much for me at all.
Returning back to the subject of the lyrics, they mostly don't bother me, but some I can't take too seriously.
Take the earliest example for me personally - "F-ck You" has some catchy moments sure, but they don't really outshine some silly moments like:
"Before you kiss 'em use Colgate
She swallowed it, yeah the bitch took the whole eight
And ran with it, then let Mel-Man hit it
And Hittman hit it (who?); damn bitches
Man, this is what I'm talkin about
Chicken head, chicken fed, with a dick in yo mouth."
Or the entire track of "Let's Get High," including Dre's entire verse:
"Yeah, I just took some Ecstasy
Ain't no telling what the side effects could be
All these fine bitches equal sex to me
Plus I got this bad bitch laying next to me
No doubt, sat back on the couch
Pants down, rubber on, set to turn that ass out
Laid the bitch out, then I put it in her mouth
Pulled out, nutted on a towel and passed out."
Seriously, it gets to the point where it sounds like a parody of itself. Though if you can get past all that, there's some damn good verses and hooks on here; "The Watcher", "Big Ego's", "Xxplosive", (R.I.P. Nate Dogg) "Some L.A. N-ggaz", "The Message", both of Eminem's verses, most of Snoop's, and all of Xzibit's verses are examples.
Overall this is a great project for the most part, some killer production, nice verses, and catchy sounds are really enjoyable and easy to return to, although some factors of this album are dated for my personal preference; it's still Dre, and it's all still really iconic. - some low moments just have to be recognized... still better than the headphones he makes though!
Favourites:
The Watcher, Still D.R.E., Big Ego's, Xxplosive, What's the Difference,Â*Forgot About Dre, The Next Episode, Some L.A. N-ggaz, The Message, the production, Eminem, Nate Dogg, Xzibit, and most of Snoop Dogg
Least Favourites:
F-ck You, Light Speed, Let's Get High, Bitch N-ggaz, Murder Ink, Housewife, Ackrite, Bang Bang, all of the skits, some of the features, and the length
AWARDS:
Daddy's Little Girl: Forgot About Dre
The Son I Never Wanted: Let's Get High
