Dr. Dre

I actually came across this a couple of days ago whilst channel surfing.



Yes, that IS Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre all decked out as Captain Kirk in Eminem’s latest music video to be exact. This scene triggered a knee-jerk reflex in me followed by a whole line of expletives in one single breath. You see, to me, trying to figure Dr. Dre out is as perplexed as trying to figure out why your ex left you. One word: unpredictable. Dr. Dre is undeniably one of the best producers of his time and this is backed up by the fact that About.com ranks him as #2 (tied with Pete Rock) on their list of the Top 50 Hip Hop Producers. However, some underground zealots might be quick to label him as 'not keepin' it real' due to the fact that his recent music productions (Gwen Stefani & Eve’s “Rich Girl” etc) are a far cry from his N.W.A. days. However, like I have mentioned, he is highly unpredictable. He does not depend on a single template; there is no such thing as a ‘Dr. Dre Sound’. Every track he does, commercial or otherwise, sounds different from the previous one.

When I first started going into hip hop, one of the first vinyl LPs I got was the Chronic 2001 LP. For the uninitiated, you might not have heard of this album before, but I am pretty sure you would have, at least, heard the track “The Next Episode”. “The Next Episode” was a club staple and, to me, one of the most overplayed tracks in any club all over the world (I ever heard a DJ play the original version and 3 different remixes, BACK TO BACK, in a club). Nonetheless, overplayed club banger it may be, this track and many other tracks, showcased Dr. Dre’s knack for sampling.

The fact, unknown to many, is that the ubiquitous introduction of the track was actually sampled. The original track was actually “The Edge” by David McCallum and produced by David Axelrod (another brilliant producer whose stuff has been heavily sampled by countless artistes). Dr. Dre even sampled tracks from Cannonball Adderly to AC/DC for his Chronic 2001 album.

In this day and age, where you have the people who tend towards the underground and those who tend towards the commercial, there is much talk about 'keepin’ it real'. But what does 'keepin’ it real' really mean? Is conforming to a certain school of thought keepin’ it real? Or is following your passion and doing what you truly enjoy, regardless of what others may say, keepin’ it real? Your guess is as good as mine. Go figure.