Review: Dr Dre- 'Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr Dre'

Dr Dre is a American rapper and producer from Compton, California. He first came to prominence with rap group N.W.A. who are widely regarded as a seminal act in the gangsta rap genre. Dre has also been heavily involved in producing for and overseeing the careers of other rappers such as Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg.

A new album from Dr Dre has been 14 years in the making, with it being reported that he started work on the project back in 2001. It's been an additional two years since Dre's last release, the hugely successful and genre defining '2001' album. This has partly due to his business ventures, such as Beats headphones, and partly due to him not being happy with the music that he was producing for the project.

This album starts with an 1 minute 15 second introduction track that gives a brief outline of the history and problems facing Compton. This gives good context to the rest of the album. It then goes straight into 'Talk About it', very much a modern hip hop song with a trap beat to it, albeit the track isn't overspilling with originality. The next track on the album is 'Genocide', which features Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosius and Candice Pillay. This has a wonky sounding beat that works very well with flow of the featured artists, especially with Kendrick's well thought out lyrics.


"It's All On Me' slows the album down again offering a more relaxed sound, before the attitude of 'All in a Day's Work'. This track has punchy lyrics and a slick chorus, as well as a well worked beat that would feel at home on mid 90's track. 'Loose Cannons' seems to tells the story of a gang member having a mental breakdown and shooting a woman. This shows the range of issues that this album tackles, possibly in the view of promoting future change.

'Deep Water' is a particularly strong track that combines a well produced trap beat with ruthless lyrics. This track is very good at changing pace quickly to add variety, it therefore makes for much more interesting listening. This quality carries on with 'One Shot Kill', which has all the components for a future classic with powerful vocals from both Snoop Dogg and Dre. My favorite tracks from the latter part of the album are 'Animals' with it's chilled beat and floaty lyrics and 'Medicine Man' with it's dream like vocals from Candice Pillay and a furious verse from Eminem.

I think this album is extremely well executed, with consistently high quality beats, production and features. He has showed that his own work is still relevant with this album, this may be expected however with is work on other artists albums. The story of this album is very gritty and it really puts you in the situations that are being describes. One thing can definitely be said, it was worth the wait.  

Highs
Genocide
One Shot Kill

Lows
Darkside/Gone
Issues

Rating: 8.2/10