The eighth track in my All-Time Top 25 Tunes is number seven, ‘Still DRE’ by Dr Dre.
I’ve been a fan of Dr Dre since his NWA days (the album ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is a piece of work that redefined the burgeoning rap genre).
The first time I heard ‘Still DRE’ I recognised the easy partnership between Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, but more importantly, I recognised the massive amount of production values that went in to bringing this quality piece of music to this listener’s ears.
Forget the cars, the over-driven suspensions and the girls with massive backsides and even more massive tits.
Listen to the production values.
Now I could be a heathen, but what is it that is exceptionally well produced on this track? There is a plingy plingy background and seemingly average lyrics which repeat themselves a lot.
You see, I like the track, but wouldn’t put it on my top 25.
This was Dre’s real breakthrough to commercial success. He’d already established himself as a force in the world of rap, but this was where he rolled his rep out to a wider audience. For me the music is highlighted by the stacatto Orange’d guitar riff against the double bass/cello/viola/violin quartet, 3/4-time percussion and period-dropped keys make this a delicious little package. The rap is almost but not quite incidental. The effort to build musical hooks of this quality was intense. The repetition is part of the charm, for me. But music is notoriously subjective.