I've never seen a post here about this record. It may have happened and I just missed it but this record deserves a whole month up in here based on how HUGE of a record it was and still is.

This shit was so ahead of it's time. It set the bar high and cemented D.O.C. as a "what if" artist to the fullest. His whole cadence, rhyme structure, imagery, versatility were on full display here and this to me is still Dre's crowning achievement production wise.

This album is a classic no questions asked. Talk about it.

first album that I was able to hear in entirety when it was primin.

The Formula is still !!!!!!! and Funky enough is ridic. I always thought that was a Jackson 5 sample til maybe 8 years ago.

I feel that "Grand finale" does sound a bit too 88 for me to love like most people do...but I can see it being a monster back then

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I was fresh outta High School and an old head had it on at his spot and this shit blew my whole head back. I was like who the fuck is this? He just gave me the CD......I played the shit out of it too.

This record is still fresh as fuck to me........It has aged better to me than any of the of shit that came out of that camp at the same time. Anything. I reach for this before anything else because it has something all those other records doesn't have. Lyrically it was beyond it's time and it wasn't too caught up in the back and forth bullshit.

in black-and-white with the Raider caps.

D.O.C. was more of an 'MC's MC' then any member of NWA & that patois style was different.

Grand Finale to me was overrated even when it dropped, more praised for who's on it than because it went hard.

That wouldn't be a Top 10 track from that album for me.

>Grand Finale to me was overrated even when it dropped, more
>praised for who's on it than because it went hard.

C'mon son. Cube's verse? "I stay in ya ass lke cho-lest-tree-ol"? Dude murdered. D.O.C. and Ren were dope as fuck too.

>That wouldn't be a Top 10 track from that album for me.

Not top 10? On an album with 13 tracks? And two of the skits? So I assume that the you think only "Portrait of Masterpiece" is worse? Or "Whilrwind Pyramid."

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█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I do always get that, "Lend Me an Ear," and "Portrait of a Master Piece" crossed up though.

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Lend me an ear is one of the hypest hip hop tracks of all time.

>
>>Grand Finale to me was overrated even when it dropped, more
>>praised for who's on it than because it went hard.
>
>C'mon son. Cube's verse? "I stay in ya ass lke
>cho-lest-tree-ol"? Dude murdered. D.O.C. and Ren were dope as
>fuck too.
>
I see it get mentioned by people as being one of the best posse cuts of all-time, which is crazy, it's not even seeing 'Parental Discretion Iz Advised'.

It was kinda formulaic, contrived from the title/placement on the album on down.

>>That wouldn't be a Top 10 track from that album for me.
>
>Not top 10? On an album with 13 tracks? And two of the skits?
>So I assume that the you think only "Portrait of Masterpiece"
>is worse? Or "Whilrwind Pyramid."

Nobody loves 'Cosmic Slop' more than me but this song sounds a little cheesy nowadays.

Grand Finale tops this.

I still sorta liked "hard rock" back then, and as a 14-year-old I got a kick of tracks dissing shady chicks. I think when I was able to "discover" what he was saying backwards at the end of the record due to a Walkman malfunction? Man... Shit was right in my wheelhouse back then.

Now? Yeah, it sounds a lot cornier. I'd also put it in my bottom two of the album. Grand Finale still dope tho...

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because D.O.C.'s a better rapper & because it interpolates 'Cosmic Slop' rather than just laying down a metal riff, though the fact that he plays it straight versus for laughs like Iceberg did takes it down a peg.

I re-bought this album used at my local shop a year or two ago but I don't think I actually sat through 'Beautiful But Deadly' until yesterday while listening to the full album on Spotify.

Think I'd need some alcohol in me for that cut not to be a bit cringeworthy.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

is to say it was a rehash of 'last song'
both bang like a mug though.

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

But both songs are exceedingly dope. And "Grand Finale" is better.

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>is to say it was a rehash of 'last song'
>both bang like a mug though.
>
>█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
>Big PEMFin H & z's
>"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1
>thing, a musician." � Miles
>
>"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

Only in the Lesson would someone dismiss the Grand Finale as an average song. That shit is a monster and one of the greatest songs ever! It is way better than Parental Discrestion is Advised and The Last Song...

That song was and is incredibly dope. Everyone on that shit tore it to pieces. Now you compare that with some shit like "Fuckin' Problems" and you can understand te difference.

was the West coast version of Rakim in terms of you feeling his words and sentiments.

that album was the truth, me and my Homie bumped that tape a whole whole lots.

he had a voice that good go in so many directions and yet it was funky. he had that IT and Snoop got taught real well by him IMO

mistermaxxx R.Kelly, Michael Jackson,Stevie wonder,Rick James,Marvin Gaye,El Debarge, Barry WHite Lionel RIchie,Isleys EWF,Lady T.,Kid creole and coconuts,the crusaders,kc sunshine band,bee gees,jW,sd,NE,JB

Miami Heat, New York Yankees,buffalo bills

because he doesn't get the credit as being the Link between Scarface and Luda or TI and you know this right PLAYA?

DOC was more instrumental to the West Side than to the Scarface,Willie D,etc.. dirt SOuth

mistermaxxx R.Kelly, Michael Jackson,Stevie wonder,Rick James,Marvin Gaye,El Debarge, Barry WHite Lionel RIchie,Isleys EWF,Lady T.,Kid creole and coconuts,the crusaders,kc sunshine band,bee gees,jW,sd,NE,JB

Miami Heat, New York Yankees,buffalo bills

Seriously one of the best lyrical performances on a hip-hop album that there's ever been. I know the term in thrown around, but I really feel like he was ahead of time, and his flow was so fucking ill. It's gonna sound weird, but I think he could have been a West Coast Biggie before there was Biggie.

Such a god damn shame what happened to him. I honestly don't think he would have had Snoop's spot if he hadn't gotten into an accident, but he could have had a solid career.

And I honestly gotta give it up to the production on that album. Dre did a damn good job of getting cats to replay famous breaks and make it sound, well, funky as hell.

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Who knows how he would have made it through that Death Row shit if he was out in front as an artist. So many dudes lost years, time, money, and ultimately their lives behind that bullshit. D.O.C. has said himself plenty of times that he's not a thug nigga. He's an introvert. He's not about that life. That's what's so amazing to me about No One Can Do It Better. He was coming from a different place with that shit and it was refreshing. It's still fresh now.

He helped make it happen for so many dude's careers and was so instrumental and influential in the whole West Coast uprising. I didn't realize for years just how much but I looked back on this dude and I was really blown away. It's a shame what happened but maybe this is jsut how it was meant to be.

D..o.C. had the gift of voice on that album
Spitting like crazy, delivery effortlessly perfect.
█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

And that's not a dis to "Eazy Duz It" or "The Chronic," but more of a testament to how good "No One Can Do it Better" is.

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www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

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For lack of filler alone (though you'll probably think something is filler, still won't be more than SOC).

The Chronic is a great album, but IMO the beats and the rhymes on NDIB are just better.

Doggystyle is a good album. It has the 'bigger' hits but not the better ones.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

are so much more impactful though. I mean the first three joints basically take your head off.

And for the first time in ages I listened to the 02 remastered version of 'If It Ain't Ruff' (always a personal favorite) on Spotify with some headphones on & was taken aback by how nasty that beat is with that bass envelope filter & the way it keeps sending that vacuum sound from one ear to the other while the guitar keeps time.

That shit is sick. Always heard Dre say he was dissapointed in the way Straight Outta Compton sounded because it was so rushed but sounds like he went back & really worked on some shit for the reissue because 'If It Ain't Ruff' is one of the more dynamic beats Dre ever made.

"Niggaz4Life" is a top contender for that title as well. Overall production on that is naaaasty...

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even by rap standards or early NWA later-Death-Row standards.

Alwayz Into Somethin does lay that 'g-funk' foundation though officially though.

Oh yeah, definitely...I'm strictly talkin' about the music. I think if Cube didn't leave the group, that album woulda been closer content-wise to "Amerikkka's Most Wanted".
Gangsta, BUT with a bit of a political edge injected. Cube once said that "The Nigga Ya Love To Hate" was originally written for the follow-up N.W.A. album...

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>Cube
>once said that "The Nigga Ya Love To Hate" was originally
>written for the follow-up N.W.A. album...

every cut is DOPE from "y'all ready for this?" till "word em up!"

the commercial breaks, the little bits of dr dre everywhere, saving all the guest features for the grand finale. flawless rhymes.

That song is a monster.

The rhyme scheme on that song is effing incredible.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

man you aint lyin I'm crankin it riiight now...thanks for this post the D.O.C was way ahead of the curve in those days.

Goin from upside down to right side up at the speed of thought

Greatness...Peace!

Integrity is the Cornerstone of Artistry...

I got folks that STILL play this CD like it came out yesterday.

DOC was almost to the West Coast, what Primo is to the East Coast. Dude had that much talent.

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Great insights....

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.13847/title.the-doc-splits-from-dr-dre-says-hes-waiting-to-hear-detox

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.14020/title.the-doc-elaborates-on-dr-dre-split-reveals-request-from-eminem

Some of the hardest shit I ever heard. To this day put that shit on and rattle your door panels off. That shit is brilliant. I was so mad that version wasn't on the album.

<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up...
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