62. "dre's engineering obsession was there on efil4zagggin" In response to In response to 48 Thu Nov-28-13 12:53 PM by GumDrops
that album is so perfectly mixed and engineered, i think it loses something
i think he relaxed a little at death row, but then it came back again when he was doing 2001, and now that perfectionism (aka lack of self belief) has become his main obstacle, as well as his need to reinvent himself, which i think he has had trouble with since death row ended....
that sterile, clinical sound of 2001 i think takes out a lot of the looser, funkier stuff he used to do - its hard to do that when youre trying to get perfect mix downs and be really minimal sonically
dre was never like timbaland, but i think trying to compete in that/this era (god knows how he feels about todays producers, id love to know) was a challenge for him... hes so aware of his reputation, he prob doesnt want to sound 'old'.
the problem with this board/hip hop fans in general is that collaboration is seen almost as a weakness, but dre is someone that has ALWAYS been a guy who thrives depending on whos around him, whether its ruthless or death row. i dont see this as a bad thing. in the 90s there were probably more rumours than facts floating around, so i wonder if all the stuff people say about him now (and believe) has also crippled him a bit.