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For this reason, I lean towards Next Episode as his best production.
Prob an unpopular opinion lol. Hear me out tho:
I think a lot of the reverence Dre's NWA and G-Funk eras evokes is driven by nostalgia. As in, many Gen-X and Millenial men came of age to this music, and likely modeled some of their masculinity around it, so it's somewhat sentimental. But strictly talking about Dre's actual beatmaking in those eras? It's basically the sub-genre/sounds as a whole that stand out more than any one beat imho, especially since so many of them sound similar. Like, for some Dre beats from that era you can even find a couple others that are almost identical lol (eg. Dre Day v. What's My Name v. Can't C Me). I don't think this takes away from his accomplishment of essentially scoring 80s and 90s hood life tho. But compared to his later stuff, what I think these eras best exemplify is his ability to convey (negative) emotions musically. I used to play classical piano and Dre reminds me a bit of a hood Rachmaninoff*** in that regard.
For example, a lot of Dre's 80s stuff is uptempo but chaotic and confrontational-sounding, sometimes literally sampling police sirens or adding effects that mimicked them etc. Even without lyrics, listening with closed eyes, the imagery of flashing red-and-blue lights and police presence/chases/brutality easily comes to mind. It's like he wanted listeners to actually feel what it was like to be profiled/pursued/beaten by police and why they were rapping what they were rapping. Then, with his 90's stuff, his tempos slowed considerably but - especially with his Death Row repertoire - he relied even further on dark minor keys, discordant note accents, eerie synths, bell tolls, and just spooky fucking chord progressions overall.
I think all of this was extremely effective at translating the violence, mass incarceration, and poverty ravaging Black communities during the 80s and 90s into a soundscape one could actually feel/fear, and I've even read Dre's credited as a forefather of horrorcore by some. So while a lot of people in here mention how the *lyrics* from some songs are hard to listen to now lol, to my ears I hear all the tension, aggression, and misogyny in the actual beats and tbh this may factor into why I'm not often drawn to revisiting music from that era. I was a little girl/pre-teen for most of it and so there's really nothing in it for me. That said, I guess to me his "greatest" beats from that time are mostly the big singles that were danceable - Straight Outta Compton, Nuthin But A G Thang, What's My Name, Keep Their Heads Ringin, etc *shrug* But as a grown hip hop fan my actual fave pre-2001 Dre beat is prob Deep Cover.
Musically tho, I think Dre's beats from 2001 on are his most iconic. There was more variation, better musicality, and I think we don't give Dre enough credit for not churning out complete turds when he went more commercial lol... I mean he produced huge career singles for multiple mainstream artists (eg. 50, Gwen Stefani, Eminem) that weren't all that corny. So of this era, I think his "greatest" beats are Next Episode, Xxpplosive, and Still DRE. But even tho Xxplosive is prob my actual fave Dre beat overall as a fan, like I said I think I'd settle on Next Episode as the best production of his career. Not only does that beat slap, STILL, but it's one of few strip club anthems I can think of that just as easily worked at teen/high school dances, top 40 club/restaurants, got elderly white people to rush the dancefloor at weddings (I've seen it a few times lol), etc. It just has ridiculous range (and Dre also produced the only other one I can think of rt now, which is In Da Club).
***Rachmaninoff was a Late Romantic era Russian composer known for (what was then considered) particularly dark and turbulent compositions (eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCtixpIWBto) and gratuitous use of the piano's lower register, especially in contrast to contemporaries/mentors like Chopin and Tchaikovsky. It's said that some of this darkness was inspired by political upheaval happening in Russia at the time (eg. Bolshevik revolution, which he was against). There's a couple other parallels I see with them too, but these are the main ones.
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