Search - Various Artists :: Dr Dre Presents the Aftermath

The Aftermath

SID | BOSTON | 04/28/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The year was 1996. Dr. Dre had managed to disentangle himself from the talons of Suge Knight and Death Row Records. Dre had started his own label, Aftermath, and was ready to sit back, renounce his gangsta image and watch the money roll in. While Death Row was reeling from the death of 2Pac and the disappointing sales of Snoop's Doggfather album, Dre was poised to start a new rap empire.So out he came with this Aftermath sampler compilation, and we didn't hear from him again for three years. The reason? The album more or less ... and Dre's midas production touch was missing on most of the four or five songs he actually had a hand in.It's a shame, too, because the one Dre track on the album, "Been There, Done That," is really good. The production is smooth and silky, with distinctive percussion and a lazy bass line, and Dre sounds more confident and comfortable than ever as he brags about his earthly possessions. ("I've got a palace in the hills overlooking the sea / It's worth eight, but I only paid 5.3.") An entire post-gangsta Dre album in this vein would have sold through the roof, but alas, he hadn't the creative energy for it.The other album highlights can be summed up in a couple paragraphs. KRS-One, Nas and B-Real of Cypress Hill perform under the name Group Therapy with "East Coast / West Coast Killas," a Dre-produced track that picks up where "Natural Born Killas" left off. The vocal trade-offs are seamless, the bass is solid and the whistling Dre synth is bad@ss as ever.Mel-Man, who co-produced Dr. Dre 2001, gets his solo track in "Sh**tin' on the World," which overcomes its rather non-descript Dre beat with humor, intentional and otherwise. (Mel's liner notes read, "I grew up with roaches y'am saying straight reppin' the projects to the fullest!")The aborted R+B girl group Hands-On turns in the piano-heavy, sultry groove "Got Me Open" with a Dre rap reminiscent of the same era's "No Diggity." And RC (the only artist on the album with two songs) turns in a decent, funky remake of David Bowie's "Fame."Otherwise, the album is indistinct, passed down to Dre production apprentices like Bud'da, Floyd Howard, Flossy P and Maurice Wilcher. There's a reason acts like Miscellaneous, King T, Nowl and Sharief never took off. As an intro record-label sampler, you have to wonder if Dre planned to produce or oversee albums from all these acts or if he was just looking to put together a half-@ssed compilation and laugh all the way to the bank while Death Row went under. Either way, it was a mistake."

Strangly Bad

Matthew Bennett | The UK | 06/07/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Dr. Dre, the person that brought us 'The Chronic' and more recently '2001' really made a big mistake making this album. It's not that bad but if you compare it to either of his two solo albums, which you can't help doing, it just seems compleatly terrable. There are two good songs on it; 'Sh**tin' On The World' by Mel-Man and 'East Coast/West Coast Killas' by a super group containing Nas, B-Real, RBX and KRS-1. An RnB group on there called Whoz Who just sound and look like the boy bands dominating are charts at the moment and the only half decent RnB group on there a all female line-up called Hands-On still won't stand a chance when put up against any of the other popular RnB groups. RBX makes a bad job of his song 'Blunt Time' and Dr. Dre's only song on there, well the less said about that the better. I never thoght I would say this but Dr. Dre's production on this is also terrable. I recomend for you to avoid this album and even the two good songs don't make it worth buying."

C'mon now, this can't be Dre!

RapSuperstar | New Jersey | 06/21/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm glad I didn't bougth this new, I bougth it used, and gave it away a couple of days later. Simply because the album hardly got any good songs, the only ones worth mention is the intro, eastcoast/westcoast killaz, been there done that and the mel-man track called shi---n on the world. And for does songs I wouldn't pay this much. Skip it, unless you're a TRUE Dr. Dre fan that buys everything he touches. I recommend either "The Chronic" or "2001" if you want Dre at his best."