The Game won
"Your stock is rising, Number Two."
—Dr. Evil
So Dr. Dre refused to contribute any beats to the Game's new album Doctor's Advocate, but the Game still somehow managed to make arguably the year's best rap album anyway. Meanwhile, Dr. Dre has four beats on the new Jay-Z album, which kinda sucks balls. Who woulda thunkit!
It's not so much that Dr. Dre is useless as a producer. This morning I checked out Snoop's latest, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, and I found myself enjoying the few tracks Dre did with Snoop on it more so than anything else he's done this year.
Peep my review of the album:
Snoop's an aiight rapper, but he sounds better than damn near anyone over Dre production. It's too bad the two of them haven't collaborated on a full-length project together since way the fuck back in the early '90s.
Similarly, it's too bad Dr. Dre is no longer allowed to work with the Game. Or, at least, I'm assuming that's what's going on. Dr. Dre is kind of a recluse anyway, so who knows what his take on the issue is. But it sounds like it was Fiddy that came between the two of them more so than anything else.
Which is obviously a shit situation for Dr. Dre. The fact that Fiddy more or less runs his label is bad enough, let alone the fact that G-Unit hasn't really been hot for over a year now. The last album they had that sold well was the Massacre, but the last one anyone actually gave a shit about was. . . wait for it, the Documentary.
What if Dre drops Game, who goes on to be the next Jay (so to speak), and ends up stuck with Fiddy and the rest of those clowns, none of whom have anything particularly worthwhile to contribute other than the same ol' BS? To diminishing marginal returns, of course. Young Hot Rod, anyone? Exactly.
Is Doctor's Advocate a better album than the one the Game would've made with Dr. Dre? Probably not, but it's damn good anyway. What's more, it's actually available in stores today rather than collecting dust on a shelf somewhere in Dre's home studio, along with Detox, Oh My God, and God knows what else.
***
I reviewed several tracks from Doctor's Advocate here back when they first began to leak. Then I went and gave the whole thing a proper review on my own site.
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