Are Dr. Dre, Eminem and Aftermath Records The Best Practice Squad In Hip-Hop?

So the long awaited Guns N Roses LP, Chinese Democracy, hits stores November 23rd. So I guess that leaves Dr. Dre's Detox now as the longest running urban myth in music. Will it ever come out? Word is that it's dropping in December, but with nary a single to be heard just yet, I doubt it. To heck with Dr. Pepper, Interscope may have to do a deal with St. Ides just for old times sake to get the buzz going on this one.

You know why this project is never dropping? Because Dr. Dre makes practice music. You ask, "What is practice music?"

Well, as former Shady Records recording artist Stat Quo recently put it, it goes something like this:

“[Dr. Dre's] very apprehensive when it comes to putting out music. That’s why he creates all this music and no one ever gets to hear it. I got tired of that. I got tired of going to the studio [in the] A.M. and staying in that bitch all night long making songs. And nobody hearing this shit. We just ridin’ in our cars to this great shit. I got sick of that.”

But wait, apparently young Stat isn't the only one who feels this way. He continues:

"I’ma quote Jimmy Iovine, 'It’s like the New England Patriots, imagine if they never played on Sunday and they just practiced all through the week.' I was in the studio and Jimmy was there, and Jimmy said, ‘This like the greatest practice team of all time.’ ‘Cause ain’t shit came out.”

So you see, practice music is when you're hitting the studio night after night, striving to make the best records possible, and nothing ever comes out. You're just sort of in there practicing. Seriously, you think Dre and Eminem don't have millions of songs stockpiled on hard drives? Granted, not all of it may be good, they may be scattered or incomplete, but they're there. What's the point, to impress yourself?

Stat says:

“Dr. Dre got 40 Detoxes he done made, all killing everything that been came out. What’chu think Eminem do when he get up? He go make music that’s incredible!"

Mind you, this is all coming on the heels of Stat saying he's going to be releasing somewhere in the range of 400 songs that he has in the can that he recorded during his Shady Records tenure. He's pissed because all that music he's worked on has been sitting there collecting digital dust. Meanwhile he could have been releasing records online this whole time, keeping his buzz from 2003 going (wow, has it really been five years?), getting shows and building a real fan base that actually cares about him. He could have gotten a PHD in astrophysics in the time he's been sitting on the shelf.

It's the old music business vs. the new music business rearing its ugly head again.

I understand being protective of your creativity. I know the way the music business works, how to exploit intellectual property for the greatest return. But is Dre just being ridiculous? Will a guy like, say, Bishop Lamont, also fall victim to being aligned with a producer who is still living in 2001?