May 11, 2026 at 12:23 PM He had stopped working with Mel Man during his G-Unit/50 Cent/Game era which is arguably his prime and far from subpar. And calling his mixing subpar is hilarious. Aside from the album itself musically, Compton sounded amazing sonically. But there was obviously differences to 2001 and that’s mostly down to Dre having to move with the times and go digital, probably mixing a lot more in the box. Digital will never compare to analogue IMO. He wasn’t even using Pro Tools until around 01-02, 2001 was all tracked and mixed the Analogue way with tape. I think Dre was just great for that time, the late 90s/early 2000s. That was his era. I’m not the biggest fan of the beats his given to Eminem post-Relapse. I’d put his decline in beatmaking again just down to the fact that he had to move with the times and modernise himself and that’s just not really Dres signature sound tbh. He mastered his sound with 2001 but unfortunately you can’t keep making the same thing again and again which is why I believe he eventually gave up on Detox.
May 11, 2026 at 12:47 PM The irony is that it would be far more successful using that old sound today. The ICU is f---ing horrible.
May 11, 2026 at 12:56 PM I think if EZ Mil wanted to release a new song they would let him. Look at what D12 are doing. You have to promote yourself. The days of the label sending the song to radio and giving you money for music videos is not really a thing now. It's all about self promotion. Rappers should be working together. DJs should be trying to put mixtapes together. They need to try and make songs that will get radio play or connect with the general public. I don't believe Shady Records signs people and then holds their music hostage. The artist needs to push themselves. Use social media. Do everything you can to promote yourself.
May 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM You can't promote artists no one cares about, it just won't work. They need someone with the X factor, someone talented with chances of blowing up
May 11, 2026 at 1:10 PM Yeah I agree tbh. The last 10-15 years of Hip Hop/Rap whatever you wanna call it has been dominated by “trap” drums(or originated from “trap”). I don’t think Dre was always the biggest fan of this sound but also knew he had to adapt with it. Even Eminem had to start choosing trappy beats after MMLP2 and still does to this day. Dre mastered the boom bap sound. But he’s definitely struggled with modernising himself, hence why he had to bring in a new fresh production team.
