4.
Dr. Dre – Chronic 2001
The original Chronic was big, but I think at that time I was just a bit too involved in the dancehall stuff and everything else back then. 2001, I think that more struck home with me. I got it when it first [was released] – it actually came out in 2000, innit – and I remember at work, and I had it just before everyone else got it, you know them ones? [laughs] I remember people coming to me for the album. Most of the tunes on the album were iconic for me, that’s why I chose that one – ‘Still DRE’, the Nate Dogg tunes and everything on there, so…
You’ve got your collaborative tune with Joker on this compilation that you originally released a few years ago – and obviously following on from what you were doing, he and people like Gemmy were working those wriggly funk lines into grime instrumentals for a while.
Yeah, West Coast – they turned it purple, but I was doing it before. But yeah, it’s just that infectious lead, that sound they had on the West Coast beat. Dre’s one of the masters of that. I’d still say Timbaland’s my favourite producer but Dre, for what he does, his method of working is crazy. It’s not just him making the beats, he’ll take a beat from someone and polish it and put a top line on it, and be smart with it. That’s why he’s still here, I suppose, but then that’s why he can’t do [perpetually delayed third album] Detox! I don’t think he’s even working on Detox, I think he’s just saying that to keep himself current. I think when he’s ready to do Detox he’ll do it, but all these tunes he’s leaked and given to other people, the beats are crazy, but I think he’s probably just stuck in a mindset like ‘I’m gonna keep playing this for as long as I can’. It’ll still be a massive event, but I think he’s making the event even more of a big deal than what it [already] is.
