Kendrick Lamar’s favourite verse on Dr Dre’s ‘2001’ album: “So simple but crazy”
Like most new rappers out of Compton, Kendrick Lamar was always inspired by Dr Dre. The NWA legend is behind some of the biggest hip-hop songs of all time, between ‘Still DRE’ and ‘The Next Episode’, and ‘Fuck Tha Police’ and ‘Straight Outta Compton’ with his former crew. Considering the impact of his 1999 album, 2001, it’s no surprise that it’s one of K. Dot’s favourites.
The Chronic is the first rap album Kendrick can remember his parents playing around the house from front to back, carrying memories attached to songs on the project. But with 2001, Dre proved to Kendrick, and everyone else, that he could match that level seven years later.
“He did it all over again,” he told Complex. “I remember ripping the packaging for that CD, my pops had brung it. I just remember him playing it all day just for months, for months for months for months. For months. Got attached to it. And years later he’s still playing it, so that’s how I know it’s an actual classic.
“Hearing ‘Xxplosive’ for the first time. Hearing the ‘The Car Bomb’ intro, the sound effects on that were crazy. It sounded like a movie. I remember being a kid and thinking it sound like an actual movie.”
Despite Kendrick’s love of Dre, his favourite verse on the album doesn’t come from him. Instead, little-known Fort Worth, Texas rapper Six-Two stole the show for him on ‘Xxplosive’, one of the most memorable tracks on 2001, rapping alongside Kurupt and Nate Dogg. Considering greats like Eminem and Snoop Dogg were also on the album, it’s high praise from K. Dot.
“[The best verse] had to be between Eminem and this cat by the name of Six-Deuce [Six-Two],” he declared. “When he said, ‘She ate her best friend, I left them hoes at the mote/ They be beeping me and shit, but we don’t kick it no mo’/ Them hot hoes is fiending, they on the nuts/ But bitch, I’m out your pussy when I nut, fo’ real.’ That was always my favourite verse. It was so simple, but it was crazy.”
Six-Two had two key verses on the album, appearing on both ‘Xxplosive’ and ‘Bitch N*ggaz’. While the rapper didn’t become a household name, he played an essential role in the D.O.C.’s 2003 album, Deuce. The Death Row co-founder, who discovered Six-Two, recruited him for 10 tracks on the project.
Dre likely wouldn’t be annoyed at Kendrick picking Six-Two’s verse as his favourite. The hip-hop mogul once admitted that he didn’t want to rap on 2001 or The Chronic, but the D.O.C. persuaded him. “I didn’t wanna appear on the albums at all, to be honest,” he said. “I just wanted to produce, find artists and produce them. And Doc, the D.O.C., talked me into getting on the mic and doing this thing.”
To this day, ‘Xxplosive’ is one of Dre’s biggest songs. While it might not have the attention of ‘Forgot About Dre’, it’s a fan favourite with over 303 million streams on Spotify. That “Xxplosive, West Coast shit” intro from Hittman will live on forever.