The Dr Dre album Kendrick Lamar called “a movie”
Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre have a long history. With their shared Compton beginnings, when the pair joined forces, they reimagined the sound of LA and created. Lamar had been raised on G-Funk and the many classics that Dre made during the 1990s. However, when he signed with Aftermath Entertainment, he wasn’t looking to recreate the magic of Death Row Records.
With the help of Dr. Dre, Lamar added to the authentic jazz-infused West Coast sonic he had developed with Section.80. In 2012, he made magic that took the form of his major label debut, Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. With features from Jay Rock, Drake, and even Compton icon MC Eiht, the project shot to the top of the Billboard 200 and revived California.
Although Lamar was raised on a range of lyricists, including E-40, Too $hort, DJ Quik, Snoop Dogg, and Kurupt, it was undoubtedly Dr. Dre who influenced him the most. In a conversation with Complex magazine, he expressed how Dre’s first two projects affected him growing up.
After heaping praise on Dre’s 1992 debut, The Chronic, Lamar turned to his sophomore album, 2001. With hits such as ‘Still DRE’ and ‘The Next Episode’, it was a groundbreaking record that still gets played today, but it had a deeper meaning for Kendrick.
Opening up about how his Compton counterpart managed to amaze him for a second time 11 years after The Chronic, Lamar recalled, “Dr. Dre 2001, same thing. He did it all over again. 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.”
The ‘Simming Pools (Drank)’ rhymer revealed that he still spins the 1999 album to this day, adding, “For months. I got attached to it. And years later, I’m still playing it, so that’s how I know it’s an actual classic.”
Citing one particular track that really perked his ears, Lamar told Complex, “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 sounded like an actual movie.”
He concluded, “[The best verse] had to be between Eminem and this cat by the name of Six-Deuce [Six-Two]. 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 / XXplosive.’ That was always my favourite verse. It was so simple but it was crazy.”