Top 5: Dr Dre’s five best songs
Picking out a favourite five songs, albums or films of your favourite artist is a rite of passage for any true hip hop head. No matter if you’re simply a lover of the music or an active member of it, selecting your own perfect ‘Top 5’ is about as joyful an act as you can endure. Today, we’re picking out Dr Dre‘s five best songs.
It’s not as easy as you might think. Dre may well have been involved in some of hip-hop’s greatest creations but he isn’t exactly prolific when it comes to putting out songs. Below, therefore, will be a collection of work from Dre’s frequent collaborations as well as his past projects.
The West Coast rapper began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru in 1985, but it wasn’t until he founded N.W.A. that he would eventually find fame. The group were pioneers and totally unique to the contemporaries that had achieved high levels of mainstream success before them. They painted a picture of what life was like in Compton on the streets, and, following the group’s split in 1991, Dre would be credited as a pioneer once again. He popularised the famous West Coast sound that would go on to dominate the rest of the decade.
Dre released his debut solo studio album, The Chronic, in 1992, through Death Row Records, and the record immediately saw him break out as a star in his own right. Following the triumphant debut, Dre landed a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for his single, ‘Let Me Ride’. 1993 welcomed even more of a success than the year before as he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Dogg’s seminal debut album Doggystyle.
However, Dre is still a remarkable artist in his own right and, judging by the five tracks below, he has a catalogue that is as potent as any other hip-hop legend.
Dr Dre’s five best songs:
‘Let Me Ride’
Another classic from The Chronic is ‘Let Me Ride’ the song that gained Dre his first solo Grammy. Placed on the artist’s first album means it is absolutely drenched in the Compton-man’s nuanced production, surviving on soul scraps and the piercing bass of funk.
It’s some of Dre’s most expressive lyrics as he puts his voice front and centre. There aren’t many occasions when Dre has shown himself to be a gangster, however, in this song, he delivers his lines with venom and menace. Using some of N.W.A.’s classic lyrics “rollin’ in my ’64” he made a big statement.
‘Nuthin But A “G” Thang’
If there was one song to demonstrate everything you needed to know about the rap scene at the turn of the 1990s then just point them to this song. ‘Nuthin But A “G” Thang’ with Snoop Dogg featured on Dre’s first solo LP, The Chronic and confirmed Dre as an icon in waiting, as well as hinting at the legend status Snoop would soon obtain.
Built out of the projects of California, the song is dripping in street knowledge and a culture that few could obtain. Gin and juice is the drink of choice, lo-los are the only way to ride and smoking on the porch is the only way to spend Monday mornings. It’s a song that speaks to the real-life of gangbangers across the country.
The beat is iconic and the twiddling production from Dre is easily his best.
‘Express Yourself’
N.W.A. are rightly considered some of hip-hop’s greatest pioneers, their album Straight Outta Compton delivered in buckets. The stars of the show include Ice Cube, who gets most of the iconic lines throughout the record; Eazy-E, whose unique voice and leadership role within the group puts him in the prime slot of most tracks; and Dr Dre, who gets the album’s single most accessible song that is without direct violence or profanity, ‘Express Yourself’.
The song would become a vital piece of the group’s iconography and, below, we’re checking out the powerful isolated vocals of the song. It provides not only a reminder of their powerful statements but also that Dr Dre is one hell of a performer. Dre handles most of the verses on the song, though Ice Cube and MC Ren deliver verses on the extended version of the track.
Released in 1989 as the last single from the Straight Outta Compton, ‘Express yourself’ is some of the group’s finest work. Buoyant and bristling with bright energy, the track can feed into every single party you’d want to attend. It is difficult to hear the song and not feel emboldened to challenge those in authority willing to bring you down and constrain your expression.
‘Forgot About Dre’
While this track is certainly regarded as one of Dre’s best, it was actually the work of his protege, Eminem, that sparked the song into life. A classic from his 2001 record, Dre recalled of its origination: “That was Eminem’s idea. He wrote the song for me and Snoop originally. He laid the reference vocals for Snoop and I liked the way it sounded. So, we just kept it that way and I laid my vocals and that was it.”
Sometimes, pure rap perfection can arrive at the strangest times. Why Eminem would decide to write such a personal song about Dre’s affirmation as a hip hop legend, is a secret that Slim Shady has yet to share, even with Dre: “I had no idea of what, you know, what triggered him to write that song. You know, he just came in with those lyrics and we wrote some music to it and that was that.”
‘Still D.R.E.’
Few songs perfectly capture the mood of millennial rap than ‘Still D.RE.’. A track that saw Snoop Dogg and Dre collaborate once again, it delivers on smoky cool and effortless G-funk charm. A powerful beat is matched by Dre’s sharpened delivery alongside Snoop’s menacing drawl.
The track has since found extra gravitas as Dre performed it alongside an all-star cast for the Super Bowl Halftime Show. “There were a few things we had to change, but it was really minor things,” Dre told TMZ of the performance.
He added, “They had a problem with it, so we had to take that out. No big deal, we get it. But all in all, everybody came in, we were professional, everybody was on time and everybody felt the magnitude of this thing and what we were gonna be able to accomplish.”