Every Friday on my drive to work I listen to an album from my past; Flashback Friday. The selection criteria is as follows:

1. The album must have been on steady repeat at some point in my life

2. The album must be over 10 years old

3. No skipping tracks.

Artist: Dr. Dre

Album: 2001

Dr. Dre released “2001” in November of 1999. That simple fact makes things very confusing when I try to remember my experiences with the album. When I hear one of the numerous classics off “2001” I have to constantly ask myself “Was I listening to that song in 1999, 2000, 2001 or maybe even 2005”.However, if a confusing name is my biggest problem with an album we are starting from a pretty good place.

Inconsistent timelines aside, when “2001” dropped you couldn’t go anywhere in Los Angeles without hearing it, and I mean anywhere. SUV’s would drive down the streets thumping songs from giant subwoofers, stores would have more friendly version’s of the radio hits playing on their in house speakers, different dorm rooms would be blasting different tracks all at the same time on the same floor and at some point the entire album would end up being played in some order at every party. What stood out about all this constant play was how everyone wasn’t just listening to “2001”, they were all listening to different songs from the album, not just the popular songs played on the radio. 

West Coast hip hop has a very distinct sound. You know it’s a West Coast song the second you hear it, and no one creates that specific West Coast sound better than Dr. Dre. Dre introduced the world to that sound with NWA, and then perfected that sound with what many consider the greatest rap album of all time in “The Chronic”. “2001” is his modern  West Coast classic.

2001 may be full of hits, but it starts off with a skit that then leads into “The Watcher”. I’ll never know why rappers love skits so much, but too many rap  albums have skits, and most of the time they go on for way too long and are rarely funny. When the sounds of a lowrider with hydraulics stop, “The Watcher” starts.”The Watcher” is a goofy song. It’s OK, but compared to the other tracks it’s barely passable. When you talk about “2001” you talk about greatness and this song isn’t great. Once again, no skipping really lets the full album experience shine through. 

After a ho hum start the power starts to reveal itself with “Fuck You” and “Still D.R.E.” It has to be noted that Snoop is on both of these songs. There is something about Snoop and Dre collaborating together that makes everything feel right. These two are like peas and carrots. I consider “Still D.R.E” the real first song on the album. It sounds like classic Dre and gets the mood just right. It also makes me think of Training Day and Denzel Washington, but that’s an entirely different post.There is a rumor that Jay-Z wrote Dre’s lyrics for “Still D.R.E”. While that might be true, who cares the beat is the real star of this song.

There are 22 tracks on this album. Something I did not realize  when I selected t”2001” for Flashback Friday. It’s always surprising how nostalgic a person can feel for an album and defend each track, then only when they actually sit down with the album do they realize how not every song is the best and the ability to skip songs may add to an album. 

Enough of the negative, there is too much quality to focus on the bad. My favorite song on 2001 is “Xxplosive”. It’s a perfect West Coast song. Nate Dogg  has a litany of hits, but this song showcases his skills magnificently. Whenever this song comes on I have to stop what I’m doing, listen and sing along. Thankfully today I was listening to the song on the album and not the radio, because the censoring of “Smoke weed everyday” part on the radio edit is silly. It is just a long empty pause with Nate Dogg saying “Everyday”. The edit makes no sense and the end of the song shouldn’t even be played on the radio. 

Dr. Dre doesn’t only collaborate with other West Coast artists, 2001 has two great Eminem songs on it as well. “What’s The Difference” and “Forgot About Dre” are amazing songs. Eminem is such a change of pace from what Dre normally does, but the juxtaposition of styles melds perfectly. Speed rapping like Eminem is near impossible, but it still has to be tried. It’s amazing how much of his verses I can remember before I run out of breath. 

Some other personal favorites on “2001” are “The Next Episode”, “Let’s Get High”, “Housewife”, and “Ackrite”. “Ackrite” is highly underrated song. It’s quintessential West Coast, with that memorable Dre sound. “Let’s Get High” is pretty self explanatory, and takes Dre back to familiar subject matter from “The Chronic”. “The Next Episode” might as well be called Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang part two. My only qualm with this song is how short it is. If it went a little longer it might have been my favorite song on “2001”.

Hearing “2001” wasn’t quite the blast from the past. I thought it would be. It’s crazy how many of these songs are still regularly played on the radio. That really shows the quality of these songs and how strong an album 2001 is. Dr. Dre maybe a headphone mogul now, but he will always be the face of West Coast rap to me.