Nate Dogg - Keep It Real (2003)

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale was born on 19 August 1969 in Long Beach, California, and is the cousin of Calvin Broadus, a.k.a. Snoop Dogg. He met Warren G at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, but by the age of 17 he'd dropped out of high school, left home, and 30 days later enlisted in the Marines. He was stationed at Camp Schwab in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and after three years as an ammunition specialist, he was discharged in 1989. In 1990, the newly christened Nate Dogg formed a rap trio called 213 with Snoop Dogg and Warren G, and they recorded their first demo tape in the back of record store V.I.P. in Long Beach, bringing them to the attention of Dr. Dre when he heard it at a bachelor party. Dre invited Dogg to guest on his debut album 'The Chronic' in 1992, with Dogg's trademark singing complementing the new gangsta rap sound G-funk, and it was well received by critics. He signed to Dre's label, Death Row Records, in 1993, and then featured on Snoop Dogg's debut solo album 'Doggystyle', most notably on 'Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)'. In 1994 he co-wrote the duet 'Regulate' with Warren G, and also featured on albums by 2Pac, including his group's 'Thug Life: Volume 1' in 1994. In July 1998, amid his departure from Death Row Records, the label finally released his double album 'G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 & 2', after delaying it for two years. In 2001, his Elektra Records follow-up, 'Music & Me', peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and in 2003 he recorded a third album, which never saw the light of day. Dogg was often brought in to sing on other artists' tracks, and as a featured artist he collaborated with 2Pac on 'All Bout U', as well as appearing on Dr. Dre's 'The Next Episode', Westside Connection's 'Gangsta Nation', Mos Def's 'Oh No', Fabolous' 'Can't Deny It', Ludacris's 'Area Codes', Kurupt's 'Behind the Walls', Mark Ronson's 'Ooh Wee', Houston's 'I Like That', and Eminem's ''Till I Collapse', 'Never Enough' and 'Shake That'. He's considered to be the inventor of "gangsta singing", a style that consisted of a blend of R&B/soul vocals with gangsta rap lyrics, and which was heavily influential to urban culture, with major R&B artists like R. Kelly and Chris Brown later using it. Dogg was no stranger to entanglements with the law, and between 2000 and 2008 he was charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, terrorist threats, arson, (for which Dr. Dre posted a $1 million bond), misdemeanor aggravated trespassing, telephone harassment, battery assault, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, breaking a restraining order, criminal threats, and one count of stalking. Some charges were dismissed, and others resulted in probation, community service, drugs counselling, and various fines. On 19 December 2007 he suffered a stroke, but after a week in Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, he entered a rehabilitation facility, and although his body's left side was weakened, neither his cognition nor voice were affected, and he was expected to make a full recovery. However, on 12 September 2008 he sustained another stroke, and three years later, on 15 March 2011, he died of complications of multiple strokes, at the age of just 41. The unreleased 2003 album has since surfaced on the internet, and it's worth hearing, as it shows that despite the troubled times towards the end of his life, the go-to singer for collaborations with a multitude of rappers was also capable of producing an excellent album of his own.   

 
Track listing

01 I Need A Bitch (feat. Armed Robbery)
02 Bad Girls (feat. Redman)
03 Get Up (feat. Eve)
04 Keep It Real (feat. Fabolous, Lil' Mo & Icarus)
05 Leave Her Alone (feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway & Young Chris)
06 Hide It (feat. Armed Robbery)
07 Round and Round 
08 Gott Damn Shame (feat. Timbaland & Ms. Jade)
09 There She Goes (feat. Warren G & DJ Quik)
10 Somebody Like Me  
11 Interlude #1 
12 I Got Game (feat. Snoop Dogg & Armed Robbery)
11 All Night Long
14 Next Boyfriend (feat. Knoc-Turn'al)
15 The Hard Way (feat. Xzibit & Armed Robbery)
16 Interlude #2
17 Right Back Where You Are
18 What Would U Do (feat. Mariah Carey, Butch Cassidy & Shade Sheist)
19 Walk A Mile (feat. Shade Sheist)
20 Dead Wrong (feat. Ms. Jade) 

Dr. Dre - Detox (2010)

The period from mid 1999 to 2002 was the most successful of Dr. Dre's career, as after struggling to establish his new Aftermath Entertainment label, he struck gold with Eminem's debut, 'The Slim Shady LP', and then his own second album '2001'. As the latter moved more than 7 million copies, it dominated urban radio throughout 2000 with singles like 'Still D.R.E.', 'Forget About Dre', 'The Next Episode', 'Xxxplosive' and 'Fuck You', while Aftermath issued Eminem’s diamond-certified classic 'The Marshall Mathers LP' and Xzibit's platinum 'Restless', and became one of the hottest rap labels in the industry. As Dre was already considered one of the greatest producers of the past 25 years, a third solo record would have cemented his reputation in the rap hierarchy, and so he embarked on creating 'Detox', which he often called his 'final album'. During the next 10 years or so, he reportedly worked on tracks with more than two dozen rappers, producers and vocalists, from Aftermath stars like Eminem, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and Kendrick Lamar, to T.I., Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Skylar Grey and Mary J. Blige. For nearly a decade, he publicly vacillated on whether or not 'Detox' would ever be released, and then just as he seemed primed to deliver the album the world was waiting for, he apparently decided not to put it out after all, leaving us with only Internet leaks and rumors of what might have been. The album was originally intended to be a concept album about the life of a hitman, possibly inspired by his impressive cameo in the 2001 film 'Training Day', but by the end of the year that idea had been ditched, and in November Ice Cube told MTV News that Dre had postponed 'Detox' to work on Cube's Aftermath debut, although that project never appeared, and Cube eventually left the label. By 2004 his time was being completely taken up with running Aftermath, as it was one of the hottest labels around, thanks to a roster that included 50 Cent, Eminem, Busta Rhymes and others. In 2006 Scratch magazine published a 'Detox' cover story, re-igniting the rumours of an imminent release, but 2007 came and went with no record, and Dre gave an extensive interview to the LA Times, where he admitted he was "really hoping to have it out this year, but i's going to have to be pushed back a while because of some other things I’ve got to work on". In 2008 Snoop Dogg claimed that the long-gestating album was finished, but that seemed premature when Dre announced in November that he was going back into the studio in a couple of months. 

In 2009 leaks from the seemingly never-ending sessions began to appear online, with tracks like 'I Am Hip-Hop (Detox)', 'Topless' and 'Shit Popped Off' surfacing, and in 2010 things finally seemed to be happening, with a collaboration with Jay Z, 'Under Pressure', being announced as the album's first single. However, when an unfinished version of 'Under Pressure' leaked, Dre posted a message saying that it was an incomplete song and that he was still working on it, and an official version has yet to appear. The end of the year finally brought the first official 'Detox' music, with 'Kush', featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon, earning mixed reviews, and peaking at Number 34 on the pop charts, while 'I Need A Doctor' proved to be the bigger hit, thanks to soaring pop production by Alex Da Kid. One theory about the album is that 'Detox' is a catch-all name for everything Dr. Dre has worked on for the past 15 years, with material from it being released when he felt the time was right. The album therefore became more mythic in the hip-hop community, and it served, whether Dre intended to or not, as a useful publicity tease even as the hype proved impossible to live up to. Between 2009 and 2011, the best of the hundreds of song snippets he worked on were leaked, and there are numerous CDs of supposed 'Detox' tracks doing the rounds, including a 10 volume CD set of 'The Detox Chroniclez', but still a definitive track listing proves elusive. By checking out the various fan-made albums, and seeing which tracks they agree should be included, I've complied my own version, mostly based on the one by Longtou Edits, but including some different versions and some of my own edits. Given an unlimited budget and no deadline, you could spend the rest of your life locked in a perfectionist's prison, constantly terrified that the music you'll make next will be better than the music you've made so far, but with each passing day you only become further away from the finish line. Until Dre realises this and releases the album, all we can do is collect what's leaked so far and tell him that it sounds perfectly fine to us.   

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 Die Hard (feat. Eminem) 
03 Coming Back (feat. T.I.)
04 Mr. Prescription (feat. Nikki Grier & Slim The Mobster) 
05 This Is Detox (I Am Hip-Hop) (feat. T.I.) 
06 Topless (feat. Eminem & Nas)  
07 Kush (feat. Snoop Dogg & Akon)  
08 Say Dr. Dre (feat. Crooked I) 
09 Popped Off (feat. T.I.) 
10 Under Pressure (feat. Jay-Z) 
11 The Doctor  
12 OG's Theme (feat. Ludacris)  
13 Westcoast Party (feat. Young Knox & O.G. Rhymez)  
14 Underdog (feat. Nate Dogg) 
15 I Need A Doctor (feat. Eminem & Skylar Grey)  
16 Hey Young World (feat. The Game & Snoop Dogg)
17 Turn Me On  
18 Good Things (Interlude) 
19 Chillin' (feat. Swizz Beatz) 
20 The Next Episode 2006 (feat. Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg)  
21 Topless (Reprise) (feat. T.I & Nas) 
22 Kush (Remix) (feat. Snoop Dogg, The Game & Slim The Mobster) 
23 Doggisodes (Outro)