2001 (Dr. Dre album): Difference between revisions

2001, sometimes referred to by fans as The Chronic 2001, Dr. Dre 2001 and The Chronic 2, is the second album by iconic hip hop famed rapper and producer Dr. Dre, released in 1999 and featuring guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Hittman, Eminem, Xzibit, and others. Originally intended to be titled The Chronic 2000 (the name was changed because of litigation with Dr. Dre's former label Death Row Records), the album was the long-awaited follow-up to Dr. Dre's classic 1992 debut The Chronic. It has been credited with bringing the West Coast Hip Hop scene back to the spotlight after years of obscurity, showed that Dr. Dre could still remain prominent with a new generation of listeners and viewers, and further established the career of Eminem, who eventually became one of the best-selling rappers of all time. 2001 debuted at number two on the Billboard charts with over 550,000 copies sold in its first week. As of April 16, 2008 the album has sold 7,212,233 copies in the U.S. [1] and over 14 million copies worldwide to date.

The album was very well-received by music critics, if not quite on the same level as his fully recognized debut The Chronic. Some complained that several of the rappers who featured prominently on the album (such as Hittman and Ms. Roq) were not particularly talented and cluttered the album with what they called filler. Hittman was featured so prominently on the album that he had the only solo song on the entire record ("Ackrite") besides Dr. Dre himself. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide asked "Why does a producer as original as Dre work with such pedestrian rappers? Perhaps it's to ensure his control over the project, or to mask his own shortcomings as an MC, but the album suffers considerably as a result."^[1] Incidentally, none of these rappers, aside from the big names such as Eminem and Snoop Dogg, have been able to parlay their turns on the album into successful careers. Critics generally considered the album's production top-notch and innovative, though, and praised Snoop Dogg and Eminem's contributions to the album.

Royce Da 5'9" also did extensive ghostwriting for Dr. Dre on the album.^[2] However, when that information was leaked to the media by Royce's then-manager (who Royce refused to fire at the time), Royce was disassociated with Dr. Dre. One track, "Xxplosive", was even retouched; the original version named "The Way I Be Pimpin'" and had Dre rapping by himself and featured Royce's vocals on the chorus, which were removed. He also wrote the song "The Message", the only song on the album handled by an outside producer, Lord Finesse. Dr. Dre dedicated the song to his late brother Tyrece Young, who was murdered years earlier.

The album also marked the beginning of Dr. Dre's collaboration with keyboardist Scott Storch, who had previously worked with The Roots and is credited as a co-writer on several of 2001's tracks, including the hit single "Still D.R.E.". Storch would later go on to become a successful producer in his own right, and has been credited as a co-producer with Dr. Dre on some of his productions since.

The album was released in a censored version which blanked out all profanity, drug content, and violence. It was one of the most censored versions of an album in the late '90s, when most editors would commonly leave in drug and/or violent content (see DMX's first two albums as well as It Was Written by Nas).

Dr. Dre faced a couple of legal battles as a result of this album's content. George Lucas sued him over the use of the THX Deep Note in the album's intro, and the London-based music publisher Minder Music Ltd. was awarded $1.5 million in a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against the rapper, claiming the bassline for "Let's Get High" was stolen from a 1980 tune called "Backstrokin'".

In 2001 the album won the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year. Most recently, 2001 has re-entered in the UK Top 40 R&B albums peaking at #21 (highest entry, the week before it was #24) in March 2006.

Prior to the release of 2001, Dr. Dre's newly established Aftermath record label had been suffering and lacking commercial success. Releases such as Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath (a compilation of "Aftermath" artists) and The Firm: The Album (the debut of a rap supergroup consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Nature) were met with limited critical and commercial acclaim. Along with The Slim Shady LP (the controversial debut from Eminem) this album brought Dr. Dre's "Aftermath" label to the forefront of the rap scene. Together, Eminem and Dr. Dre sold over 6 million records by the end of 1999 and the two album's combined worldwide sales sum up to over 20 million to date. The two albums nearly simultaneous success proved to be the beginning stages in what would become arguably one of the most successful record labels of all time as "Aftermath Entertainment" is now home to superstars such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes, and formerly The Game, who achieved multi-platinum success under Aftermath Entertainment, but left due to problems with him and 50 Cent. The label has also spawned sub labels Shady Records and G-Unit Records which also have impressive rosters of artists in their own right, such as Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, Obie Trice and D12.

A different version of "Housewife", entitled "Ho's a Housewife", is included on Kurupt's 1999 album Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha.

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Still D.R.E.

• "Maybe Tomorrow" by Grant Green

Big Ego's

• "Theme from the Persuaders" by John Barry
• "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Rose Royce

Xxplosive

• "Bumpy's Lament" by Isaac Hayes
• "Bag Lady" by Erykah Badu

Nate Dogg's Part also interpolates his part in "Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)" by Snoop Dogg from his album "Doggystyle".

What's the Difference

• "Parce Que Tu Crois" by Charles Aznavour

Bar One

• "Poundin'" by Cannonball Adderley

Light Speed

• "I'm Still #1" by Boogie Down Productions
• "Space Party" by Richard Holmes

The Next Episode

• "The Edge" by David McCallum and David Axelrod

Let's Get High

• "Backstrokin'" by Fatback

Bitch Niggaz

• "Top Billin'" by Audio Two
• "Break Hard, Dude" by AC/DC

Murder Ink

• "Halloween Theme" by John Carpenter

Some L.A. Niggaz

• "Passing Me By" by The Pharcyde

Ed-ucation

• "Diamonds Are Forever"

Housewife

• "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang

There are two other versions of 2001 that exist. One is a censored, or clean version, with no profanity. The other is an instrumental version which does not include the skit tracks #14 and #16.

• Dr. Dre - Executive producer/Producer/Mixer/Performer
• Mel-Man - Producer/Performer
• Lord Finesse - Producer ("The Message")
• Eminem - Performer, Vocals
• Snoop Dogg - Performer, Vocals
• Hittman - Performer
• Xzibit - Performer
• Kurupt - Performer, Vocals
• Ms. Roq - Performer
• Devin the Dude - Performer, Vocals
• Nate Dogg - Performer
• Phish - Vocals
• Six-Two - Performer
• MC Ren - Vocals
• Tommy Chong - Vocals
• Knoc-turn'al - Performer, Vocals
• Defari - Performer
• Time Bomb - Performer
• King Tee - Performer
• Kokane - Performer
• Mary J. Blige - Performer
• Rell - Performer
• Jake Steed - Performer
• Eddie Griffin - Performer
• Charis Henry - Performer
• Traci Nelson - Performer
• Ian Sanchez - Performer
• Scott Storch - Keyboards
• Camara Kambon - Keyboards
• Larry Chatman - Production manager
• Kirdis G. Tucker - Aftermath product manager
• Charles "Big Chuck" Stanton - A&R director
• Mike Lynn - A&R director
• Damon "Bing" Chatman - Aftermath project coordinator
• Michelle Thomas - Interscope product manager
• Andrew Van Meter - Interscope production coordinator
• Ekaterina Kenney - Interscope photo shoot coordinator
• Richard "Segal" Huredia - Album/Mix engineer/Collage photographer
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner - Masterer
• Paul Foley - Album editor
• Charis Henry - Collage concept
• Stan Musilik - Photographer
• Donn Thompson - Photographer
• Jason Clark - Art director/designer

All URLs accessed on October 15 2006 (UTC)