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Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Lifestyle

Music review: Dr Dre, Compton

Kim Gillespie
By Kim Gillespie
Editor: NZME Community Publications Network·NZME. regionals·
29 Aug, 2015 06:00 PMQuick Read

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Compton by Dr Dre.

Compton by Dr Dre.

Dre has come a long way since NWA's 1988 album, Straight Outta Compton, a seminal crossover gangsta-rap hit that made headlines with its most notorious track, F*** tha Police.

In some ways he's come full circle, but this latest album is in other ways a million miles from NWA's classic. Compton is inspired by the Straight Outta Compton film. There's a smattering of nostalgia and reflection, with familiar themes displayed at times with a cool, clear anger.

The pop sensibilities Dre displayed on his 1999 album, 2001, which featured Snoop Dogg and Eminem - are here again, as are those stars, plus an impressive turn from Kendrick Lamar, who was barely a year-old when Straight Outta Compton was released.

Closing track Talking to My Diary is a stand-out, bolstered by swirling strings and bold, jazzy brass, with Dre reminiscing and paying tribute to tragic bandmate Eazy E in a verse dedicated to the NWA days, couched in a song about Dre's journey to the top.

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Dre has said Compton is his final album. If so, he's certainly going out in style.

Dr Dre
Compton
Rating: 4/5

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