Kendrick has been releasing music since the age of 16, back when he was still known as K-Dot, so there is a quite a bit of material of his out there that was not released on any of his studio projects and I decided to put together a list of some of my favorites.
After two classics and sixteen years of rumors, Dr. Dre’s highly anticipated and long-awaited third album was released last summer.
Only it’s not Detox.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
By December of 1996, the once formidable Death Row Records was crumbling. Over the course of just a few months, Dr. Dre had defected, 2Pac had been killed, Suge Knight was sent to prison, and Snoop Doggy Dogg’s highly anticipated second album was a major disappointment.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
By 2004, Eminem was at the height of his fame and notoriety. Over the previous four years, he had released two Grammy-winning, RIAA-certified diamond albums (at least 10 million copies sold in the U.S. alone) and starred in a commercially and critically successful film loosely based on his own life and also executive produced its soundtrack, which included one of the greatest hip-hop songs in history, one for which he won an Academy Award (“Lose Yourself”). He had also become a label head, founding Shady Records and overseeing releases from D12, Obie Trice, and rap’s newest superstar, 50 Cent.
This is the first entry of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I will examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time. I’ve done this sort of thing before – regarding The Firm album back in 2012 as well as a book defending a few artists and projects that I feel were overlooked, but these projects will all be new territory for me.
It’s clear that Dr. Dre saw what was coming. He left Death Row Records, the label he co-founded, with no equipment, no masters, no artists, nothing. That was the price he paid to be allowed to leave his own company. And he did it willingly.
Among the people he left behind was his star protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg, who had just been acquitted of murder and was prepping his long-awaited and highly-anticipated second album.
As a favor – one that you did not ask for – I’ve compiled a list of twenty songs that I think casual hip-hop fans should know.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 