The hip-hop producer hasn't released an album in 16 years, but he's back with a collection inspired by the movie, "Straight Outta Compton"; Roberto and Kim Benabib combine comedy with global conflict in HBO's “The Brink”; MuseIque makes orchestral music more accessible with eclectic programs.
Dr. Dre drops 'Compton,' his first album in 16 years
Forget about, "Detox," there's a new Dr. Dre album for everyone to talk about — and this one's actually been released. The hip-hop producer has dropped "Compton" exclusively on Apple Music, and the record — with guest spots from Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Jill Scott — has been receiving nothing but strong reviews.
In an interview with Beats 1 DJ, Zane Lowe, Dre explained that he decided to can the long-in-the-works album, "Detox," after he was unable to create a record that satisfied him, scrapping the project entirely. Instead, Dre found inspiration from the upcoming NWA biopic, "Straight Outta Compton," and that inspiration very quickly gave rise to "Compton."
Music journalist Scott Sterling joined us to help break down the hype and get a clearer picture of "Compton," and when he joined us after binge-listening to the record, we asked him about the legend of "Detox," the brewing controversy over Eminem's verse on the track "Medicine Man," and how Dre has managed to stay relevant for roughly 30 years, despite having only released three albums in his career.
Interview Highlights:
The album was made available for streaming last night — what's your verdict?
I went in with really high expectations. I tried to have measured expectations, considering the time it's been since Dre's released an album. But also it's Dr. Dre, so I couldn't really help but expect something great, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was even better than I wanted it to be. Actually, it's better than it really has any right to be. [laughs]
Dre's probably best known as a producer at this point since he hasn't put an album under his own name since 1999. Why is that?
Well, there's the legend of "Detox," which was the album that was supposed to have been released years ago now. He'd been working on it and tinkering with it, but ultimately it just never happened, and at this point I think that was a wise decision, because it was turning into the "Chinese Democracy" of hip-hop. ["Chinese Democracy" was a Guns 'n' Roses album that was 17 years in the making.]
The expectations had just gotten so out of proportion that there was nothing that he could have done on that album that would have lived up to the hype. So to take this turn and create a new album inspired by the "Straight Outta Compton" movie, I think that was a really savvy move on his part, and I think we got a better record as a result of it.
Dre was 23 years old when NWA released "Straight Outta Compton." He's 50 now. Why do you think he's remained relevant for so long?
For one thing, he built his legacy on music. If you listen to popular radio right now, you won't hear the musicality that you hear on this album. He has a depth of range that's just so impressive, and that's really where he's built his legacy, and then from there the whole Beats thing with Jimmy Iovine and the headphones game took him to an entirely different level of relevancy where he hasn't had to release any music.
It wouldn't be a hip-hop album if there wasn't already controversy about misogynistic lyrics, and I'll single out a couple songs. "Loose Cannons" ends with a skit in which a woman is murdered, and "Medicine Man" features a line by Eminem that's so offensive I can't even imagine it passing through anybody's mind. Why is that misogyny necessary?
I really don't have an answer for that. As far as the Eminem verse is concerned, he's always going to make a point to get a rise out of people. That's how he's become Eminem — he's always had a way of balancing this immense talent with this ability to just really make people angry.
On "Medicine Man" he comes in so strong, just with the fury of classic Eminem, and then he throws this line out of nowhere that's like a suckerpunch to the gut, like, What have you done to this verse? It's completely unnecessary, and to me it cheapens the verse, even though I understand that he wants people to get upset. It's unfortunate, because the verse is so powerful and he delivers it so well.
Dr. Dre has said that he wants this album to be inspiring and motivational. Do you think he succeeded on that front?
I'm going to say yes. As someone who's listened to hip-hop for a really long time, from the moment I started listening to the album last night, I was just struck by how powerful it sounds. He's had a long history of being influenced by Parliament-Funkadelic with their live funk and deep, strong musical playing, and it's all over this album.
And it's really important for youngsters — who are just getting into music and who are really only used to hearing digital sounds and basic productions — to hear this lush instrumentation, with guitars, bass, drums and saxophones. I'm really glad that he stepped up and delivered this kind of album.
'The Brink' creators satirize national security on the way to a possible World War 3
In HBO’s political satire "The Brink," Tim Robbins stars as secretary of state Walter Larson, who has a thing for prostitutes and alcohol. Between his benders, he must figure out what to do about an international crisis that could spark World War 3.
Rounding out the main cast of the political satire is Jack Black as a lowly foreign service officer and Aasif Mandvi as a local Pakistani working for the U.S. embassy.
The show was created by Roberto and Kim Benabib, two brothers who have different backgrounds in the arts. Roberto is a television veteran, who worked on the shows "Weeds" and "Ally McBeal." Kim is a novelist, whose books include “Obscene Bodies.”
The Benabib brothers talked with the Frame about how HBO picked up their series, why they chose music from the Vietnam era and how they balance comedy with issues of national security.
Interview Highlights
How important is it that the scenarios in the show are actually realistic?
Kim Benabib: We wanted to have it be grounded and to take a situation that we knew was right up there as far as the most feared scenarios that are gamed out in Washington, and then throw these characters and load them up comically. So you have Walter Larson, the secretary of state, he's coming off this bender with this prostitute and he's a heavy drinker. He walks into the situation room at pretty much the most tense moment that any of these national security specialists could dream up.
How as writers do you try to balance what's definitely real and definitely unpleasant with what you're trying to do in an entertaining and comedic way?
Roberto Benabib: The bottom line is the banter could almost be real banter of people who are stationed there having to deal with these things, and in a "M*A*S*H"-like way make light of them so that they can deal with them on a daily basis. So as long as we kept the banter as real, as long as these are smart, tense, funny people joking with each other, but joking with each other in the square and for the purpose of lightening their load a little bit so they can carry on and do what they have to do, that was really the goal here.
KB: And also I think when you look at something like that torture sequence with Jack Black and his character Alex Talbot about to be waterboarded, and the captain says to him, "You know this is a technique your CIA taught us." The idea being that we're going to take a moment that's tense and quite dark and then maybe reveal some truth through the humor. Could comedy get at the truth in a way that some of these hour-long dramas were side-stepping or glossing over?
You clearly have some very specific ideas on how you use music in the show. You have had some Vietnam-era rock anthems on the show, Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," John Lennon's "Instant Karma." What are you trying to say in your musical choices?
RB: The Vietnam era is where the films, the comedies that we are trying to pay homage to came from. That's when we had "Dr. Strangelove" and "Network" and "M*A*S*H" and "Catch-22." It's because the Vietnam era was an era where, to put it bluntly, white, middle-class college kids were getting draft cards in the mail, and it required that they pay attention to what was going on in the world and who we were starting wars with.
Listen to the interview to hear more from Kim and Roberto Benabib.