Andre Romelle Young, better known as Dr. Dre, is a hop-hop pioneer responsible for countless hits such as “F*** tha police” by N.W.A, “Nothin but a ‘G’ Thang” from Death Row Records, and “My Name Is” by Eminem. Throughout his career, Dr. Dre helped to shape the new sounds of music production that we know and love today. Dre began producing music in 1984 after he received a music mixer for Christmas. “For hours on end, he would work his magic, taking pieces of different songs and sounds to make his own sound” (Biography.com 1). This method of using various samples to create a whole new sound became Dr. Dre’s signature style. In 2014, during an interview with The Guardian, Dre said “I may hear something on an old record that inspires me, but I’d rather use musicians to re-create the sound or elaborate on it. I can control it better” (Watts 1). His method of sampling and re-creating samples can be heard clearly in his studio album “2001”, with an example being the violin and bassy cello samples that play in the background of his song “Still D.R.E”. Other upcoming artists observed Dre’s style and began to adopt it as their own. Over time, the method of sampling and re-doing samples has become very popular in music production, and Dre’s style directly influences many producers' songs today. Even Kanye West named Dr. Dre as one of the biggest influences to his music production. Kanye West explained in a Rolling Stone interview that when he was starting in the 1990’s “Dre productions like Tupac's ‘California Love’ were just so far beyond what I was doing that I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. I had no idea how to get to that point, how to layer all those instruments” (McKinney 1). Today, more than thirty years since he first heard Dre’s work, Kanye continues to evolve his music production. His influence on Hip-hop music production can be observed most clearly in his 2008 album “808’s & Heartbreak”. Kanye produced this album with the intention of letting his listeners feel his sadness and pain through his music. The slow violin samples mixed with the minor key bass thumps on this album lets you feel the suffering Kanye was experiencing at the time. With this album, “Kanye West paved the way for people to be more expressive and honest in their music, allowing them to share the more intimate details of their lives”. (Pillai 1) Songs like Drake’s 2011 “Marvins Room” wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Kanye’s decision to open up to his fans through his music. Kanye West continues to produce music and shape the future of the sound of Hip-hop today. Both Dr. Dre and Kanye have been major influences on the current music in Hop-hop, and their unique production styles will still likely be heard in the decades to come. Works Cited Biography.com Editors. “Dr. Dre.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 6 Jan. 2021, https://www.biography.com/musician/dr-dre. McKinney, Jessica. “A History of Kanye West and Dr. Dre's Relationship.” Complex, Complex, 19 Nov. 2019, https://www.complex.com/music/2019/11/kanye-wests-dr-dre-historytimeline. Pillai, Ganesh. “The Miscellany News.” The Impact of '808s & Heartbreak' on Modern-Day Rap – The Miscellany News, 28 Apr. 2021, https://miscellanynews.org/2021/04/28/arts/the-impact-of-808s-heartbreak-on-modernday-rap/. Watts, Alex. “Why Dr Dre's 2001 Holds up as a Hip-Hop Classic, 20 Years On.” Red Bull, Red Bull, 20 May 2021, https://www.redbull.com/au-en/dr-dre-2001-everything-you-need-toknow.
