Dre and Mike Elizondo’s sparsely effective interplay of halting piano keys, skidding strings, and Dre’s patented bass-drum thumps makes “Outta Control” a mid-aughts hit that’s easy to love, but hard to reproduce. Havoc and the recently deceased New York rap hero Prodigy easily segue from their Mobb Deep reputation as Queensbridge murderers to thugs sipping bubbly and enjoying the models at the party. His harmonized, subtly halting hook - “You … know … I … got … what it takes to make the club go outta control” - sounds like effortlessly made ear candy. ![]() ![]() Mobb Deep, “Outta Control” (2005)Īrriving at the tail end of 50 Cent’s reign as the biggest star in rap, “Outta Control” has the untroubled panache of a man at the peak of his powers. (That’s excepting Bizarre’s typically misanthropic verse, and his decidedly nasty bars about his grandmother.) Dre’s bass rhythm and Mike Elizondo’s ringing guitar lines lend the performers a raw, emphatic sound over which to unfurl their cipher. “Fight Music” was a highlight of the group’s solidly effective Devil’s Night debut, and a key moment for rap fans that couldn’t stomach some of their other shock-inducing horrorcore tracks. Despite coming up in the same thriving Nineties Detroit rap scene, Em’s friends never quite shook their undeserved reputation as bandwagon riders on his supernova fame. James’ voice is nearly as prominent as Busta’s, who weaves a lyric about hood life before commanding us to “rep your ghetto.”Įminem’s D12 project is truly underrated. Dre and DJ Green Lantern sampled James’ “Ghetto Life” alongside a snippet of his infamous appearance at the BET Awards, then built a dramatic track out of punchy horn chops, bass bumps, and subtle flutes. But it at least yielded “In the Ghetto,” a worthy tribute to the near-mythical king of funk-punk Rick James, who died in 2004. Despite heavy publicity and decent album sales, Busta Rhymes’ Aftermath bow The Big Bang didn’t live up to its sky-high expectations. “The fact that Aftermath is my new home speaks for itself,” Busta Rhymes told XXL magazine in 2004, a sign of Aftermath’s reputation as the top rap label in the industry. Although “No More Lies” was a massive Billboard Top 10 single, her relationship with Dre ultimately ended tragically, as she would later explain in her controversial biography and Lifetime series Surviving Dr. When started working on my stuff, we created something that was phenomenal,” Michel’le told Elle in 2016. Dre’s bass-y, synthesized funk serves as a platform for Michel’le’s distinctively high-powered yet swinging voice. Michel’le’s debut single not only arrived during N.W.A’s incredible 1989 run, but it also gave Ruthless Records a thrillingly new dimension, proving the label was capable of more than uncompromising reality rap. Image Credit: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Dre may be a pop icon now, but he’ll always know how to make gangster shit. “The DA can play this motherfucking tape in court/I’ll kill you,” says 50 before harmonizing, “I ain’t playin’, hear what I’m sayin’.” It’s riveting stuff. ![]() ![]() The alternating squalls of keys and gunshots highlight 50’s rep as the hammer-carrying bad man. It opens with a snippet of 50 executing a drive-by before Dre drops in an off-kilter stutter-step rhythm punctuated by gunshots and keyboard high notes. This deep cut from 50 Cent’s six-times-platinum Get Rich or Die Tryin’ showcases Dre’s imagination as a producer of noisy, action-filled tableaus.
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