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Aftermaths Revolving Door
Article by:
Jason Fleurant
Not too long ago I was bouncing off the walls after hearing Joell Ortiz’s Koch album “THE BRICK: BODEGA CHRONICLES”. The album was without a doubt pure crack as the kiddies would say. I was looking forward to what his debut album would be like under the direction of the infamous Dr. Dre. I mean he’s crafted some major talent as in Eminem and 50 Cent. Who better than the good doc to operate on your debut, right?
Then the sweet situation turned sour. And like so many other Dre protégé’s before, Joell was shown the exit. The young promising MC was all the sudden out of the blue reportedly dropped from Aftermath Entertainment. You’d think that, okay Andre is an perfectionist. Hell he’s been working on Detox since some of ya’ll were in diapers. So you got to give the legend the benefit of a doubt of witnessing something in Joell we didn’t see, right?
Well that type of thinking would be cool IF the good doc hadn’t have such a large track record of doing such things. First it was The Firm, Rakim, then King Tee, then Eve, Hittman, and now Ortiz. All coming in ready to let the Doc operate, only to see some form of rejection. What the hell is going on here people? I mean you have those that have made it to the point they’ve released successful albums (Eminem/50 Cent), but for the most part it doesn’t last. Although I should mention Busta Rhymes did drop an album.
It still makes you wonder nonetheless doesn’t it? Is Dr. Dre the real problem? From the outside looking in you can only speculate. So keep in mind that is all I’m doing. I just can’t help noticing album after album getting shelved, artist after artist dropping or leaving. Everyone and their mothers wanted Jay-Z’s head on a platter for what Def Jam was doing with their artist, yet Dre takes no heat for what’s popping with Aftermath.
Is it possible that instead of being the perfectionist, Dre is really some kind of nuisance? For all the great things he’s done, is it at all possible that maybe he applies so much pressure to make things perfect that he causes the rifts with artist? Maybe even shackles the artist creativity to the point they become frustrated and loose desire? Who really knows, all I do know is Aftermath does kind of seem like a revolving door.
You still have acts like Eminem, 50 Cent (courtesy of Shady Records), Busta Rhymes, Raekwon, and even former Floetry songstress Marsha Ambrosius so maybe it’s not an all Dre’s fault. Maybe it’s like trying out for a team and cats just weren’t able to make the cut. Rather it be lack of overall skill or meshing well with the team ideology? To be honest, as far as I know I haven’t heard any former Aftermath artist diss Dre’s coaching methods or anything. So like I said from the outside looking in, we can only speculate.
However, another Dre inspired question I do have to ask is what kind of impact is the forever delayed “Detox” going to have when it finally drops? How long can one keep delaying something before fans finally decided they just don’t care anymore? Today, the music industry isn’t what it used to be. I mean, even Jay-Z is struggling to go platinum. Is this the reason Dre is taking so long? Is it him hoping things will turn around or that maybe his album can save the day?
I'm not going to front, I’ve gotten to the point that I can careless about if it comes out or not. Doesn’t mean when it finally does (Lord Willing!) I won’t check it out, just that I’m not waiting on it anymore. Just like countless of Joe Budden fans were getting fed up awaiting Mood Musik III. There’s only so long until people start to turn on you, especially if what they’ve been awaiting for is under par.
Could that be a fear of Dre? He isn’t in need of money or anything, else he’d probably of been released the album. So maybe it’s that artistic fear that it wouldn’t match up to the hype? Maybe it’s that thought that with each delay the pressure has mounted to a point that now he HAS to release a classic that’s beyond just Hip-Hop standards, else his legacy takes a nose dive? I can’t pretend to know what his thought process is. For all I know, Dre is chilling in the cut drinking Kool-Aid in a pool.
All I know is, if he is still working on Detox maybe its time to give it up and focus on his artist. He’s still got some dope acts and I think it’s time for Aftermath as a whole to display its full potential. Hell Crooked I is still waiting on a deal, how dope would it be if Dre and him link up? We should be getting more from Aftermath than just Eminem and Busta Rhymes. Especial when you got someone like Bishop Lamont and Marsha on the squad. I still feel someone dropped the ball on Joell Ortiz, but I’m not there so I don’t know. I’m just looking from the outside in, and from my vantage point it doesn’t look that good.
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