Tonight at 9 p.m. EST, 16 year's worth of expectations will give way to Dr. Dre's Compton: A Soundtrack, which will stream exclusively on Apple Music. The FADER spoke to seven producers—of all ages and from all regions; including two who have credits on the album—about the Doctor's great influence and the album that they've been waiting more than a decade to hear. This is what they had to say.
<b>How has Dr. Dre influenced you as a producer?</b> Dre for me has been the stamp of rap music for the last 25 years. Musically, of course, it's hard to look at his resume funny. But on the other side, it's dope to be in the studio with him and see his energy and vibe. That's where I get the most respect from him. I'm from Inglewood, and growing up Dre has really been a person that I've looked up to in a sense of how to find talent, how to find someone who has a message, how to find someone who can gravitate people towards him. Dre has been an influence in how to do it and not be deterred by faults and things that happen that may not go in your favor. Just seeing the span of his career, the ups and downs, it's incredible to see someone who can last long. Especially in the rap world, there's not that many people left from his era.
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<b>Did you ever think he would put out another album?</b> This is actually going to happen, it's kind of weird! Who really thought in their right minds he was going to come out with an album? It feels like a unicorn, you only might see that once. I'm excited in that sense, and I wouldn't lie, it's a really dope album and I'm excited for people to hear it.
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<b>And you got to work on it—</b>I don't really chase anything, I just kind of do my thing and hopefully somebody likes it, but my manager went over there and he played a few of my records and I guess he just fell in love with it. So then I came to the studio during the writing process and kind of just heard a lot of the different things they added onto it. It was a dope experience meeting Dre, and he was a big fan of me: he thought I was one of his favorite producers of the generation coming out. To get that acknowledgement, that's one of those things you can't buy.
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<b>After all these years, why do you think it's coming out now?</b> It's going to be interesting. I kind of look at music like it's all about timing. It's all about how it effects the people that are in the moment of living it, and something that may be good now may not have been good five years ago, or certain artists may not have existed. It kind of flows with the Earth, and I think with Dre, who really knows what's the right time? I think he feels like it's just the right time. It's going to be interesting, it's the first time an artist of his caliber or a mega-big name is coming out in this age where a lot of the kids only know him for his beats. There is literally a generation of kids that don't know Dre's music. It's going to be interesting.<br><br>
<b>Based on what you have heard, what should we expect?</b>I was kind of in and out and I haven't heard all the records yet, but they're dope. Dre has a certain ear that, sonically, it's going to hit you harder than a lot of stuff that's happening out there. Technically, it's almost scary how it sounds because it's got a lot of energy. That's going to be a thing, because his ear is so meticulous about the way the kick hits and the way the snare hits and just the feel of the music. It's his vibrations, pretty much. He still has one of the best technical ears in the game.
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<b>Will it make old fans happy? Convert new fans?</b>
It's just different because it's one of the albums that you're going to see how it brings people of all generations together. It's got new artists on there and older artists together. It's going to be Dre. I don't want to say it's going to be new Dre, but it's just going to be another facet of Dre—it's a new experience. It's interesting to be in a moment where, this is the first time we've seen a person who has been in a game for so long get this attention. Rap hasn't been like rock music, where you've got the Rolling Stones, you got Aerosmith, you've got Bon Jovi, all these genres of music where cats are still relevant, where they still have an influence on music. Rap is such a young man's game, it's just crazy because it's like, the youth don't even really know him in that sense other than older records. Dre hasn't really been out and about in the public. He's in the studio working.
<br><br>This is to me the first time someone of this age is like, okay I'm coming and this is what I want to do. I just want to see the reaction of the world is. We live in a different time of music release than when he put out <i>The Chronic</i>, how people took it in. Now it's like, we live in the McDonalds generation of music where it goes in and goes out really quick. It's almost like, damn, it's a moment that definitely will be remembered in the sense of how music is sold, how it's taken by the youth, are older people going to galvanize and say, 'Yeah I'm going to buy this album because I listen to Dre."