Reflection Eternal (Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli) talk to Hard Knock TV’s Devi Dev about the impact of Dr Dre’s Chronic album and how Gansta rap dominated music in 1993.

Hi-Tek also talks about being signed to Dre’s aftermath label as a producer, how Dre is a mentor to him and how people perceive Dre. He also talks about the status of Detox. Some memorable quotes from this interview from Tek:

“If you cant make the Dre cut That’s your fault”…”Dre has built nothing but superstars”…”You don’t deserve producer credit if you don’t produce, just because you make a beat doesn’t make you a producer!”

For more of this interview with Reflection Eternal check out: http://www.HardKnock.tv

Dr Dre says Detox is coming out by the end of this FALL, says he wants to make sure he give everyone what they are waiting for so they are not disappointed? Dre also tells HardKnock.TV’s Devi Dev in this interview that the “Under Pressure” leak featuring Jay-Z is not a finished song, its not blended right and there is no hook on it yet! Ps the lovely lady next to Dr Dre is his WIFE!

This interview took place at the 23RD ANNUAL ASCAP RHYTHM & SOUL MUSIC AWARDS where DR DRE received the ASCAP’s Founders Award.

Dr. Dre.’s “Under Pressure,” featuring Jay-Z, leaked online. The unfinished (old) track has no chorus and isn’t mixed or mastered. The word is, that “Under Pressure” is off “Detox”!

“I want to set the record straight for everybody who’s been waiting to hear my music. The song that’s on the internet is an incomplete song that I’m still working on. When it’s ready, you’ll be hearing it from me”, so Dr. Dre!

Make sure to check out DrDre.com and Detox-DrDre.com!

Scott Storch has his first sit down interview in over a year with DJ Skee. Storch talks about being in Los Angeles for the past few months working on Dr. Dre on Detox, if Detox is really coming out & producing the first single “Under Pressure” featuring Jay-Z.

Dr. Dre and Interscope’s Jimmy Iovine discuss their new $350 headphones designed to enrich the digital music experience with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo.

Ludacris has revealed his admiration for Eminem and detailed his ghostwriting for Dr. Dre’s long-awaited album, Detox.

“I always wanted to work with Dr. Dre and I got a chance to work with him and then Eminem, I’ve talked to Eminem so hopefully we can make that happen,” Luda said about collaborating with both artists. “I was definitely doing a little ghostwriting but you know, we’ll see what happens. He has a lot of different tracks that he has to choose from for the Detox album so it is what it is. I think he has the chemistry and exactly what everyone wants, it’s about staying innovative, being yourself and always have the good music. Good music will last throughout the ages no matter how things change and he always produces some good music.” (Young Hollywood)

As the West Coast continues trying to find a new identity that isn’t somehow connected to the extended N.W.A family tree, Warren G finds himself trying to slide back in. Although he’s been active, a lot of people aren’t aware of his new projects. With The G Files (his second independent album since 2005) out right now, Warren is faced with several choices: rapper or producer, independent or major. But if there’s one thing that isn’t up for debate, iT’s his loyalty to the west coast and good music. Ozone caught up with Warren to get his thoughtS on the new direction he’s taking his career, the state of West Coast Hip Hop, and why people forget that he helped save Def Jam in the 90s.

Let us know what you’re up to nowadays.
I have an independent album called The G Files out right now. I’m just testing the independent game, seeing how it is, and how I can work in it. It’s got a lot of great people on there like Snoop, Travis Barker, Nate Dogg, and Raekwon. I’ve got a bunch of new artist on the bubble too, so I’m just working on that. Other than that I’m doing my production, getting my beats stacked up so I can press play on the industry and get people back into Warren G the producer as well as the artist.

Are you doing that to clear up the perception of you? Some people looked at you as producer first and rapper second.
I did it all from the gate. As far as people thinking I’m more of a rapper than producer, I’m cool with it. I’m happy with people looking at me like that. But I’m a multiple artist, so I produce, rap and write. That’s just what happened when I started doing my thing. I’m trying to re-establish myself as a producer right now, that’s my main focus. That’s what the industry has wanted from me. I never stopped though. I’ve been in the studio grinding out beats for people to pick up.

What direction are you going with your production?
Everything I do is G-Funk. I’m just into producing great music. I try to make singles. I just do good music. Music that’s hood, but still appeals to the world. I want the world to love the sound. I try to make hit records, constantly.

What made you want to go the independent route?
Because a lot of guys I know that are independent were like, “The independent’s get all the money.” You get what you work for. With a major, you get 35 cents [per record]. Independent you can get $5 to $8 a record. I was trying it out. It’s cool, but you have to surround yourself with the right people to push yourself independently. I’m thinking if I do another record, I might do it on a major so people know it’s out there. Independently I’ve done all the promo I can do, but the world doesn’t know it’s there. I’m getting back into my production. I like scoring and music supervision.

I did the music for this TV show on BET called Harlem Heights. That was my tester, and they loved it. As far as film, most of the records you’ve heard from me were made for movies I had in mind. So beyond that, I’m trying to get into sounds. If they need a fart, I’m trying to put the fart in. I’m a DJ, so I know how to place and blend things so they sound right.

How do you feel about the current soundscape of West Coast music?
We ain’t really got nobody besides Snoop out right now. It ain’t really nothing out from the West right now. I can’t really speak on it. I couldn’t tell you right now. But I do know when Dre drops Detox it’s gonna open up the new talent. It’s just hard to make the West like it was before because we don’t have any outlets. Snoop is the head of Priority Records now, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m trying to get a position too, so I can let this West Coast talent be heard.

Why do you think that is?
It’s the industry. You got a lot of people here that’s heads of the company who ain’t from here and don’t understand what we do. I was told by a person that my record was too West Coast. How the fuck am I too West Coast? I do me. I make Warren G songs for everybody. So when you got people thinking like that, of course you ain’t gonna get no talent out here. These people can’t speak for the fans, and the fans actually want that. They want that old West Coast sound because the shit that’s coming out these days sounds like some electro shit. We need this real shit back cracking.

How can we get music from everywhere heard everywhere though?
A lot of it has to do with the DJs. The music was controlled by radio and DJs, so we have to start supporting. People are getting paid for playing records. We should get back to the love and the paycheck is gonna come. Radio and DJs have to understand, when you don’t play the records, we don’t get paid. This is how we survive and send [our] kids to college. This is our job. So when you tell an artist you can’t play their record, you’re crushing their whole world. People need to get back to doing it for the love. I get major love in Atlanta and New York, but when I come back home to L.A., we’ve only got West Coast Wednesday. How come the West Coast only gets Wednesdays in L.A.? When I went to NYC to let people know I was in town they wouldn’t let me get on the radio station to tell people. And I’m a guy that brought you tons of music. I’ve done a lot for Def Jam and New York, working with Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles. When Def Jam was down, I saved the day. There should always be love there. They should never tell me I can’t get on [the radio]. And the Program Director was from California, that’s what made it even crazier.

Now that I’m independent, I see what the process is. A lot of the people I helped get into positions with major companies are like, “Fuck you Warren, thank you, we cool. I don’t owe you nothing.” And that’s fucked up. I’ve busted my ass, told companies that if you fire so-and-so, you might as well drop me. That’s fucked up. That’s why I’m not mad at dudes like Suge loc’ing up on these industry people.

Despite your affiliations, we’ve never heard you do a lot of banging on wax like some of your peers. Why is that?
I’ve got kids, so I can’t be on record talking about I’m cripping. I don’t want my kids saying I was a gangbanger. I want them saying, “My dad has been around the world and made great records.” I’m grown and sexy now. I still appeal to people, I ain’t old and shabby-faced. I ain’t in my 40s yet, but the ladies still like me. I just can’t do the gangbang thing on my music. I’ve got two daughters and three boys.

We know you’ve been doing a lot for the community lately. Do they still have Warren G Week in Long Beach?
I was just named as the face for all the Boys & Girls Clubs in Long Beach. I got a certificate from the district for the good I’ve done. That was big for me. They still have Warren G Week in the summer, but in the winter I go to the homeless shelters and pass out stuff to the homeless. They’re good people, they just get in bad positions when nobody wants to hire them.

How is Nate Dogg doing these days?
I’m going to see him this week. He’s in therapy. We’re trying to get him back up. He had two strokes; a lot of people don’t survive from that. We’re keeping him in our prayers and trying to get him back right, and that’s all we can do. It hurts because that’s my dawg. I do a dedication to him every time I perform to let my good vibes and prayers get out to the Lord for him to get better. But it’s a part of life we have to deal with. So I have to keep myself up and healthy.

Lastly, since Dr. Dre is your brother, are you privy to any Detox information?
The stuff I’ve heard was dope. When he drops it, he’s gonna change the game as far as the music. I couldn’t tell you how far along he is or if it’s finished. I really don’t know what he’s doing right this minute, but I know he’s gonna put the record out. I do know it’s coming out this year. //

Source: OzoneMag

After joining forces with his old band, Scott talks to VIBE about working on Dre’s Detox and making music with Quincy Jones. After the jump, a Black Thought-led version of “Still D.R.E.” Ooh wee!

With a reputation that precedes him, it’s a daunting experience awaiting Dr Dre. Over six feet tall, with shoulders wider than Joan’s during Dynasty’s heyday, it’s not only his physical presence that’s commanding. Boasting a back catalogue of some of the best rap records ever created, the man’s a hero, a myth, and a legend.

Today, Dre is found in a carpeted and cavernous Best Buy in New York’s Union Square, where he’s holding a press conference not to promote his long-awaited album, Detox, but for his electronic consumer brand, Beats By Dre. It’s an incongruous location to find a multi-millionaire genius; a bit like going to see Robert De Niro promote Freeview in Argos. Yet, judging by the queues and the trilling sound of the tills, it’s been an effective event for a brand which includes headphones, laptops, speakers and DJ software. Surrounded by fans, label reps and assorted Beats staff, it’s a relief when he muscles through the melee with a warm grin and a firm shake of the hand.

“Aftanoooon,” he smiles, attempting an affable British accent of the Dick Van Dyke variety. “‘Ow are ya?”

Andre “Dr Dre” Romelle Young is perhaps the only producer to have changed the course of music over three decades (maybe four, if he ever releases Detox). In the 80s he bought us unbridled rage and provocative refrains via LA rappers NWA. Next, he ushered in the marijuana-marinated “G-Funk Era”, both on his own album, The Chronic, and Snoop Dogg’s seminal debut Doggystyle. In 1999, he proved worthwhile white rap wasn’t just limited to the Beastie Boys and 3rd Bass with his protege, Eminem, before unleashing 50 Cent on to the world in 2003. In the pop sphere, he’s worked with everyone from Gwen Stefani to Tupac, Nine Inch Nails to Jay-Z, plus Mary J Blige and Burt Bacharach. His eye for a star and ear for sound is arguably second to none; stabbing, sample-free synths, heart-stopping drums and tense, taut percussion being among the Doc’s trademarks.

‘My mom has pictures of me at four years old at the turntable, reaching up to play the records. I feel like I was bred to do what I do’

“Engineering and mixing are absolutely key,” he says of the post-production process that helps ensure such perfection. “Once a song is done, for me personally, it’s usually two or three days to get the mixdown.” Indeed, Dre has produced scores of sonically indelible records. He raps, too; Eminem, Snoop and Jay-Z are all rumoured to have ghostwritten tracks for Dre.

“You know, it’s real weird. I’ve looked at pictures that my mom has of me, from when I was four years old at the turntable,” says the former DJ of his transformation. “I’m there, reaching up to play the records. I feel like I was bred to do what I do. I’ve been into music, and listening to music and critiquing it, my whole life.” Of his fastidious approach to production – Detox has been some eight years in the making (so far) – he’s at a loss to describe how he does what he does. “Once that sound is right, once that mix is right, it’s a feeling that you get, here,” he says tapping in the general direction of his heart. “It’s unexplainable.”

This painstaking process isn’t the only reason Dre has kept his fans waiting. For the last three years, he’s been waylaid wading through designs and technology for the range of headphones he’s been producing alongside Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, who’s with him at Best Buy today.

“If you know about Dr Dre, these headphones weren’t coming out until they were perfect, or else we would have had Detox five years ago,” cracks Iovine. The Pacino to Dre’s De Niro, at first glance they’re an unlikely duo; the wiry, wise-cracking, fast-talking New Yorker, and the self-contained, quiet Californian, straight outta Compton. Yet though Iovine may talk a mile a minute while Dre is somewhat more muted in his musings, this polar-opposite pairing are a powerful partnership. Iovine signed Lady Gaga, Pussycat Dolls, Gwen Stefani, and Timbaland, while Dre owns Aftermath, distributed by Iovine’s industry goliath; Eminem and 50 are among his signings. Not only partners in money-making, the two have been friends for over 19 years.

“Our kids play together and everything,” says Dre (who also points out that Iovine’s tea-making abilities are “the shit”). “We’re pretty close.”

“I didn’t know a lot about hip-hop in 1990, I was from the rock world,” shouts Iovine, a former producer for Simple Minds and U2. “I’d listen to hip-hop and sonically it sounded terrible. A guy brought in a tape and the first thing that hit me was the sound. I said, ‘Whoever’s combining these worlds like this, is doing something no one’s done before. I gotta meet this guy.’ And that’s what got me interested in Dr Dre.”

‘I’m just trying to be a creator in among all this shit that’s going on. I just want to get my music out and make sure that it’s heard in the right way’

Nice cans, Dre, but when are we gonna hear Detox?

Distilling Dre’s innate sense of sonic precision led the pair to devise a different way of reversing the record industry’s loss-making mishaps. “I’m just trying to be a creator in among all this shit that’s going on,” Dre says about hawking high-end headphones. “I just want to get my music out and make sure that it’s heard in the right way. That’s all I give a fuck about.”

Rather than the tried and tested trainers and tracksuits that most artists flog when they begin to merchandise themselves, they brought Beats By Dre back to the essence of the Good Doctor’s brilliance.

“Three years ago we were talking about the deals that acts do,” Iovine remembers. “We said, ‘We gotta do something about sound.’ We went from analogue to digital and the digital revolution all went terribly wrong. So we said, ‘Screw the sneakers, lets get into headphones and speakers.’”

Jimmy and Dre’s main reason for wanting to diversify is because the way in which we listen to music has deteriorated so dramatically.

“[I did this] because it’s sound. And I know a little bit about that,” Dre chuckles, before explaining that an MP3 downloaded from the internet, particularly illegally, can be as much as 10 times lower in quality than vinyl or even a CD. Coupled with the fact that many are listening to music on mobile phones or through tinny speakers, it all makes Dre disgruntled. “Once it gets to your computer, everything’s compressed. It’s like smashing sound,” he explains. “So we’re trying to fix that.”

Beats phones are proving quite a celebrity draw, with Lady Gaga and P Diddy designing their own lines. Iovine and Dre have also pulled in some famous pals today to spin for the crowd after they’ve finished their press conference; twice during our interview Iovine, mid-sentence shouts “WILL.I.AM” as Will.I.Am walks by the green room we’re sequestered in. “DAVID GUETTA!” he yells again a few minutes later, telling the assembled throng of staff that “Elvis just walked in the room!” And to me, “You don’t know what you’ve hit on here. No one will ever have these two guys together again.” Indeed. However, putting the dance DJ and Dre together does elicit more insight from Dre. He apparently “had a ball” at Guetta’s Fuck Me, I’m Famous night that he runs with his wife in Ibiza.

“I have to go out to clubs now,” he says, referring to preparations for Detox’s release. “You need to understand what people are listening to.”

Which brings us, neatly, back to the album; headphones are all well and good but what everyone wants, including the kids who queued for hours to see Dre in Best Buy, is Detox. When is it dropping? There’s a shy grin and a little nod: “I’m working hard on it. I’m stopping to work on other artists in-between, but the minute it’s done and I feel it right here,” he says patting his heart again, “that’s when it will come out. Hopefully the beginning of 2010.” (Needless to say, a few weeks after our chat he releases a statement to say it probably won’t be before 2011 now. Sigh).

Still, however and whenever it arrives, Dre feels he might have created the perfect song on this album. Almost.

“I don’t think I’ve done that record yet. I’ll know what it is when it comes; I know exactly what it is in my head, but I haven’t done it yet. It’s close.”

We will, he assures me once again, hear it soon, though: “I got some shit coming, believe me.” (The Guardian)

Slaughterhouse’s Crooked I has hyped the anticipation for Dr. Dre’s forthcoming Detox album by calling the beats instant platinum hits. The former Death Row Records artist shed light on the Doc’s unreleased beats.

“What Dr. Dre needs to know is, people, even the ones that you think are the least likely to be waiting on Detox, are waiting on Detox,” he explained in an interview. “That album is like a myth but I’ve been inside the studio and I’ve heard some of the bangers. Right now, he could drop 10 Detox’s. [laughs] You know what’s so interesting to me? Dre’s a perfectionist and I don’t know if he’s not comfortable with all of the heat that he has but the work is there. The stuff I heard is bangin’. If he didn’t want to use it, he could give it to me and I’ll go 20x platinum with it. [laughs]“ (XXL Mag)