Music Features

"The Chronic" Ruined Dr. Dre's Life

The album debuted on streaming services today in honor of 4/20

Dr. Dre

Photo by Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Dr. Dre's debut album, The Chronic–which surprised fans around the world when it unexpectedly popped up on streaming services today in honor of 4/20–undoubtedly revolutionized Hip-Hop.

For many (white) suburbanites it debuted a brighter, more effervescent Hip-Hop than its grimy East Coast counterparts. Focused on melodic builds, catchy hooks, and so much swagger, G-Funk was born on December 15, 1992. By now, there are plenty of articles detailing the specifics of what made the project so magical. It transformed the way the world viewed Hip-Hop and is arguably the single most important release in the entire genre for a multitude of reasons. But in hindsight, it's behind-the-scenes mythos is almost as infamous as the project itself, and the overall experience was forged by Dre partially in the hopes of rewriting a stressful and troubling personal history. Since its release, it's brought as much harm to him as it has good.

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Eminem 'The Jonathan Ross Show' TV Programme, London, Britain - 15 Nov 2013

Photo by Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/Shutterstock

Eminem's spats with other stars are a big part of Hip-Hop lore, but Nick Cannon is sick of his sh*t.

Since 1999, Marshall Mathers has had 14 extensive feuds with rappers and entertainers and insulted countless other figures in pop culture. A battle rapper at heart, he's an emcee who thrives amid conflict. He once rapped about how conflict "gets his dick harder than arithmetic." His surprise Kamikaze album was, in this sense, a return to form. Released in 2018, Kamikaze revitalized Eminem's waning career after the lukewarm reception of 2017'sRevival, 2010's Recovery, and 2009's Relapse. Fans had long demanded he return to his sh*t-talking ways. So on Kamikaze, his battle rapping roots were on full display as he attacked a multitude of other emcees, the Mumble Rap subgenre, radio host Charlamagne Tha God, and Donald Trump. Since Kamikaze's release, Eminem's beef has begun to stack up in an almost gimmicky way. Still, his latest feud with Nick Cannon feels particularly disquieting, mainly due to Eminem's fervent obsession with Cannon's ex-wife, Mariah Carey.

Fat Joe, Dre - Lord Above (Audio) ft. Eminem & Mary J. Bligewww.youtube.com

During a guest feature on Fat Joe's 2019 single, "Lord Above," Eminem took yet another shot at Nick Cannon and rekindled his claim that he and Mariah Carey had dated. While the two pop culture figures hash it out in what is the most tepid rap feud of the decade, it's worth noting that almost 20 years later, Eminem still wants Carey to be discredited and overall has not changed his chauvinist attitude towards women.

Throughout his entire career, Eminem has always stood by an alleged fling he had with Mariah Carey. His initial mention was a feat of braggadocio, referring to Carey as his "lover" and "wife" in 2002's "Superman." Carey was quick to deny the affair, saying that the pair had merely shared a few phone calls. Since her denial and subsequent diss track, Eminem has made discrediting Mariah Carey a side project, devaluing her at random instances in his music career and reaffirming his side of the narrative, calling Carey a "f*cking liar," among other things. Nick Cannon's marriage to the starlet in 2008 only ramped up Eminem's harassment. "Nick Cannon better back the f*ck up," he raps on "Bagpipes from Baghdad," "I'm not playing, I want her back, you punk." He divulges an everlasting lust for Carey, calling her both a "wh*re" and a "c*nt," while explaining how badly he still wants her. Carey responded with a song called "Obsessed," featuring the line, "Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know."

Mariah Carey - Obsessed (Official Video)www.youtube.com

The hit song prompted an even more aggressive response from Eminem, whose track "The Warning" graphically describes sex with Carey. He continues to hurl insults at her for denying their romance, while subsequently threatening to release nude photos and intimate voice mails from the singer to prove his point (the latter of which, he actually did, although Carey denies the voicemails are hers.)

But Eminem's misogyny goes back years before he met Mariah Carey. Christina Aguilera first noted Eminem's violent views towards women in 1999, when Eminem married his longtime girlfriend Kim Mathers. The marriage was done in secret and came after years of Eminem "slinging violent lyrics about her in his earlier work," said Billboard. Aguilera put the rapper on blast, exposing Eminem's secret while warning women about domestic abusers. Eminem has since continued to bite back at Aguilera, most recently in 2018, when during a 10-minute freestyle called "Kick Off," he rapped: "F*ck Christina with a plastic spoon, while I bump some G-funk and blast some Snoop, cause her double-g cups are massive, huge! It's fun for me to just grab a boob, plus my penis got an attitude, my f*ckin Weiner is in a combative mood."

During a 2003 feud with Benzino, the former The Source Editor-and-Chief released "Foolish Pride," an unreleased Eminem song wherein the young emcee can be heard disparaging black women. "Black girls only want your money cause they're dumb chicks," Eminem raps. "Black girls are dumb, and white girls are good chicks." He proceeds to call black girls "wh*res" and "bitches." The blowback was immediate and diffused the beef almost immediately. Eminem apologized and said he made the track about an ex-girlfriend when he was young, "stupid," and angry.

Regardless of the apologies he's continued to shell out, Eminem has dedicated a countless amount of bars to disparaging women. A few years after the "Foolish Pride" blowback, Eminem was caught in a feud with rapper Canibus, and in his subsequent diss track he wrote, "So I stabbed him twice. Kept jabbin', Christ! He won't die! This guy's like a battered wife!"

Eminem - Foolish Pride (Racist song) (READ DESCRIPTION)www.youtube.com

After his initial spat with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, Eminem was embroiled in yet another feud with rapper Limp Bizkit, and released a diss track called "Girls," wherein he compared the rapper to a "p*ssy" girl. In November of 2019, an unreleased Eminem feature surfaced, wherein the rapper can be heard siding with Chris Brown over Rihanna following Brown's infamous assault of the pop star. "Let me give my two cents, of course, I support Chris Brown. I'd beat a b*tch down too if she gave my dick an itch now." A representative from Eminem issued a statement saying that he rewrote the lyric in question and that "obviously" he and Rihanna have a great relationship.

Eminem's entire discography is interwoven with lyrics of this nature, and his insensitivity has continuously landed him in hot water over the course of his entire career (the LGBTQ+ community also hates him. He most recently sparked outrage when called Tyler, The Creator a "f*ggot in 2018). So as the temper-tantrum between Nick Cannon and Eminem drags on, it's important to remember that nobody wins, especially not the fans.

MUSIC

"Jesus Is King" Will Never Come Out: A List of Hip-Hop Albums That Never Dropped

With Jesus Is King's release date changed once again to this Friday, let's take a look at hip-hop's other infamous releases that never materialized.

Chances are October 25 will come and go without a new album from Kanye West.

We've come to expect being disappointed by Kanye. And despite his recent official "announcement" about the release of his album Jesus Is King via Twitter, fans were quick to troll and dismiss the tweet as a false promise. It's been a rough road for Kanye fans in the last year. His recent "Sunday Service" performances have disturbed the masses. Some believe they affirm Kanye's long-held God complex, while others view his latest post-MAGA obsession to be more of a manic episode. Some believe he's simply spreading the gospel and that he's truly been "saved." Regardless, it's all cast Jesus Is King in a puzzling light, and fans truly don't know what to expect, or whether to expect anything at all. The one thing we know for certain is that the guy is a total pr*ck to his wife these days.

Will Jesus Is King become the next Fear Inoculum? Probably. It would be quite like Kanye to be his own hype beast. In the meantime, let's take a look back at a few of hip-hop's other notorious unreleased projects, all of which are, honestly, more likely to be released in 2019 than Jesus Is King.

MC Hammer and 2Pac's ​"Too Tight​"

MC Hammer signed with Death Row in 1995, but his highly-anticipated label debut, Too Tight, never saw the light of day. The project was much anticipated because of Hammer's alleged collaborations with Tupac Shakur on the project. The former left the record company shortly after the death of the latter. He later explained in an interview his concerns over the circumstances surrounding Tupac's death. He spoke to the rapper right before he died, and he was in Las Vegas the night of the shooting. Hammer later released "Too Late Playa," which featured the late Shakur as well as Big Daddy Kane and Danny Boy.Too Tight probably would have been amazing.

MUSIC

"I Wanna Thank Me" Is Everything We Love About Snoop Dogg

Listening to this album, you lose track of what to expect next.

Snoop Dog in concert at Peterborough Memorial Centre, Canada

Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock

When talking about the legendary "Doggfather" of rap, it is nearly impossible to boil his music down to a singular sound.

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MUSIC

Suge Knight Pleads No Contest to Manslaughter

The former rap mogul faces 28 years in prison for a hit-and-run

Getty Images

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, Marion Knight — a.k.a Suge Knight — pleaded no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge yesterday.

The charge came about in 2015 from a hit-and-run that led to the murder of Terry Carter in Compton.

As part of his plea deal, Suge Knight will serve 28 years in prison — 22 for voluntary manslaughter and six for the charge being a third strike violation. However, we all know that celebrities never do full time for any crime they commit so who knows when Knight will be getting out.

The formal sentencing will be on Oct. 4.

The 2015 incident itself took place right outside of Tam's Burgers in January. Knight was in an argument with Cle "Bone" Sloan — a consultant on Straight Outta Compton, a movie about rap group N.W.A. — due to the fact that he wasn't being paid for being portrayed in the movie.

Knight then started to become violent with Sloan outside the Compton burger joint and went back to his pickup truck. He proceeded to hit Sloan with his vehicle and ran over Terry Carter, another man at the scene who later died from the impact.

Being categorized as a hit-and-run, of course Knight fled the scene — however, the security cameras outside the restaurant captured the whole ordeal. He later turned himself in and has been in jail up until now — not from his legal team's lack of trying though. They originally pleaded not guilty and made up wild explanations — one, there were armed men threatening him in the lot and two, Dr. Dre hired a hitman to take him out.

Knight has been battling this case for three years now, going through a multitude of lawyers and even a court-appointed defense attorney. Probably anxious about the upcoming Sep. 24 court date, Knight's attorney Al DeBlanc finally set a plea deal with the L.A. County district attorney's office. If he hadn't reached out and Knight had been convicted of murder — that would've meant life in prison without parole.

It seems that the law finally caught up to Knight — he has also been accused of threatening F. Gray Gray, the director of Straight Outta Compton, and stealing a photographer's camera a year earlier. Hopefully this prison time will knock some sense into the former rap mogul.


Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust, Gearbrain and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and a marketing intern.


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