The Chinese Democracy of Rap: Dr. Dre's 'Detox'

It took Axl Rose 15 years to shit out the steaming pile of crap that is Chinese Democracy.  15 years is a long time.  The band that began to the record the album was the band that released the album in name only; the original Guns n' Roses members have long since gone out to shittier things like bands named after fabric-embossed revolvers and providing color commentary on VH1 countdowns.  Any modern musical work of art that spends that long in gestation is destined for irrelevancy and a suck-factor of 11 on a 1 to 10 scale.

It has been over 10 years since Dr. Dre dropped '2001' on the world.  Contrary to many people's memories, and conveniently for Dr. Dre, the album was released in 1999, not 2001.  What started as maybe the most anticipated rap album ever, 'Detox' is turning into the Chinese Democracy of rap.  Recorded, re-recorded, re-re-recorded, scrapped, recorded again, and probably smoked up in an accidental blunt fire and recorded once again, the album is now being delayed until... Well who the fuck knows.  Dr. Dre himself doesn't even seem to know. Talking to SLAM magazine recently he said, “Well, I’m working on it, but also I’ve been working on other people’s projects; you’ll probably hear something in a year or so.”  A year or so.  This means 2011 and at this point quite conceivably beyond.

Let's face it, the man is now 44 years old, and while Jay-Z has certainly show that hip-hop moguls can rap with the best of them into their 40's, Jay-Z has at least been keeping 'in the game' during the past 10 years.  If Dre decides to release the album in 2011 he will be 45.  If you have seen that Dr. Pepper commercial that included mere seconds of Detox, you noticed the dude looks OLD.

Now I hear the argument constantly that Dre is focusing on his production for other artists like The Game, Eminem, Raekwon, etc. but even those artists who work closely with Dre on a day to day basis fail to provide an adequate explanation for what the hell is taking so long.  The Game told XXL Magazine in November 2009,

"I know it seem like he be taking forever with these albums but if you think about the time that passed between the Chronic and 2001, I think Detox is just about due. So it's not about him just making us wait, it's his format."

So let's get this straight, the 7 years between 'The Chronic' and '2001' are somehow just like the 10 years that have thus far elapsed since '2001' and... well and nothing, he has nothing to show for 10 years of work yet besides an advertising deal with a crappy soda you used to drink when the first '2001' came out.  Sure, "Crack A Bottle" had a classic great Dr. Dre flow on it, and there have been some stand-out 50 Cent and other Aftermath artist's tracks, but it's still not what we are all waiting for.  The danger of going back to the lab and perfecting the beat for over 10 years is that when it all finally comes together, whenever that may be, is that it won't come even close to living up to the hype. 

The great irony of 'Chinese Democracy' wasn't just the title of the album, but that people could actually expected a Chinese democracy to come about before the album would.  The great irony of the title 'Detox' is of course that it will be Dr. Dre's final album, likening his career arc as a rapper to an addiction which he will finally purge upon this release.  It will also be a great catharsis to the rap world that has sunk to levels that involve Lil' Wayne attempting a rock album.  But it could also be a bomb that implodes upon it's own supposed greatness and signal the end of an era in rap music.  But I guess you gotta give the man credit where it's due.  He must know what he's doing.  After all, he is a doctor.

-Zach Jaffe