

However, even with Nas’ project topping the charts, many fans felt like Dre’s new venture was lacking compared to the glory of N.W.A. He also released Nas’ super-group The Firm’s Album, compromised of Escobar, AZ, Foxy Brown, and last-minute Cormega-replacement, Nature.

In its first year, Dre released a compilation of his new roster. Leaving Daz, Sam Sneed, and others, Dre created a new musical team of West Coast pioneer Chris “The Glove” Taylor, as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Mel-Man and Bud’dha, among others. King T and Death Row’s first pardon, RBX. Dre’s early signings included Compton O.G. This label, using the mantra “We don’t set trip we set trends,” began as something of a musical playground. Dre had launched Aftermath Entertainment, also distributed by Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope. In a new interview, he compares that year to “Vietnam.” In the exit, he’d reportedly forfeited an ownership stake and his personal song publishing in a Gangsta Rap empire. The Compton, California producer, rapper, and DJ had left Death Row Records three and a half years earlier, in 1996. Personally and musically, plenty had happened since The Chronic, which marked Dre’s first album since leaving N.W.A. It became a benchmark album that book-ended a decade that the producer and rapper had fueled. Dre released his sophomore solo album, 2001. Twenty years ago today (November 16, 1999), Dr.
