good music is good music: The Doctor

As the world continues to hold its breath for Dr. Dre's 'Detox' album - it's nice to hear the Doctor's voice again. He may have stepped out of the spotlight since his last album, 13 years ago, but he's managed to keep busy with some of pop cultures biggest trends. From Beats by Dre headphones to a few singles poised to be on the fabled 'Detox' he's still the master of creating beats in hip hop. He's a relevant legend as he approaches 50 years of age.

From his early days in The World Class Wreckin' Cru to N.W.A to a solo career and producer - it's safe to say he's shaped Hip Hop over the past 30 years.

I write about Dre today as I am currently enthralled with his latest signing to Aftermath Records. The kid's from Compton, his name is Kendrick Lamar and he is the real deal. His writing, flow and style are what sets him apart from the rest at this time. Check out this Dre produced track.

During my first week working at Universal Music I was asked to help set-up a press conference for 'The Up In Smoke Tour'. The tour was comprised of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Warren G. and newcomer at the time Eminem. It was by far the greatest concert I've ever been to in my life. If you have 2 hours to spare I recommend you watch it here.

I worked in the press department at that time and so the idea of a press conference was to get the artists in one room and do all interviews at the once. It was also to alleviate some of the pressure from Eminem as the press were up in arms about his lyrical content on 'The Marshall Mathers LP' that day.

When the press conference started it was only Dr. Dre and Eminem there to answer questions. The others were held up at the border all morning. As suspected once we opened questions to the floor it was all about Eminem and the controversy surrounding him. Then in a turn of events George Stroumboulopoulos, of MuchMusic at the time, put his hand up and point blank asking Dre about his current relationship with Suge Knight. That was a very touchy subject at that time and Eminem told George to get the fuck out of there. I think it was Master T. that ended up doing the interviews thereafter. It was fucking amazing. That an introduction to the music business and a big reason as to why I decided to keep going.

The single best part of that day was watching soundcheck though. Seeing Dr. Dre walk around the Molson Amphitheatre with his platinum mic checking sound from every corner of the stadium was surreal. His attention to detail showed me exactly why he was the best in the business. Well that and seeing Warren G. with a fishing rod in Lake Ontario while smoking a Philly. I digress.

Dr. Dre's been a part of some of the biggest tracks in Hip Hop history and here are but a mere 10 of them...