It’s time to recognize Doc’s Da Name for the classic album it is

[987654321]

i can understand that

there was indeed a shift. a huge shift in sound.

long gone with the dark and grimy sound of Dare and with time and just growing as an artist, the evolution was inevitable

he was more animated than ever before (which would continue going forward) but he still was spitting some shyt

Whut and Dare is for the heads. just straight up hip hop heads who want that exclusive raw shyt, that cassette tape (especially on Dare)

Muddy was a groove. it was laid back, funky and mellow.

Doc was more an animated and lighter or diet coke version of Muddy. he ain't slack on them lyrics, it just wasn't as menancing as Dare or Whut.

Muddy marked the start of Red being more laid back, while Doc was the start of the more comical and light hearted Red

I never minded Red being animated, having fun, or bringing much needed comedy to the genre. The beats were what killed this album to me. Being from the south and still hearing a lot of really strong music out of NYC was cool. When rockwilder and similar producers started gaining popularity and people started tossing sampling to the side, it got real hard to listen to some of that shyt, even when the lyrics were sharper than ever

 

[nose hair]

I never minded Red being animated, having fun, or bringing much needed comedy to the genre. The beats were what killed this album to me. Being from the south and still hearing a lot of really strong music out of NYC was cool. When rockwilder and similar producers started gaining popularity and people started tossing sampling to the side, it got real hard to listen to some of that shyt, even when the lyrics were sharper than ever

yeah, i agree. keep in mind, in 98' there was a huge shift in sound in hip hop across the board for the most part.

long gone were the days of that grimy 93', 94', 95' sound. that 88' to 96' golden era was over.

Erick's beats didn't have that heavy bass driven sound they use to have in like 94', 95' and 96' by 98' for the most part

prime example of that is like on "Well All Rite Cha". that was the one beat that when i heard it again today, i was like

that shyt was paper thin. it wasn't horrible, but it was a far cry from some of Erick's greatest beats

now on the flip side, beats like "Keep On 99'" and D.O.G.S. still knock like crazy.

 

[Awesome Wells]

@Awesome Wells

when is the last time you listened to Doc's Da Name?

i'd be interested in hearing what your opinion of the album is now, if it's been a long time since you've listened to it.

To be honest with you, I don’t even play the album anymore. LOL!!

I made a Def Squad playlist on my phone, and I have the songs I like from that album in the playlist. There's certain albums I won't break up like that, like his first three. So those three I still play all the way through and just chill with like back in the day. But if there's an album I can't really get into entirely, I'll throw the tracks I like off of it in a playlist. I just had "Keep On '99" on like a week ago. That's one of my joints off the album that I always liked a lot!

 

[Awesome Wells]

That's those "It Ain't" ass beats.

Naaaaaahhhhh! This is STILL my sh*t!! HAHA!

Erick was bringing in live instruments for mad years, since like '95, when he was down in ATL f*cking with Dallas Austin and them. He got nicer on the beats and got away from sampling, but was somehow able to be even funkier. One of my favorite producers of all-time. After the breakup, E went crazy from '93-'00. Classic run on production!

 

[nose hair]

Doc tha name 2000’s production was a time capsule of mediocre to trash. A precursor to the early 2000’s NYC “we can’t figure it out, fukk it lets just bash this Casio keyboard with my fist” head ass beats.

Red was consistent as always on this album, but the production was bland as fukk. “I’ll bee Dat” is still one of my favorite songs ever though.

This volume of production mediocrity made this era’s GREAT east coast albums really stand out, but a lot of great artist fell victim to unnecessary “modernization” of east coast rap production. I’m still pissed about them friendly ass beats smh. Still got a lot of great projects during those dark times. They just stayed true to themselves.

i hear you, believe me, i do.

i agree with some of what you say, because those were some dark times in some aspects.


on the plus side of 98', we had Big Pun's Capital Punishment, Blackstar debut album, OutKast's Aquemini, Goodie Mob's Still Standing, Gang Starr's Moment of Truth, DJ Quik's Rhy-thm-alism, Lyricist Lounge Show Vol. 1 etc etc

but imagine if some of them same artists and producers kept producing beats like it was 1994, after a while, heads would've been like

cats would've eventually gotten tired of hearing the same sound over and over

as much as we love a particular sound, as we evolve and time moves forward, we also want to hear something new, of course we want the music to actually sound good/great and with that comes taking chances and with taking chances sometimes comes with mistakes.

 

[nose hair]

To be honest with you, I don’t even play the album anymore. LOL!!

I made a Def Squad playlist on my phone, and I have the songs I like from that album in the playlist. There's certain albums I won't break up like that, like his first three. So those three I still play all the way through and just chill with like back in the day. But if there's an album I can't really get into entirely, I'll throw the tracks I like off of it in a playlist. I just had "Keep On '99" on like a week ago. That's one of my joints off the album that I always liked a lot!

i understand, it be like that sometimes

oh word, that's a good move. i get it.

"Keep On 99" is definitely a standout from Doc's Da Name

honestly i tried to go back and listen to Malpractice last night to see if i felt any different about it and my opinion really hasn't changed. lol

that's the Redman album where im like "alright, im off the bandwagon now" lmao

only songs from that album i can listen to are Diggy Doc, Real nikkaz, and Soopaman Luva Part 1

i wish the damn song was longer because that was a damn great song to sample and rhyme over. classic from Curtis Mayfield/ the song from the movie, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" lol

 

[Awesome Wells]

i understand, it be like that sometimes

oh word, that's a good move. i get it.

"Keep On 99" is definitely a standout from Doc's Da Name

honestly i tried to go back and listen to Malpractice last night to see if i felt any different about it and my opinion really hasn't changed. lol

that's the Redman album where im like "alright, im off the bandwagon now" lmao

only songs from that album i can listen to are Diggy Doc, Real nikkaz, and Soopaman Luva Part 1

i wish the damn song was longer because that was a damn great song to sample and rhyme over. classic from Curtis Mayfield/ the song from the movie, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" lol

Malpractice was when I said I was giving up! There was literally nothing good on that sh*t! 2-3 joints, maybe.

But then I f*cked up and copped Red Gone Wild when he dropped that and that was the final straw for me! HAHA! I never spent money on a Reggie album again. Lost all faith after that one.

 

[nose hair]

Malpractice was when I said I was giving up! There was literally nothing good on that sh*t! 2-3 joints, maybe.

But then I f*cked up and copped Red Gone Wild when he dropped that and that was the final straw for me! HAHA! I never spent money on a Reggie album again. Lost all faith after that one.

yeah, Malpractice was horrible. exactly. the only the songs i still listen to from it are Real nikkaz, Diggy Doc and Soopaman Luv 5 (Part 1) but that's it

lmao. yeah, what had me interested in at least listening to the Red Gone Wild album when it dropped was that Ill At Will Vol. 1 mixtape he had dropped a few years before the album. it wasn't prime 90's Red, but it was better than Malpractice. but the run was really over.

 

[Awesome Wells]

yeah, Malpractice was horrible. exactly. the only the songs i still listen to from it are Real nikkaz, Diggy Doc and Soopaman Luv 5 (Part 1) but that's it

lmao. yeah, what had me interested in at least listening to the Red Gone Wild album when it dropped was that Ill At Will Vol. 1 mixtape he had dropped a few years before the album. it wasn't prime 90's Red, but it was better than Malpractice. but the run was really over.

I was playing this mixtape a lot back then! He had some cool sh*t on this one.

But I really think he lost the magic. Erick Sermon said he thinks Redman could've been the GOAT, but he had to adapt to the climate and also to working with Mef, so doing the group thing slowed him down. I thought about that and I kinda agree. After Muddy Waters, he should've just kept doing his own thing. The group helped Mef more than it did him.

 

[nose hair]

I was playing this mixtape a lot back then! He had some cool sh*t on this one.

But I really think he lost the magic. Erick Sermon said he thinks Redman could've been the GOAT, but he had to adapt to the climate and also to working with Mef, so doing the group thing slowed him down. I thought about that and I kinda agree. After Muddy Waters, he should've just kept doing his own thing. The group helped Mef more than it did him.

same here. to me, he sort of made up for Malpractice with that, even though it was just a mixtape.

he did and it was more and more evident. especially once you saw him move on with How High (the movie).

oh i think so too. Red was just as raw as Biggie in his prime, only difference is like you said, the way he adapted to the climate and then working as a duo


Red is essentially Biggie if Biggie had only went gold (other than Doc's Da Name which did go platinum, the only Red album to go platinum)

yeah, ironic enough, Meth improved as an emcee, by 98' and 99', Meth had stepped up his game more and to this day, he still is great on features

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

I’ll Be Dat is a classic single but outside of that idk