| Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath | |
| Type: | compilation |
| Artist: | Aftermath Entertainment |
| Cover: | DrDre-PresentsTheAftermath.jpg |
| Released: | November 26, 1996 |
| Recorded: | 1996 |
| Length: | 71:12 |
Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath is a compilation album by American and West Coast rapper Dr. Dre. It was released on November 26, 1996, as the first album on Aftermath Entertainment.
The album was mainly produced by Aftermath's production team, the Soul Kitchen, which consisted of Dr. Dre, Bud'da, Flossy P, Stu-B-Doo, and Chris "The Glove" Taylor.
Dre's scarce vocals, newly critiquing gangsta rap, marked Dre's reemergence after his departure from Death Row Records on March 1996, where Dre himself had propelled gangsta rap into the mainstream. (Dre had co-founded Death Row Records in 1991 amid his embattled split from Ruthless Records and its pioneering, gangsta rap group N.W.A.)[1]
The 1996 album's first single, "East Coast/West Coast Killas", features prominent rappers from California and New York rebuking rap's recently ugly East–West "war." Dre participates himself on the chorus and the music video features a cameo appearance by Southern rapper, Scarface. The second single, a Dre solo, is the only track with Dre as main vocalist, "Been There, Done That."
A platinum seller,[2] the album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and at #3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop-Albums charts. Nonetheless, quite unlike Dre's prior album—The Chronic, released in December 1992 as Dre's debut solo album and Death Row Records' first album—Dre's new offering, not a standout, received mixed reviews and lukewarm appraisals.
The Glove, among the album's coproducers, reasoned, "People were upset because they wanted a 'Dr. Dre' album. They weren't looking for a compilation album. That's what messed that up. Plus the single 'Been There, Done That' was cool, but it was taking away from the gangster style that people wanted."[3] Himself commenting on the album, Dre remarked, "It was just okay. That was a hit and miss."[4] More broadly, Dre explained, "That point of my life, musically, it was just off balance. I was off track then and trying to find it. It was a period of doubt. . . It happens with artists. Everything isn't going to be out of the park."[5]
| Chart (1997) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[7] | 152 | |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[8] | 71 |
| Year | Song | Chart positions | |||
| Billboard Hot 100 | Rhythmic Top 40 | ||||
| 1996 | "East Coast/West Coast Killas" | – | – | ||
| 1996 | "Been There, Done That" | – | 40 | ||