Compton

Dr. Dre - Compton
Critic Score
Based on 30 reviews
2015 Ratings: #130 / 1021
User Score
Based on 712 ratings
2015 Rank: #339
Liked by 52 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny

Dre often feels everywhere and nowhere throughout Compton, managing to at once deploy and transcend the genre conventions he helped invent.

90
HipHopDX

Compton is Dre’s eye-witness proclamation of his past, present and future wrapped in a slick post-Obama package. 

90
Exclaim!

While Detox seemed poised to erode Dre's sonic reputation, Compton, reputedly his last record, instead solidifies Dre's already ironclad claims to all-time status.

88
Pitchfork

On his previous classics he showed us that new things were possible, a magic that's available only so many times in one life. Compton doesn't have the same breathtaking power, but it's excellent nonetheless, and more complicated and jarring than we could have known to hope for.

83
A.V. Club

This elaborate tapestry of voices and sounds, both new and familiar, conveys Dre’s epic vision. Compton successfully crams the magnitude of his origin story into ambitious, densely packed sonics.

83
Consequence of Sound
What makes this one momentous is the way it balances three objectives with impressive aplomb: constructing a love letter to his hometown, making an album that’s more of an endnote than a suffix, and continuing a lineage that has supplanted itself within hip-hop’s DNA.
80
XXL

Regardless of whether or not the album will spawn a generation of imitators like his previous releases, Compton is a proper capstone to Dre’s legendary career.

80
Q Magazine
It's a rap record for rap people.
80
The Observer
There is a demob-happy feel to much of Compton’s aural landscape, full of piano and brass, but enduringly bouncy.
80
NOW Magazine

Impressively layered, widescreen productions – especially cuts by DJ Premier, DJ Dahi and Dem Jointz – are the album’s most satisfying aspect.

80
Mojo

Like Lamar’s grandstanding To Pimp A Butterfly, the numerous strands of Compton: A Soundtrack take time and effort to fully unravel, but the rewards are manifold.

80
The Guardian

It’s an hour-long demonstration that Dr Dre’s skills as producer and curator alike are still as potent as ever.

80
Clash
'Compton’ may be less state-of-the-art than other rap albums in 2015. It may spend a lot of its time reflecting on the past. But as an argument for that now famous district in South Los Angeles and its continued importance and centrality to hip-hop, it’s forceful and convincing.
80
Billboard

Despite its numerous flaws, Compton is still one of the most engaging listening experiences of the year.

80
Complex

In many ways, Compton is a child of To Pimp a Butterfly, if only Kendrick had the same sense of urgency when reaching to the bleachers.

80
Rolling Stone

It adds up to an album by turns confounding and enthralling. It's no Detox. It's something realer, and better.

80
Time Out London

After the scene-setting ‘The Chronic’ and the comeback of ‘2001’, this is a man reflecting on life and his career – and it sounds fantastic.

80
The 405

Serving as more than just the nostalgic release that many expected it to be, Compton carries Dr. Dre back into spotlight from the boardroom on his own terms, with his own verification.

80
AllMusic

This brilliant kaleidoscopic LP, which was recorded in under a year, focuses on the veteran producer's connection to the modern world as it references Eric Garner, frames it with N.W.A.'s history, and decides that little has changed.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

We’re given exciting stuff throughout the hour long run time of Compton—blockbuster material—there’s plenty of action and drama to go around. And although fat definitely needed to be trimmed from this animal, it’s humbling to know Dre hasn’t let his ego get the best of him musically. 

70
SPIN

Compton earns a lot of credit simply by not being a disaster or an embarrassment, but there’s only so much a 50-year-old rapper can say to a generation following their favorite artists on Snapchat.

70
Uncut

Compton is a solid reminder of both Dre's skills and the depth of his contacts book.

70
NME

It's hard to deny ‘Compton’ is brilliantly constructed, a masterclass in 21st century hip-hop.

70
Crack Magazine

Breaking away from the nonchalant bravado of Dre’s former persona, Compton is an intense – and often ugly – record.

70
PopMatters

So that Compton maintains this level of consistency is perhaps 2015’s greatest surprise so far.

70
The Sydney Morning Herald
Directing the many famous rappers he's collaborated with, Dre offers a survivor's artful sound and a billionaire's stately stature.
68
Paste

This isn’t so much an album as it is a living monument, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a museum that Dre funded, built, owns and operates.

60
The Line of Best Fit
With a different producer at the helm, this experiment may have worked. Unfortunately, with all his talent, Dr. Dre's ear lacks the scope and vision to properly curate such a wide array of ideas because that's not what he does.
60
Tiny Mix Tapes

Even though his supposed swansong may feature some characteristically flawless production and fine cameos from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, it cancels out its own meaningfulness in subtle hypocrisy.

FritoRio
80

This one doesn’t have porn as an interlude

MC_Icy
80

✅ Good songs
✅ No porn skits/interludes

BartDaGoat
77

[Dr. Dre's discography ranking 3/3]
NO DETOX😭😭😭 NO SEX SKITS 🔥🔥🔥 Also Dre drowned .Paak😭😭😭
So after 16 years Real Top G returned with soundtrack to film about "Compton". To make this album Dre got features from many new artist and his old friends. Features that i really like are from K.Dot, .Paak, BJ and Eminem. Other are mostly mediocore. Production like with every project produced by him is really good. Transitions between songs really good. My problem ... read more

Problemforyou
71

Medicine man is shit
Like
Terrible
Other than that gas album

85

W fasho

BaldsDeepNer
51

Dre gettin' over his porn addiction was not a surprise I was expecting, but it is a welcomed one

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Added on: August 1, 2015