one of the most interesting interview you'll read, this is actually very old but its very interesting Got this interview from allhiphop.com. These are all from dubcnn where Mel-Man posts. Its a great insight into Dr Dre...
Q: Who is a better producer, Dre or Quik?
A: That is a question I get on this board and in public a lot. I don't know why but I will give you my opinion. Dre is hands down the better "producer". Before all you DJ quik fans jump all over me, please note that Quik is easily on of the best producers in all of music and I looove his sound. like Sven said quik is a lot like Dre. While both have sampled, or replayed and expanded like Dre did in the ruthless and death row years, both dre and quik try to create MUSIC using mostly live instrumentations. Both have used actual live drums on a number of records, as well as live bass of all types, pianos, keys, horns, guitars, flutes, sax, xzylophone, etc. Quik and Dre have different sounds for the most part but they are almost identical in how they hire musicians for most of the actual played music. neither really play any instruments. both are incredible on the drum machine and both can play keyboards, quik is arguably a little better than dre on the keys while Dre is agruably better on the drum machine. I do disagree with quik being a one man band. If you listen to Quik's first four albums you mostly hear the incredible Robert Bacon playing most, if not all of the instruments. Bacon is Quik's secret weapon. that doesn't take anything away from Dj quik but I am giving credit where credit is due. Robert is simply one of the best musicians to ever be involved in hip hop. Dre has discovered and/or used some incredible musicians during his career - Colin Wolfe, Mike Simms, Sean Thomas, T green, Scott Storch, Camara Kamron - to name a few. Dre gives all of the musicians he has used a lot of credit for being a big part of his success. Quik has also had other great musicans besides Fonksta Bacon too. The fact is that Dre and Quik are the top producers in rap MUSIC because they create music and hire some incredible musicians to help them bring their ideas to musical life.
Why is Dre a better producer, in my humble opinion, than quik? Being a PRODUCER is so much more than being a musician. Only in rap is a producer expected to play instruments on tracks. Most music producers don't play anything on the records. Great producers do however have the "ear" and understand melodies, and how best to mazimize an instruments and the musicians potential. Dre has one of the best ears there is. believe me he has made me a better musician than I ever thought i could be because he knows exactly how to tweak what I play from good to great. Producers coach, discover talent, mentor, shape, mold, compose, create, adjust, innovate, arrainge, focus, orchestrate, direct and so much more. Dre does all of that, and as a total package does that as well as or better than any producer in modern music history.
Quik hasn't really changed his sound ever. He was forced to after Robert left, but its been pretty consistent in direction(this is not a criticism of quik, this is the style he is so good at, and the style we all love). Dre has changed his music and the sound of music itself more than once. With NWA and being the main creative force behind Ruthless records he helped change the sound of rap music and what could be said on records. With The Chronic he was the leader in bringing a fresh sound - g-funk - to music. If you bought that album when it came out in dec. 92 it blew you away as it was unlike anything you had ever heard before. The chronic also brought gangsta rap to the masses and made it a cultural phenomenon (along with saving Interscope from folding). When Dre left to start Aftermath he changed the course of music forever (again) with the discovery of eminem. he also helped make 50 and now game into superstars as well.
Dre has discovered some of the biggest artists in music history and as a producer he molded those artists by taking them from unpolished diamonds to polished muliplatinum selling artists. Quik has never really discovered anyone who blew up. As a producer Dre works harder than anyone else and demands more from his artists than anyone else. He mentors artists and maximizes their talent. He has the incredible ability to bring the best out of any artist and helps them to perform at incredible levels or career best levels. And I haven't even brought out the fact that albums Dre has produced on have easily eclipsed the 100 million mark in sales. Quik hasn't even hit 10 million. But I don't really want to use record sales as a factor in determining how good a producer is. Jimmy Iovine calls Dre the most influential record producer in music history. While I won't put him alone at the top he's definetly on the short list.
In the end everyone has their own opinion. There is no right or wrong. if you think quik is the best great. if he's your favorite great. Quik is an incredible talent and a better musician but I just don't think its fair to compare him to Dre as a PRODUCER. Dre, as a PRODUCER, is as good as there has ever been. He is the Michael Jordan of Rap. But like I said i could be completely wrong. Just enjoy the talents of each man as you won't see the likes of them very often ever again
Q: Does "The Vault" really exist?
A: Yes it does. Dre's vault is the stuff of legend. It is almost mythical. I have sworn to secrecy about its location so i won't touch that part. Have I Ever been in there? Ha, If I told you that I'd have to kill you. What is in the vault? The vault basically has every track dre has ever recorded. He has copies of everything he did on Death Row but can never release. You can't even imagine how many instrumentals that have accumulated over the years I've been at Aftermath. It's in the thousands. Dre keeps all his music for his own personal use and listening. He basically keeps them as a soundtrack to his life. Most of the leftovers will never be heard. Most of the unused instrumentals will never be heard, at least while Dre is alive. There is enough music to release hundreds of albums so Dre could possibly live through music for many additional lifetimes. But you'll most likely never hear them. I don't know what will happen when Dre passes away. it depends upon who controsl his massive estate. Hopefully that is many years from now, though.
I have had the privalege to hear a lot of music you will never have a chance to hear and for that i am sorry. Dre usually does a great job of using the right beats and songs, but some of the unreleased music is some of the dopest shit I have ever heard. We sometimes are in awe of what Dre tosses out but Dre knows what Dre wants. Who are we to argue. We may plead and beg but in the end its Dre's music so he can do with it what he wants. I truly wish that I could let you hear the music because you are missing out on some the most innovative and dope unreleased music in the history of this business. From ruthless to Aftermath there is truly some great tracks out there than only Dre will ever hear. If I knew how to do it I might be able to post some old Ruthless Dr. Dre remixes that are very very rare. I got these tracks from Dre cause they were released in very limited edition so they qualify as released.
Anyway, The Vault is real and does contain close to the entire Dre creative library. I am honored to have heard a lot of mind blowing unreleased Dre tracks. But alas, like you guys I am sure there is a lot of great shit in there that I, along with the rest of the human race, will never hear. Peace.
