2001 (Dr. Dre album) The album primarily featured co-production between Dr. Dre and Mel-Man and was generally well received by critics. AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that Dr. Dre had expanded on the G-funk beats on his previous album, "The Chronic", and stated, "He's pushed himself hard, finding new variations in the formula by adding ominous strings, soulful vocals, and reggae, resulting in fairly interesting recontextualizations" and went on to say, "Sonically, this is first-rate, straight-up gangsta." "Entertainment Weekly"s Tom Sinclair depicted the album as "Chilly keyboard motifs gliding across gut-punching bass lines, strings and synths swooping in and out of the mix,
2001 (Dr. Dre album) sound" from Dr. Dre and that it was as "addictive as it was back when over 3 million record buyers got hooked on "The Chronic" and Snoop Dogg's Dre-produced "Doggystyle"" and went on to commend Dr. Dre, stating, "If any rap producer deserves the title "composer", it's he." "NME" mentioned that Dr. Dre didn't expand the genre, but it was "powerful enough in parts, but not clever enough to give Will Smith the fear". PopMatters writer Chris Massey declared that "Musically, "2001" is about as close to brilliant as any one gangsta rap album might possibly get." Christopher John Farley