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,
Dr. Dre third richest figure in hip hop, with a net worth of $770 million. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru. He found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, which popularized explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut "The Chronic", released under Death Row Records, made him one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993, and earned him a Grammy Award for the single "Let Me Ride". That year, he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop