Ab major · Camelot 4B · 136 BPM
Forgot About Dre
by Dr. Dre
- 136
- BPM
- Ab major
- Key
- 4B
- Camelot
- 94
- Danceability
- 8
- Acousticness
Eminem originally wrote his verse on "Forgot About Dre" for someone else. He recorded the lyrics as reference vocals intended for Snoop Dogg, but when Dr. Dre heard the tape, he liked Eminem's delivery so much that he kept it for the final version. The track, credited to Dr. Dre featuring Eminem, arrived on January 29, 2000 as the second single from Dre's 1999 album 2001, and it samples "The Climb" by No Doubt.
The song worked as a rebuttal. Death Row artists had released diss tracks on Suge Knight's compilation Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000, a record whose title borrowed from Dre's 1992 album The Chronic, and "Forgot About Dre" answered them. Its lyrics laid out Dre's place in rap history, name-checking Eazy-E, Ice Cube, The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg and N.W.A, while also addressing claims that he had turned to pop music and the criticism aimed at The Firm's album, which Dre had produced. Eminem's contribution carried the violent, aggressive streak of his Slim Shady persona.
The music video, directed by Philip G. Atwell, was shot over three days in late December 1999 and released on January 9, 2000. It opens with Dre rapping in front of a city newsstand at night, and includes a skit in which Eminem answers reporter Jane Yamamoto's questions about a fire the two started. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video in 2000.
Forgot About Dre runs at 136 BPM, the tempo of techno, trance and big-room dance. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.76 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 441 ms. It is in Ab major, Camelot 4B, which shares its notes with F minor and mixes cleanly with Db major and Eb major.
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