Dr. Dre Quotes

I'm huge into '90s rap. It's my jam.

You know, I'm the 1st black solo MC from Detroit. I didn't do the 50 Cent sales but hey... I got a long career, I'm still young and I'm trying to bring really good music.

I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.

I got started in 1995, working in a group called The Cash Money Click.

When we did Diplomats music, it was all genuine, and I think that's why people love it so much, because they seen a group of kids from Harlem that had almost nothing come up to be platinum-selling artists, and people rode that wave with us.

Those folks at Death Row were the Rolling Stones of their time.

People have compared me to Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Eminem, and J. Cole. They bring substance and largely are all good storytellers, and those are two of my biggest strengths. It's dope to be compared to people who have longevity in the game because that's the most important thing for me: I want my name to live forever.

All my friends were rappers, so I just thought I might as well take a shot at it.

Ain't nobody bumping Nas no more, no disrespect to him. He had his time.

When I put out 'Toot It and Boot It,' did anything sound like that?

By the age of 17, Wayne was confident. He knew, 'This is what I am. I'm an MC.' You had Missy Elliott saying she loved Lil Wayne. Lyrically, he was getting better and better.

A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. 'To Pimp a Butterfly' is an extension of those albums.

I'm pretty sure JAY Z don't wanna rap right now.

I was 14 years old when I started rapping and I was terrible. I fell in love with it though and when that happens with me I become super passionate and go all the way with it.

The rap game has to save itself. Everybody's saving it. People like Lil Wayne is saving it. He's bringing energy to it.

Rap will never be the same as before

I always knew I could rap, and in a sense I always rapped. And I've always behaved like a rapper. But I started to take it seriously when I recorded with the people of Brick when I started to receive some money.

SK La'Flare's a legend. It was me, him and Vince, and Frank would come through sometimes and s - - and he was, like, fully rapping. N - - s was on it.

The moment I made that decision to get in the studio and actually work and study the culture of hip-hop, then everything just started to open up and blossom for me.

Run DMC brought us out of that underground-only feel. They brought rap above ground and made it respectable as an art form to mainstream music.

To be hip-hop is much more than just rapping in the production. It is more in the attitude.

My favorite song is Eminem's 'Rap God.' That joint is just incredible, It's six-and-a-half minutes of him just crushing the whole game. It's so different from what I hear if I listen to the radio.

I'm a jazz guy and a Bruce Springsteen guy. So I wanted something more current, and edgier, and angrier. So I asked my kid to educate me about hip hop; he has an encyclopedic knowledge of it. And he did so. I found it to be much richer than I would've thought. I think some of the poetry in it is really spectacular. I threw rap into the book. I think I mentioned Kendrick Lamar. I'm really into Tupac these days. I love Nas, N.W.A.

I've been communicating with the Fugees, and it feels a lot better now than it did three or four years ago.

One of the great things about rap music... it leaves a lot to be desired, as far as I'm concerned, musically, but I do recognize the very important place that it has in music and in creating role models for younger kids to emulate, giving them the dream that they can make it out of whatever situation they're in.