Dr. Dre presents as someone who does what he wants and only what he wants. That wasn’t always the case in the early 1990s. The former N.W.A. member discussed the surprising origin story of his seminal solo album, The Chronic, during an episode of Kevin Hart’s Hart To Heart on Peacock.
“Money and business got involved, and it separated the friendship,” Dre said of N.W.A.’s breakup in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard. “I had to separate myself from [Eazy-E] because he decided to take a different route. [Ice] Cube had already left, so I’m out here on my own. I have absolutely no idea what the f*ck I’m gonna do. I just know I have this talent.”
He added, “A close friend of mine — we’ll call him D.O.C. — talked me into doing The Chronic album. It wasn’t my decision. I was talked into doing that. I just went in there and went for it because I felt, at that time, it was a life-or-death situation. […] Back is against the wall. Life-or-death situation. This record is gonna determine whether I’m gonna stay in the studio or not.”
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and he was planning on ringing in 30 years of Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle with Snoop at the Hollywood Bowl last month, but the rap legends decided to postpone the production in solidarity with the ongoing Writers Guild Of America strike.