The reason why Dr Dre took a backseat on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’
Dr Dre signed Kendrick Lamar to Aftermath Entertainment in 2012 before the release of good kid, m.A.A.d city. In the past, the NWA member has played a significant role in putting together albums from artists on his label, whether executive producing or providing beats for many songs. 50 Cent, Eminem and The Game are prime examples of this.
However, when it came to Kendrick, Dre decided to take a step back and let the TDE rapper handle things on his own. Based on his output up until that point, Dre felt he was more than equipped to take his own direction.
“Basically, Dre just told me to go out there and do my own thing,” he told DubCNN. “See, the thing about it is, people get so caught up in the hype with just being with Dre, they just figured he had to stand over your back the whole time while you’re doing music.
“He looked at me as an artist, ’cause I already had like three street albums out, Kendrick Lamar EP, Overly Dedicated and Section.80. He said I was already ready. All I needed to do is go out and continue to do what I’m doing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That was the main thing he was always saying.”
Despite leaving him to it, the pair were meant to hit the studio for a few songs towards the end of the recording process. But once Dre heard several standout tracks on the project, he felt the album didn’t need his contribution.
“By the time I came and turned the album in to him in, that was when we were supposed to lock in the studio and do some records,” he said. “But he decided and said, ‘You’re done. You don’t need to go back in with me. Because you have all the records here.'” He continued, quoting Dre, “‘You have ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’, you have ‘Poetic Justice’, you have ‘The Recipe’, you have ‘Swimming Pools’. That’s your four records right there. And you have a body of work that’s already done. Let’s put it out!’ So that’s how it went, simple as that.”
Although Dre took a backseat, he did contribute to a couple of records. He appeared on the final track on the album, ‘Compton’, as well as ‘The Recipe’ from the deluxe version. Often considered one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, good kid, m.A.A.d city peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 with 242,000 units in its first week.
While Kendrick became a global star under Aftermath, Dre has refused to take credit for his success. During an appearance on Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart talk show, he was full of praise for Kendrick’s guidance of his own career.
“I can’t take credit for Kendrick Lamar,” he said. “Kendrick Lamar is a real motherfuckin’ artist, the true definition of the word. The only thing I can take credit for is opening the door for him because he’s done everything himself — him and [his manager] Dave Free.” He added, “We have a fantastic relationship. He’s amazing, man. Kendrick is one of those artists that we call ‘forever artists.’ He could disappear for fucking five years or something like that and come back and fuck our heads up, you know?”