The one thing Dr Dre regrets: “I’m really pissed off at myself”
Dr Dre has achieved a lot in his career. The Compton native is behind NWA, one of the most legendary hip-hop groups of all time, responsible for Straight Outta Compton and iconic songs like ‘Fuck Tha Police’. He also has a stellar solo catalogue with classic albums such as The Chronic and 2001, and is behind the success of rappers like Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar. However, there are still some things he regrets.
Dre sampled Leon Haywood’s 1975 track ‘I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You’ for his hit single ‘Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang’, which was released in 1992. The song was a smash hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100, but Dre no longer owns a copy of the Haywood record he sampled. He sold his vinyl collection two decades ago, one of his biggest regrets.
“There’s another story that I’m really not proud of,” he told Lindsey Renee on her Behind the Patrol podcast. “I had a collection of records. I had over 80,000 albums that I stored in a warehouse and at a certain point, I think in the early 2000s, I sold all of my wax — and I’m kicking myself in the ass still about that.”
The reason for selling it all? “It was a warehouse,” Dre said. “I had a turntable in there and a bar and everything. And then all of a sudden, it just turned into a bill because I was never going. It took me 10 years to decide to sell and I finally did, and I’m really pissed off at myself about that.”
Dre first heard the Haywood song in his mother’s house, but he’s gutted he doesn’t possess the album it appears on: Come and Get Yourself Some. “This particular record… Leon Haywood had a studio, it was where the Crenshaw Mall is now,” he said. “I used to go over to his studio and record, and he would come through every now and then.”
The original version of ‘Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang’ featured Snoop Dogg rapping from prison over a different beat altogether. “Snoop was actually in jail,” he explained on Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “And I really wanted this demo done, so he called in, and I taped the receiver of the phone to the mic. And you can hear jail sounds in the back and everything. So, that was the original version.
“I just happened to be at my mom’s house going through records, and then I found this Leon Haywood ‘I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You’ and thought that would make a better foundation track. So, took that back. Recorded the track. Snoop got out, and we just recorded the song at my house.
He added, “I knew after a house party. I played it at a house party, and everybody wanted me to rewind it and keep playing it. That’s when I knew it was special.” ‘Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang‘ is one of the biggest songs Dre has ever released. It has over 507 million streams on Spotify, with the music video, self-directed by Dre, boasting 30 million views on YouTube.