Dr Dre explains how Diddy “hurt” the art form of hip-hop before his legal issues
Diddy and Dr Dre are two hip-hop legends. However, the former has come under heavy scrutiny since he was accused of sexual harassment last year and video emerged of him viciously beating his partner Cassie. Still, the two musicians have not always seen eye to eye and, in an interview, Dr Dre once accused Diddy of hurting the art form of hip-hop.
As the leading producers of Death Row and Bad Boy, respectively, they’ve both made hits and have both been integral in launching the careers of some of hip-hop’s most famous artists like Biggie Smalls and Snoop Dogg. That said, although the pair have gone on to become successful businessmen, according to Dre, the way Diddy operated as an artist in the 1990s hurt the art form of rap.
During an appearance on the Real Talk podcast, Diddy once admitted that as a product of the 1980s, he greatly respects Dr Dre, who inspired him as the figurehead of NWA. Opening up about this, Diddy explained, “I’m not ashamed to say that Dr Dre’s one of my heroes. As a producer, I’ve always dreamed of having my stuff sound like his stuff. When I did Ready to Die, Biggie’s first album, I did that after I heard The Chronic. And that’s what got me starting to do interludes and really mixing my stuff real loud.”
Similarly, Dr Dre has shown Diddy love on several occasions and according to Vibe magazine, Dr. Dre once admitted that one of the last beats he was ever truly impressed by was Diddy’s ‘All About the Benjamins.’
While speaking on the Real Talk podcast, Diddy shared how he and Dre had a great connection in the studio, unveiling, “It’s humbling. I was in the studio with Dre the other day. He started working on a record for me. Watching him as a producer is watching greatness. We had a lot of similar traits. It was like looking in the mirror. He would ask questions like, ‘How you feel about this?’ People don’t really understand true producers want to know how you feel about things. We are some of the most observant people on the planet.”
Despite their previous exchange of pleasantries and compliments, Dre hasn’t always been a fan of Diddy, and while speaking to Newsweek in 1999, he expressed his frustration at how blatant Diddy’s use of samples is and how uninspiring it is to hear an entire track built entirely on the music of others.
Furthermore, he even suggested that he found it offensive to the music artists who came before. Speaking about Diddy’s work in 1999, Dre explained, “Listening to the stuff on the radio today, you’d think rap is one big sample. That’s an insult to all of us who’ve been here from the beginning.”
However, despite this criticism of Diddy, he admitted that, concerning business, he couldn’t deny his achievements, concluding, “I respect Puffy as a businessman. I can’t front on that. But as a musician, he’s really hurt the art form. Be creative–learn the craft. Don’t just throw something out there over somebody else’s beat. Some of us work hard to make the art form something people can respect.”