Dr. Dre names the artist who convinced him to start rapping
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Dr. Dre names the artist who convinced him to start rapping

Dr. Dre has given The D.O.C. credit for convincing him to rap on his 1992 solo album The Chronic, which has since achieved multi-platinum certification. 

Dre revealed that he didn’t actually intend to rap on the album in the first place, but that after speaking with The D.O.C., he would later offer his voice to the iconic tracks, ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’ and ‘Let Me Ride’.

Dre said, “The D.O.C., my friend, talked me into to getting on the mic and actually doing that thing. Before that, I wasn’t going to get on the mic. I was just going to lay back and produce, which was the idea of The Chronic album, my first solo album. That’s what I wanted to do.”

The D.O.C. is something of a secret in rap; he has written a number of tunes for N.W.A, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre. The D.O.C. dropped his debut solo album in 1989, entitled No One Can Do It Better. It hit the number one spot on the hip-hop albums chart. 

But soon after, The D.O.C. suffered a terrible car accident and lost his voice. He recently revealed that he nearly avoided the incident because the LAPD pulled him over just before but eventually let him go.

He said, “The night of the accident, it was like a 24-hour period where I had tried both cocaine and ecstasy. And then it just quit working when I was driving home.” He also admitted that he had previously wished the officer had taken him into the station.

“I did that for about 30 years,” he added. “But here recently, I understand that those officers were just a part of that time. Had they taken me to jail, I wouldn’t be here where I am right now today. Now, I have insight into an understanding that allows me to help a lot of other people who are in that same space.”