Credit: Alamy

Eminem and Dr Dre have formed a seamless partnership over the years over classic songs such as ‘Forgot About Dre’ and ‘Guilty Conscience’. The duo have also been aligned in their thoughts about the music industry at large, specifically the process of people illegally downloading their music.

Back in 2000, Em and Dre were among a number of stars that appeared in the music video for Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’, alongside the likes of Snoop Dogg, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Pauly Shore, model Lil Aldridge and Tony Hawk’s son Riley Hawk. Eminem’s daughter, Hailie Jade, also had a cameo role in the video, which has over 238million views on YouTube.

However, during an old interview, Dr Dre revealed his regrets about starring in the video. “I didn’t even know whose video I was gonna be in,” he said. “I just pulled out and they said, ‘Yo, say this to the camera.’ I really wish I hadn’t have done it now, to tell you the truth. [I’m] deadass serious. Look at my face.”

Limp Bizkit member Fred Durst had been speaking positively about the once popular Napster, a platform that was allowing people to download music for free. He argued it was “an amazing way to market and promote music” to a bigger audience and that the Internet era was “here.”

On the opposite side of the coin, Dre was fully against his views. “I just don’t like the things that Fred Durst has been standing for lately, definitely about Napster,” he said at the time. “They’re enabling people to get our music [for] free, music we go in the studio and work hard on for long periods of time, and a lot of money is spent on producing those records.”

Eminem echoed that sentiment, going as far as questioning the point of creating music altogether if he isn’t getting paid for it. “I don’t want nobody getting my fucking music for free,” he said. “It’s like, what is the point in making music? What are we making music for anymore if everybody is just gonna get the music for free?”

Dr. Dre was so disgusted with Napster that he gave them an ultimatum: take his music off the platform or get sued. “We wrote a letter yesterday on behalf of Dr. Dre to Napster basically putting them on notice that the listing of his songs and masters on Napster and the facilitation of the transfer of those files constitutes an infringement of his copyrights,” his attorney Howard King said. “Dr. Dre has not committed to suing them, but that would be the logical conclusion if they don’t take it off their site.”

Napster’s chief executive, Eileen Richardson, defended the company’s integrity and cited the fast changes happening in the music industry. “It has never been Napster’s intention to belittle the importance of an artistic production, and we are very passionate about helping bands understand the value of what we offer,” she said in a statement. “Nevertheless, technological advances over the last several years are restructuring the entertainment business.”

Earlier this year, Eminem executive produced a documentary called How Music Got Free for Paramount+, taking a look back at the history of piracy. NBA star LeBron James also produced the two-part release.