
The one producer Snoop Dogg calls the ultimate “perfectionist”
Snoop Dogg has worked with plenty of producers during his 30-plus years of making music, but he thinks one person pays more attention to detail than most. The Long Beach rapper is now 20 albums into a glorious career, collaborating with producers such as DJ Pooh, Master P, DJ Quik, Timbaland, Daz Dillinger, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, DJ Premier, and The Alchemist.
Dr Dre received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024, alongside a special speech from his longtime collaborator, Snoop. During his speech, Snoop described him as a “perfectionist” while claiming he brings out the best in him as a musician.
“Now, take a look at us, over 30 years later, and we still on the grind in the studio, and you still make me do every line 100 fucking times,” he said. “Still. And I thank you for that, perfectionist. I thank you for being a perfectionist and always pushing me to be great.
“You always bring out the best of the Dogg, Dr Dre, and that I do appreciate. There would be Snoop without Dre. Together, we created magic in the studio and our collaborations have left a mark on the world of music. From intro to endo, our partnership has been legendary.”
Speaking to Complex, Dre addressed the “perfectionist” title, claiming he just wants things done to the best of an artist’s ability. “I guess you call it perfection, but I want things right,” he said. “And I’ll be honest with you, [perfectionism] is just something I use to waste time — not waste time, to buy time. I don’t know if anything can ever be perfect, you know? I don’t even want it to be perfect because humans aren’t perfect so the music shouldn’t be.”
Snoop isn’t the only artist who has spoken about his perfectionism. Rick Ross once recalled him tinkering with a couple of words for a whole month; he also made Jim Jones rerecord a verse over a dozen times to get it right.
Xzibit, who worked with Dre across his Restless and Man vs. Machine albums, also claimed the NWA member made him redo a single line around 500 times for ‘Multiply’ with Nate Dogg in 2002.
“That took me about two-three hours to get that line,” he said on Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “Because he wanted me to sound like a down-south preacher… ‘I been this way and I can’t stop.’ No. I couldn’t understand why or where he was trying to take me, but I wasn’t fighting. He sat there patiently with me like, ‘Nope, try it again.’
He continued, “Eventually, it was like, ‘Oh.’ I had to break out of what I thought I needed to sound like and got into where he was trying to direct me and that’s why the first intro lines sound like that. He didn’t get there doing nothing. I thought I nailed it — dropped the headphones, done. No. I trust him and I respect him immensely. Being able to be in that position as he feels your art is good enough to be in his universe is dope.”