BY JAKE PAINE • APRIL 23, 2019

Dr. Dre rarely grants interviews. He admits it, and adds that he does not enjoy talking about himself in public. Since 2017’s The Defiant Ones documentary on HBO, Andre Young has participated little in the way of press, beyond product or album promotion. If there is one Rap peer who could bring Dre out, it’s LL Cool J. For Rock The Bells Radio Sirius XM, LL and DJ Z-Trip went to Dre’s Southern California home. “You know I don’t do this that often, man. But for you, that’s what’s up—anything. [You are] one of my inspirations for a very long time.”

The hour-plus-long interview first aired this past weekend (April 20) on the radio as part of LL’s “Influence Of Hip-Hop” series. Now, all Hip-Hop Heads can enjoy it. Speaking with peers, Dre seems to be in his element. The impresario exudes a love of music, as Z-Trip plays rarities from 1980s swap-meet mixtapes, bootlegged relics, and more. This interview deals greatly with Dre’s love of DJ’ing, his days with N.W.A., and some memories from those Chronic and Doggystyle period with Snoop Doggy Dogg.

The conversation opens with Dre speaking about his love of turntables and mixing. He calls music his “oxygen.” “It’s always been my passion, even before I decided to make music,” he admits. “It’s always been a passion to just listen and feel. For me, music has always been more of a feeling than just listening. It’s how music makes me feel, and that’s what I remember from a very early age.” Later in the chat (28:00), Dre says that he can tell when producers produce above the chin and below. For Andre Young, it’s below his Beats headphones, in his chest. He reveals that he aims to give the listener “goosebumps.” Dre adds that Parliament-Funkadelic was his first concert in the late 1970s. “It just completely f*cked my head up. That was it; this is what I wanted to do,” he says of the experience, 25 years before G-Funk was born.

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