Dr. Dre Believes The Best Music Producers Have This Skill In Common

The role of the producer in Hip-Hop has evolved over time, some say for the better, and others, for the worse.

Dr. Dre appears to be in the latter camp, as the legendary boardsman recently expressed his preference for albums solely scored by one producer, rather than a project helmed by multiple beatsmiths.

“I like the idea of one producer on an album,” Dre said during he and Snoop Dogg’s recent appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show. “If you’re a producer you should be able to produce the whole album.”

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The Compton native seemingly referenced to previous eras, when artists embraced the process of working with a singular producer on a project, thus heightening the potential of creating a cohesive sound.

“That’s what I thought it was supposed to be,” Dre said of the ideal recording process. “I don’t like the fact that there’s nine different producers on one album.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Dre has served as the chief producer on several classic albums. During his time with N.W.A., he was the lead producer on the group’s two studio albums, 1988’s Straight Outta Compton and 1991’s efil4zaggin, the latter of which was the first rap album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Dr. Dre

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Other albums he’s helped craft sonically, include his own solo albums The Chronic and 2001, Snoop Dogg’s 1993 solo debut, Doggystyle, Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP, and The Game’s The Documentary.

Yet, while Dre has overseen some of the greatest rap albums of all-time, he said he never revisits his own work, but looks forward to taking in the breadth of his catalog in the future.

“I’ve never listened to any of the music that I’ve done,” he later explained during the interview. “I think it’s going to be a fun experience going back and just listening to everything I’ve done, the trajectory, and how I’ve grown musically.”

Dr. Dre and Eminem

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Dr. Dre is currently gearing up for the release of Missionary, his highly-anticipated album with longtime collaborator Snoop Dogg. According to the pair, the album is the first time they’ve worked together in such a close capacity since the release of Doggystyle over thirty years ago.

“This one is gonna show a different level of maturity with his lyrics and with my music,” Dre claimed while speaking with Entertainment Tonight earlier this year. “I feel like this is some of the best music I’ve done in my career. [It’s been] much more fun.”

Watch Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s interview on the Stephen A. Smith Show below.