Throughout the decades as both a producer and a rapper, Dr. Dre established a handful of working relationships that were more meaningful than the rest. It feels like with each new era he embarked on, Dre had a companion artist to share ideas and songs with, adding to his own legacy while helping to build up theirs as well.
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Below, we’ve compiled five of the artists who have benefitted the most from having a close friendship with Dre. Check out the list below.
1. Eazy-E
Eazy-E’s 1987 debut single “Boyz-n-the-Hood” was just the start of not only his illustrious rap career, but N.W.A as a group. The song was written by N.W.A’s Ice Cube and was produced by Dre, making it one of many songs Eazy rapped on that involved Dre’s instrumentation. Up until Dre left the posse following their 1991 sophomore album N****z4Life, he continued to boost Eazy’s stature as an artist and his life as a mogul, considering N.W.A was signed to Eazy’s imprint Ruthless Records.
2. Snoop Dogg
Following his departure from N.W.A and the beginning of his solo career, Dre began working with fellow Californian and rising star Snoop Dogg often. Both signed to Suge Knight’s Death Row Records in the mid-1990s, Snoop and Dre did each other countless favors, whether it was Dre producing for Snoop on his debut album Doggystyle or Snoop appearing on many of Dre’s hits like “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang,” “Still D.R.E.,” and “The Next Episode.”
Currently, Dre is helping to produce Snoop’s next album Missionary, the long-awaited sequel to Doggystyle.
3. Eminem
As the ’90s began to transition into the 2000s, Dre found himself collaborating with burgeoning Detroit MC Eminem more and more. In 1999, they guest-starred on each other’s albums, with Dre hopping on Em’s The Slim Shady LP as a producer, and as a rapper for “Guilty Conscience.” Em landed on Dre’s 2001 for the track “Forgot About Dre.”
As time went on, Dre continued to craft the sonics for many of Eminem’s greatest hits, such as “Without Me,” “The Real Slim Shady,” “Stan,” “My Name Is,” and more.
[RELATED: The Complicated Meaning Behind Eminem, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre’s “Crack a Bottle”]
4. 50 Cent
Eminem befriending up-and-coming New York rapper 50 Cent near the turn of the century eventually led to 50 being in the same rooms as Dre. Because of this, 50 enlisted the help of Dre for several tracks on his now-legendary debut LP Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003). Whether it was radio records like “In da Club” and “If I Can’t,” or deeper cuts like “Heat” and “Back Down,” Dre left his mark all over the album.
Later on, Dre also produced other 50 hits like “Candy Shop” and “When it Rains it Pours.”
5. Kendrick Lamar
Once the 2010s came around, Dre found a fresh new talent to aid in his path to superstardom. This time, though, it actually happened to be a kid from his own hometown of Compton, California. For a few of Kendrick Lamar’s first songs and albums, Dre’s expertise and mixing skills accentuated Lamar’s already-elite songwriting ability even more, resulting in classic hits like “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” and “Poetic Justice” with Drake.
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