One week after the legendary Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, Dre’s 2001 single “Still D.R.E” gained over a billion views on YouTube.
Among 84 million people watching the Super Bowl, many enjoyed the halftime performance and sang along, including Jay-Z, spotted in the arena. Come to find out, Jay-Z appeared on Lebron James HBO series The Shop in 2021, sharing how he wrote “Still D.R.E” for both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
“In order for me to really nail the essence of Dre and Snoop had to be like a studied reverence of what they were doing. Even to put myself in their shoes. Cause think about that record. That record comes after Dre leaves Death Row ‘How? My last album was The Chronic.”
Jay-Z has a long history of being a phenomenal songwriter. In addition, he is a featured author on “Pop Style” by Drake, “The Worst” by Jhene Aiko, and many more artists such as his wife Beyonce, Kanye West, and Diddy. The record executive wears many hats, and songwriting is one of his most favorable.
In an interview with The Breakfast Club, Snoop Dogg shares the story of hearing “Still D.R.E” for the first time. He explains Jay-Z’s love and admiration for Dre and how it contributes to creating a masterpiece. Jay-Z constructs the entire song, telling each artist when to punch in and out as well. “It was flawless,” Snoop shares. “Me and d.o.c were like well this [man] out struck us on this one so we gone take the backseat. It was “Still Dre” and it was Jay-Z and he wrote the whole song.”
Jay-Z wrote the song intending to showcase Dr.Dre’s accomplishments and relevance to the music industry since he had just left Death Row Records at the time. Today, his lifetime friend Snoop Dogg is the owner of their former label, Death Row Records. However, despite being estranged from the label for over 20 years, Dre is still on top of his game. When he and Snoop performed the “Still D.R.E” at the 2022 halftime show, Dre reminded the world once again of who he is. One billion views on YouTube equates to an average of $7,560,000. Not to mention the couple of million he generated from his performance.
Dr. Dre is still getting money, producing, and putting on notable artists like Kendrick Lamar and Anderson.Paak. Jay-Z could not have done a better job telling his story in “Still D.R.E”.
“That’s an author,” Snoop states. “That’s a great author to me. Like he wrote a book with that song right there. That’s of Dr. Dre’s best records.”
FM Hip Hop Story by Mina Fuqua
