For the Super Bowl halftime show, several hip-hop artists came together to perform, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. They each performed some of their biggest hits. Dre and Dogg played their 2001 classic “Still D.R.E.” A song that Jay-Z actually wrote. He and Beyonce were caught singing along to the song at the show.
Beyoncé & JAY-Z watching the halftime show 😍 #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/sJgukbi499
— 𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒́ (@rumiyonce) February 14, 2022
How Still D.R.E. Was Made
In May of 2021, Jay-Z explained the process of writing the song on HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted.
“On that reference track, I’m doing Dre and Snoop’s vocals. The reference track, it sounds like them. The Foxy [Brown] reference – I’m glad nobody can find that one. But you gotta have somewhat a reverence for them. Obviously, the music they were making with The Chronic and all that… 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.’”
The song’s co-producer, Scott Storch, has previously talked to Hip Hop DX about Dre’s initial reaction to the song.
“He was on the other side of the door. And the way the studio was set up, there was a control room, and then it was like a kitchen right outside of it. He was in there, making a sandwich or something. And he had the drum pattern that he programmed which is left on play on the MPC. He just let it loop and he would let us all jam out and see if anything comes from it. And he opened the door, he’s like, ‘That’s it right there. That’s it.’ His ears are so dope. Dre was like, ‘This is it. This is a single.’ And he was so excited that he ran back in and we fucking recorded it, and we started layering it together, and just boom.”
Written by Justin Acosta
Twitter: @hahalacka