Dr. Dre Praises J Dilla, Talks N.W.A Biopic on ‘Pharmacy’
Dr. Dre opened up The Pharmacy Saturday night on Apple Music’s Beats 1, and the G-Funk extraordinaire used his debut hour-long radio program to praise the late J Dilla as well as discuss the upcoming N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton. “There’s actually a lot of producers that I like to listen to. A lot of producers out there that I respect, a lot of producers that I get inspiration from, but you know what? I’m gonna write a prescription for just one,” Dre told his audience. “What I want right now is just a dose of Dilla.”
The Chronic rapper then continued to applaud the legacy of Donuts beatmaker James “J Dilla” Yancey, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 32 following a bout with lupus. “One of the most incredible things that I liked about Dilla is, Dilla was in his hospital room on his deathbed and he had his machines in his room, in his hospital room and he was still making beats before he passed away,” Dre said (via NME). “Now you’re talking about dedication to what you really love and your passion? It gets no deeper than that. That’s why J Dilla is one of my favorites.”
Next, Dre tackled the Straight Outta Compton biopic and how he was initially reticent about signing off on the project. “I don’t want anything to pour water on my legacy, so I was against it at the beginning,” Dre said. “I read a few scripts that were just like kinda corny.”
However, one of Dre’s N.W.A cohorts stepped in to resuscitate the project and give it some credibility. “Ice Cube, he actually grabbed the bull by the horns. He went in and got the script done and I read this new script that he brung in and it was like, ‘Oh, ok, I like that,'” Dre said. “Then, when [director] Gary Gray decided he wanted to come on board and direct, I’m like, ‘Ok, we might have something here. Let’s roll our sleeves up, black out and really give these people not only what they want.’
“Just display everything that it took, not only what it took to put that record together, but the friendship, the love that we have for each other, the betrayal and ultimately, trying to get back together and do a new N.W.A record before Eazy E passed away.” Straight Outta Compton hits theatres August 14th.
In his new role of DJ, Dre hopped decades by spinning cuts by his protégé Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Vince Staples, Tupac Shakur, A Tribe Called Quest and Future. The first episode of The Pharmacy wrapped up with a freestyle by North Carolina rapper King Mez, who Dre introduced as “new to The Pharmacy family,” Hip-Hop DX reports.