Top 55 Dr. Dre Quotes

I’ve looked at pictures that my mom has of me, from when I was four years old at the turntable. I’m there, reaching up to play the records. I feel like I was bred to do what I do. I’ve been into music, and listening to music and critiquing it, my whole life.

In L.A., we listen to everything. If it’s banging, it’s banging – we don’t care where it’s from.

If you’re not sincere with it, you shouldn’t say anything at all.

I don’t make records so I can sit down afterward and listen to them. I make them so other people can sit down and listen to them.

When I’m sitting in the studio, a mix isn’t done till I feel it in my gut.

I think it’s incredible what I’ve done. A lot of sweat. But as an innovator, I look back and can’t help but go, ‘Damn, there’s things I could’ve done better, you know?’

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, it’s always great if you don’t have to get up and physically change the song that plays next.

In fact, I would advise against anyone doing reality shows. I won’t be doing ‘X Factor’ just yet.

I just want to get my music out and make sure that it’s heard in the right way.

My father is the oldest of seven boys.

There’s actually a lot of producers that I like to listen to.

When we started Aftermath, we had something like 20 artists, and it was driving me crazy. I couldn’t sit down and focus on any of it. Plus, it was doubly hard because you ended up crushing these people’s dreams when you had to let them go.

I always loved the way music made me feel. I did sports at school and all, but when I got home, it was just music. Everybody in my neighborhood loved music. I could jump the back fence and be in the park where there were ghetto blasters everywhere.

I have a high tolerance for pain – both physical and mental.

I’m a fan of J. Cole.

I’d really like to do a movie, either as a producer or director. My ultimate fantasy would be to direct a movie and produce the entire soundtrack. I don’t really see myself acting.

If you know anything about me and my history, you know I’m very particular about my projects.

I get butterflies every time a record comes out. I’m like, ‘I hope people like it. I hope people buy it.’

The original version of ‘Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang’ was made to a Boz Scaggs song; I can’t remember the name of the song.

I believe in reincarnation, and I believe I’ve lived quite a few lives.

I’m going to record forever.

I’ve sold a lot of records. Did I keep other artists from eating?

I can take a three-year-old and make a hit record.

Mission accomplished, we didn’t have any problems as far as violence goes.

A lot of times when I’m at home kickin’ it, I don’t even listen to hip hop. I listen to all types of music.

I’m never gonna stop music, it’s like air to me.

Everything that I do is for sound goals. It comes from my gut. When I’m sitting in the studio, a mix isn’t done till I feel it in my gut.

Wreckin’ Cru was a DJ crew. They used to call it that because it was the guys that came in after the party was over and broke down the equipment. We eventually made a record, and we had the costumes on and what have you. Back then, everybody had their little getups, you know, like SoulSonic Force, UTFO.

I love the new technology. New things give you a reason to want to go to the studio. New challenges mean you have to keep up, you know?

Anyone that’s trying to do something to improve sound… that’s all good.

I realized at a young age that sequence in an album is almost as important as the songs that are on the album.

I’m so secluded, and I’m so private.

You just have to find that thing that’s special about you that distinguishes you from all the others, and through true talent, hard work, and passion, anything can happen.

Kids are the ultimate form of motivation. They’re watching. They’re mimicking. They’re an extension of you. So you have to win.

I’ve been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet.

I have social anxiety.

People are always coming up to me, thinking I’ve got some magic wand that can make them a star and I want to tell them that no one can do that. Making hit records is not that easy. But it took me time to realize that myself.

I would go to sleep with headphones on. My mom and pop – they would have music loud enough to shake the walls.

I can’t see myself ever spending hundreds of thousands on anything that doesn’t come with a toilet.

Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs is a hustler. In fact, he’s what I call an extreme hustler.

The reason ‘Detox’ didn’t come out was because I didn’t like it.

I’m always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with.

I can remember when I was just, like, about four years old in Compton, and my mother would have me stack 45s, stack about ten of them, and when one would finish, the next record would drop. It was like I was DJ’ing for the house, picking out certain songs and so this song would go after that song.

I’ve always hated authority from an early age. And authority have always hated me.

I had fun doing it, but acting ain’t really my thing. I am more of a production/director type. I would rather be behind the scenes and organizing and putting things together like that.

Eminem is just incredible. That’s the word that comes to mind: ‘incredible.’

Somebody approached me about working with Michael Jackson, and I did say no because I like working with new artists or people that I’ve worked with in the past. I can develop them from the ground up. There’s no set standard that I have to live up to or anything like that.

In my opinion, some of the hip-hop records that come out, people are willing to compromise. I’m not.

I had between 20 and 40 songs for ‘Detox,’ and I just couldn’t feel it. Usually, I can hear the sequence of an album as I’m going, but I wasn’t able to do that. I wasn’t feeling it in my gut.

Engineering and mixing are absolutely key. Once a song is done, for me personally, it’s usually two or three days to get the mix down.

It’s always been difficult to make a good record. To be perfectly honest with you, it’s really about the person that’s pushing the buttons. No matter what type of equipment you have, you still have to have a certain talent to be able to make a good record.

My mother got pregnant with me at the age of fifteen. This was ’64, and unheard of at that time.

Everything in my life has been about sound and making music, so Beats represents just that – the improvement of sound and the dedication to everything I’ve been doing from the day I started.

I know sound, and this is what I’m going to stick to: what I know.

I sequence during the entire recording process. The sequencing changes as I’m recording and as I’m listening. From when I’m, like, four songs in, I start trying to figure out which song should come after which. Which is important, and it changes as the album goes.