Dr. Dre Reveals One of His Biggest Career Regrets
"I'm kicking myself in the ass still about that..."
Who among us hasn't parted ways with an item, whether sold or donated, only to live to regret it? But in the case of legendary rapper and music mogul Dr. Dre, this boiled down to tens of thousands of his beloved records.
The 59-year-old, whose real name is Andre Young, made the confession on the inaugural episode of influencer Lindsey Renee's Behind the Patrol podcast. And it sounds like he's still very much not over it.
The subject came up when Renee asked Dre about Leon Haywood's "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You," which he sampled on his single "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" from his 1992 debut album The Chronic. Unveiling the classic record, she asked if it looked familiar, as the story goes that he stumbled across his mother's copy. However, when asked if he still owned the album, Dre admitted that it was a whole other story that he was "really not proud of."
""I had a collection of records. I had over 80,000 albums that I stored in a warehouse," he explained. "And at a certain point, I think it was the early 2000s, I sold all of my wax. And I'm kicking myself in the ass still about that. ... I had a collection, but yeah."
"You know what, it was a warehouse, I had a turntable in there and a bar and everything, and then all of a sudden it was turning into a bill because I was never going," Dre continued, when asked why he ultimately decided to sell his records. "And I'm just like, 'OK ...'"
"It took me ten years to decide to sell, and I finally did and I'm really pissed off at myself about that," he admitted. "But this particular record... Leon Haywood had a studio, it was where the Crenshaw Mall is now. ... I used to go over to his studio and record, and he would come through every now and then."
Dr. Dre says he's pissed off for selling his personal record collection, which consisted of over 80,000 albums.
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) April 25, 2024
(???? Lindsey Renee/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/0TTIMcSXTZ
That is certainly a tough break, and clearly, one that is going to continue to haunt him.