After almost a decade of false starts, super-producer Dr. Dre is finally in the lab bringing Detox to life. But does the Good Doctor have the prescription hip-hop has been waiting for?

Words: Jerry L. Barrow II Photos: Scott Council

JIMMY IOVINE’S GOT his game face on. The Interscope Records co-founder has had a long and prosperous relationship with Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre, hip hop’s foremost sonic architect. From Death Row to the Aftermath, Shady and G Unit imprints, Jimmy and Dre have left an indelible mark on the last two decades of popular music, moving more than 50 million albums together. But time is running short, and it’s clear in Iovine’s expression. He has been waiting for more than a decade for Dr. Dre to turn in his near-mythical album Detox—the follow-up to Dr. Dre 2001, which dropped in late 1999.

Andre Young—a founding member of N.W.A and the sonic mastermind who introduced the world to Snoop Doggy Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and The Game—has never done things the usual way. Between rumors, missed release dates and side projects (Beats By Dr. Dre headphones are reportedly up to a million units sold, with estimated revenues of $50 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 alone), his fans have had their loyalty tested time and again. “You can’t rush Dre,” says fellow N.W.A alum Ice Cube. “He’s changed music twice already.” But that is small consolation for folks who haven’t had a new Dr. Dre album since President Clinton was in office.

Relief may finally be on the way. Several days after being honored at the 2010 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards by his artist and friend Eminem, a smile is etched across Dr. Dre’s chiseled 45-year-old face. On an unseasonably cold June day in Santa Monica, he’s dressed in a long-sleeved white T-shirt and jeans, and his 215 pounds of muscle have him looking more like a superhero than a record producer. A mini-vacation with his wife of 14 years, Nicole, and the news that Eminem’s Recovery has debuted with more than 700,000 copies sold have the Aftermath CEO “feeling better than most days.”

It’s quiet in the sanctuary of his studio/nightclub across the street from the Interscope offices. This is where Dre tests out new music during private parties for friends. But today it’s all business.

An unfinished leak of the Jay-Z collab “Under Pressure” has lived up to its namesake, and the man who once rhymed “fuck rap, you can have it back” knows that it’s time to make his impression felt again. Sit back, relax and strap on your seatbelt.

VIBE: You were dismantling component systems as a kid. What’s it like having your own brand of headphones?

Dr. Dre: It felt so organic. It’s not something I just put my name on. We designed this thing from the ground up. It took like two years to put this together. We were tweaking it the entire time ‘til we got the sound exactly the way we want it. I got to do a side-by-side comparison between the Beats and Bose . . . I feel like hands down we got ’em beat as far as style and fashion goes and as far as the sound. We got ‘em beat because guys that actually make music get the sound on these. Nobody’s gonna be able to compete with us as far as headphones.

Diddy has Diddybeats and Lady Gaga has Heartbeats—both of which you helped set up—then Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has a headphone deal with Skull Candy, which also did a line with Snoop. How do you feel about the competition?

It’ a compliment on the one hand but on the other hand it’s like “Yo, this is my thing here. What’s going on?” [Laughs.] It’s all good. I’m not trying to knock anybody’s hustle. But like I said, nobody is going to be able to beat us at this game.

You also have a laptop complement to the headphones, correct?

The HP Envy. We’re trying to improve the sound in computers and laptops. These guys aren’t thinking about sound when they build these computers and the majority of people are listening to music on computers. So you might as well hear it the right way.

Why headphones as opposed to, say, a beat-making program?

That’s something I want to get into and the headphones were a good start. I want to get into putting out my own drum sounds and maybe a beat machine. We’re talking about iPod docks, car stereos and an entire line. We’re also doing a headphone with LeBron James called PowerBeats. They’re earbuds but they wrap around the ear. Each bud has two drivers so it sounds a little louder. You can hear the 808 in these. I’ve been wearing the prototype every day to work out.

So will Detox be streamed wirelessly into the Beats headphones?

In a perfect word, yes. Me and Jimmy talk about this all the time. It was supposed to be my album promoting the headphones, but it’s gonna be the other way around now. It’s gonna be a two-for-one thing. As soon as we finish this interview I’m going into the studio and get it on. I know it’s taking a long time but it’s not 100 percent work on my album that I’m doing every day. That’s why it’s taking so long. It’s been almost ten years since my last album [It’s actually been more than 10 years. —Ed.] but I haven’t been sitting on my hands. Keeping it real with you, I just started really getting involved in it and really feeling it this year. Around January or February. Before now I was kind of doing it more out of obligation, but now I really feel it inside and it’s pouring out right now. Music comes out much better when you’re in that frame of mind.

Eight years passed between Chronic and 2001, so you’re not that late yet.

Right. And I’ve got a few classic albums in between that with Em and 50.

When you first announced Detox did you think it would take this long?

Absolutely not. I thought it would take at worst case a couple of years. For example, actual work time on The Chronic was nine months and actual work time on my last album, 2001, was about 10 months. The actual work time on this album is about half of that, where I’m seriously focusing on it. There is always something coming up. Like signing talent, old and new.

Looking at your signings of artists like Raekwon, Rakim and Marsha Ambrosius, are you just a hard boss or did it just not work out?

I’d say it’s a little bit of both. I’m a perfectionist on one hand. I always say talent gets you in the building but whether our personalities mesh, that’s an entire different thing. I have fun when I’m working. It’s not a job for me. And I’m in a position where I really don’t have to do it if I don’t want to. So it has to feel right. When you get in the studio with an artist, the personalities have to mesh. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with my personality or theirs, it’s just: Do they work together or not? That seems to be a factor. All of the artists that I started working with and we didn’t finish, we’re still cool. It’s just a matter of this thing doesn’t work together. The ones that do work together, ka-boom. You see the results.

What did you think of the final product of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx . . . Pt. II?

I loved that “House of Flying Daggers.” [Laughs.] It came out good. I thought it could have been promoted a little better and I think there may have been too many songs. But that’s my opinion. Raekwon is one of the greatest.

J Dilla produced “House of Flying Daggers.” Did you get to meet him before he died?

Yeah, I met him at a studio out here and we chopped it up for about half an hour. Coolest dude. Talented. I just wish I’d had a chance to work with him.

Is there anyone else out there you haven’t worked with yet that you’d like to?

Of course, the next new artist I can get in the studio with and make something great. I don’t necessarily have an urge to work with established artists. Like working with Mary J. Blige, that was returning a favor. Other than that, I only want to work with new talent, new producers. People that want to learn and I can learn from.

Speaking of new talent, a young lady saying she was your daughter went on YouTube with a song called “Daddy’s Shadow” saying that you won’t help her with her recording career.

[Laughs.] I’m not gonna get into that. Not gonna talk about the family.

Talk about the relationship you have with 50 Cent and some of your other artists.

Everything is cool. I haven’t spoken to 50 in a long time. He’s doing his own thing right now. Hopefully we’ll get to work together again in the future but I think he’s working on movies. As far as everybody else goes, I’m here. Everybody knows I’m working on my own thing. Once that’s done, holla at me.

At the ASCAP Awards did you have any idea Eminem was going to be presenting?

No idea. They told me it was going to be a surprise guest to present me with the award but I didn’t even waste any brain power trying to figure it out. That was incredible and the thing that he said was incredible. Being around guys like Em, I know how they feel about about me and they know how I feel about them, but hearing it in that forum feels incredible. It’s inspiring and it lets me know that everything that I’ve done is appreciated.

It looked kind of like a reunion on stage. Do you guys see each other much?

We’d actually just saw each other an hour before for the VIBE photo shoot. Before that it had been a few months or so. We don’t get to talk that often, but when we do see each other it’s just like we saw each other yesterday.

How do you feel about winning VIBE’s Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time tournament?

It was crazy because I just happened to be in New York promoting the Diddybeats and they approached me at Best Buy and I didn’t know anything about the contest or that I’d won and I was like, “Really?” I went home and saw who I was up against. I was like “whoa.” These are some of my favorite producers. I never looked at it like my shit don’t stink or I’m the best at what I do. I just go in and do my thing. I have my favorites out there also, but don’t get me wrong—I’m glad it went to me. [Laughs.] It’s always an incredible feeling, especially to be considered No. 1. The best that ever did it? What the fuck!

You were up against DJ Premier in the finals.

Preemo is definitely one of my favorites. I got a chance to chill with him and Guru out here one time. We sat and talked for like an hour and they were cool as hell. I’m a fan.

Do you think the VIBE tournament helped to elevate the stature of the producer?

The producer definitely needs to get a lot more credit than we do. No producer—no artist. Not many artists can go in the studio and make their own records. But a lot of producers can.

In the photos for this cover you have music notes in the syringes. Is there a science to hip-hop?

That’s a good question. You know what? I don’t know. Anybody that says that they know is crazy. You just come in and do what you feel. The way hip-hop is going and the way it sounds can change tomorrow. I think everybody has their own method and approach so there is no direct science for it. You can do a hip-hop record with no rapping. Hip-hop is so dope because it’s the only music that you can mix with other forms of music. You can mix rock, hip-hop, jazz—it’s spread out.

So there is no Dr. Dre formula?

No. There is no direct formula because I like collaborating and whoever I’m collaborating with, I’m absorbing their energy and they’re absorbing mine and that’s how the record is going to sound. To me there is no Dre sound.

But if you listen to 50 Cent’s “In da Club” and Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair,” there are similarities.

Okay, but that’s not what I’m thinking when I go in to make it. I don’t go in saying it has to sound like “this.” Each record has its own personality. I think, “Is this record wearing Timberlands or is it wearing earrings?” If it comes out sounding similar to the last record, then so be it.

When did you first put your hands on a pair of turntables?

Damn, that’s a good one. Probably when I was 14 years old. I heard “[The Adventures of] Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” and that made me want to DJ. It made me want to know what hip-hop was. That was the song that did it. I immediately went home and called some friends and we were taking apart one of my friend’s mother’s stereo sets. They called them component systems back then. We figured out how to make a mixer from the balance button and got it cracking—started making tapes. Not too long after that, my mom got me a Numark mixer for Christmas and I was off and running from there. I still had the raggedy turntables, but it made it a lot easier.

What happened with those piano lessons with Burt Bacharach?

I’m still going. I have a different piano teacher now and I’m learning a lot about theory and hopefully I can get my Quincy Jones on later, score some movies.

What’s your relationship like with Quincy Jones?

He’s one of my mentors and people I’ve looked up to in this business. I hung out with Quincy on his 70th birthday.

Has he bestowed any musical gems on you?

You know what? All we’ve ever talked about is life and personal shit. We’ve never talked technical or about music.

Really?

I’m just talking about whatever Quincy wants to talk about. The door is open for me to go to his house and talk to him anytime I want. He gave me that invitation. I just want to absorb it, because everything he talks about is useful to me. It doesn’t matter when I get it, as long as I get it. You know, I’m sitting there and I want to ask him about Thriller and Body Heat, but I’ll get to that. I’m actually supposed to be going to his house next week.

You mentioned a hip-hop album without rapping. Will we ever hear a Dr. Dre instrumental album?

Oh yeah, that’s in the works. An instrumental album is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I have the ideas for it. I want to call it The Planets. I don’t even know if I should be saying this, but fuck it. [Laughs.] It’s just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like. I’m gonna go off on that. Just all instrumental. I’ve been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet. I’ve been doing this for about two years now just in my spare time so to speak. I wanna do it in surround sound. It’ll have to be in surround sound for Saturn to work.

Why?

Because Saturn has the rings and you’ll have to hear the sound going around you the entire time the instrumental is playing. You make Jupiter big. Earth of course has to [sound] wet. You really get into the actual personality of each planet and you go with that.

That’s an exciting concept. That’s why leaked music kind of cheats you. Because it’s not in the package it was meant to be in.

Without a concept it’s just another song . . .

Because it’s out of sequence.

That’s big! Absolutely. That can make or break a record, the way you sequence it. That is 100 percent a job in itself and that happens throughout the entire process of recording an album with me. I might take a CD home and listen to a few songs back to back and say, “Okay, those two songs have to play together on a record.” Then you wait for that to happen again and then you have a partial sequence. That’s an art in itself.

Knowing how passionate you are about sequencing an album, how does it feel when a song leaks, like “Crack a Bottle”?

It’s like a stab in the stomach. First of all we weren’t even going to release the song. We won a Grammy for it, but I’m not even considering putting the Grammy up. My wife has a problem with that because she wants all of my achievements to be up in the house. But the way it came, it doesn’t mean the same to me. We didn’t get a chance to do the song with our heart in it because we had to go in and rush it out. We went in one day and finished it at least so people could hear a proper version but we didn’t get to put our heart and soul in it . . .

So “Under Pressure” leaking was a killer.

It was a little bit more frustrating because at least “Crack a Bottle” had a hook on it. I wouldn’t be as mad at a leak if the song was done.

Can you blame the fans for wanting to hear something after all this time?

Absolutely not. I’m not mad at the fans. I’m mad at the person that leaked the shit. I have no idea how it got out. It’s not even worth looking to see who did it. It happens. The most painful part about it is that I’m passionate about what I do, so people should hear it in the right form.

There were some other reference tracks that leaked with T.I. and Ludacris lyrics. Were those legit?

Two of them were. Somebody actually hacked into our emails, so that made our red flags go up. We’re in a new age and that’s a sign: Wake up motherfucker. You have to be more careful with your shit. That’s all there is to it. I know what’s up now.

Was “In Da Club” for Detox?

No. That track was done for D12. We were in the studio and D12 was in the studio. Em was there. It didn’t happen with D12 and Em took the track with him, and he is the one that handed the track to 50.

Knowing the personal nature of your music, will there be a part two of “The Message” for your late son, Andre Young, Jr.?

I’m actually back and forth about that. I’m leaning towards no because I don’t know if I want to put myself or my family through that. I kind of want the record to stay fun. Right now as we speak I’m leaning towards a no. Though I do have a couple of things that I’ve done [for him]. I don’t think so.

Have you heard a beat in the last five years that you thought was hot?

Damn, that’s a good question. When was “The Benjamins” made? [Laughs.] [Diddy’s “It’s All About] the Benjamins” was one of my favorite beats. I just want to hear something that makes me make the ugly face.

There’s nothing else since “Benjamins” that did that for you?

I know there is, but nothing is hitting me off the top. As soon as you leave I bet I’ll think of one. I’ve been listening to a lot of old shit. Most of the time when I’m listening to hip-hop, it’s old-school Wu-Tang or Mobb Deep.

What is it about the old shit that keeps you going back?

It was an exciting period of hip-hop. Hip-hop isn’t as exciting anymore and it motivates me to do what I do.

You’ve seen so much in your time—good and bad. You had a chance to reconcile with Eazy-E before he died. With everything that has been going on with Suge Knight in the last year, is there any side of you that feels that one day you might . . .?

I haven’t even thought about him. This is my first time hearing his name in . . . a long time.

So nobody told you when he got knocked out at a party?

Oh, of course I heard that. But it doesn’t even cross my mind. I’m not gonna get anything out of that, so I don’t even think about it. That’s not going to help me.

It was reported that you were trying to tie up some loose ends with the people who bought the Death Row catalog.

Was basically trying to go back and get what I was owed if possible. This was more my attorneys than me. I’m more like eh, whatever. But if you can make it happen, it’s all good.

You’ve had so much fun doing Chronic and 2001. So why would you want to detox? What is there to “detox” from?

You have to see it. It’s not really detoxing. What I’m doing is gonna say “Detox” but it’s gonna have that red circle with that line through it. Hearing it and seeing it are two different things. Once you see it, it’s like “Oh.”

So the idea is not detoxing?

Exactly.

Years ago you recorded a song called “Forgot About Dre,” but in 2010 it seems impossible to forget about Dre.

I hope not, at least not until this record is out. [Laughs.] I’m definitely in a different place now. I’m a lot smarter and hopefully getting smarter in years to come. I’m just cool right now, chilling and doing my work. Before it was ripping and running and I’m in a really calm place in my life, using my time wisely. That’s the most valuable thing we own.

Lloyd speaks about meeting Dr. Dre and hearing his long-awaited album “Detox.” Plus, what does Dre think of Lloyd’s new music?

For LeBron James, the name on his chest and number on his back aren’t the only things changing this season. The new Miami Heat recuit—one-third of the Dwayne Wade & Chris Bosh triumvirate—will also smothering his earlobes with some new headphones: his own model of Dr. Dre’s Beats audio ‘buds. James joins Lady Gaga and Diddy as the latest celebrity with his own set of Dr. Dre-constructed earwear. LeBron’s will be called “Power Beats.”

“They’re earbuds, but they wrap around the ear,” said Dr. Dre, who shares one of two VIBE Juice issue covers with Eminem. “Each bud has two drivers so it sounds a little louder. You can hear the 808 in these. I’ve been wearing the prototype every day to workout.”

The rollout for the headwear is already in place. LeBron James tweeted last week that he’d shot an ad for the new venture. “Just wrapped my commercial shoot for my new product, “Power Beats” by Dre. Me, Dr.Dre and Affion Crockett,” LeBron tweeted. “Coming to a store near u.”

According to Dr. Dre, headphones are just the beginning for his audio brand.

“[Beat-making software is] something I want to get into and the headphones were a good start,” says Dre, who won VIBE’s Greatest Hip-Hop Producer Tournament earlier this year. “I want to get into putting out my own drum sounds and maybe a beat machine. I’m going back and forth to see if it it’ll be just sounds or an entire machine. We’re [also] talking about iPod docks, car stereos and an entire line.”

There’s not yet word on when LeBron’s Power Beats will available for sale. —John Kennedy, with additional reporting by Jerry Barrow

Fiending for a check-up with the Doc? Peep a few excerpts from VIBE’s August/September cover story on Dre. Dre to hold you down till August 13. Interview by: Jerry Barrow

ON THE DETOX HOLD-UP:
When you first announced Detox did you think it would take this long?
Absolutely not. I thought it would take at worst case a couple of years. For example, actual work time on The Chronic was nine months and actual work time on my last album, 2001, was about 10 months. The actual work time on this album is about half of that, where I’m seriously focusing on it. There is always something coming up. Like signing talent, old and new.

ON DEALING WITH MUSIC LEAKS:
So “Under Pressure” leaking was killer.
It was a little bit more frustrating because at least “Crack a Bottle” had a hook on it. I wouldn’t be as mad at a leak if the song was done.

Can you blame the fans for wanting to hear something after all this time?
Absolutely not. I’m not mad at the fans. I’m mad at the person that leaked the shit. I have no idea how it got out. It’s not even worth looking to see who did it. It happens. The most painful part about it is that I’m passionate about what I do so people should hear it in the right form.

There were some other reference tracks that leaked with T.I. and Ludacris lyrics. Were those legit?
Two of them were. Somebody actually hacked into our emails, so that made our red flags go up. We’re in a new age and that’s a sign: Wake up motherfucker. You have to be more careful with your shit. That’s all there is to it. I know what’s up now.

ON A COMING INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM:
You mentioned a hip-hop album without rapping. Will we ever hear a Dr. Dre instrumental album?
Oh yeah, that’s in the works. An instrumental album is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I have the ideas for it. I want to call it The Planets. I don’t even know if I should be saying this, but fuck it. [Laughs.] It’s just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like. I’m gonna go off on that. Just all instrumental. I’ve been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet. I’ve been doing this for about two years now just in my spare time so to speak. I wanna do it in surround sound. It’ll have to be in surround sound for Saturn to work.

Pick up VIBE’s August/September JUICE issue on August 16 for the full interview.

Look what the doc brought in…. Eminem and Dr. Dre are covering VIBE’s Aug/Sept JUICE Issue! Read an excerpt from Em’s introspective cover story, Dying To Live, penned by Thomas Golianopoulos and pick up the issue on newsstands, August 16th.

ON BEING HAUNTED BY DEATH:

Do you think about your own death?
Yeah, I do. A lot. I think about it a lot. I try not to think about it but I do and it creeps me the fuck out. It creeps me out because they say that if I got to the hospital two hours later then I would be gone. I think about that a lot. When I lay in bed at night is when I think about it the most. It creeps me out man.

THE BEST EMINEM DISS TRACK ACCORDING TO EM:

What was the best thing someone said about you? Was there ever a hot Eminem diss?
Um, no. [Laughs.] Nah, I’m kidding. Shit, there was a couple of lines Everlast said like, “You ain’t running up on me with no empty gun.” I know that there is a lot of shit that I would have said about me.

ON BRITTANY MURPHY’S PASSING:

What were your thoughts when you heard that your 8 Mile co-star Brittany Murphy had passed?
It was crazy. It’s crazy. It’s crazy because at one point we were very close and she was a really good person. It’s crazy when you see things not just with her but just all these things that are happening in Hollywood with people in music, with people in acting . . .

. . . famous people.
Famous people. Famous people are overdosing at alarming rates and—that almost sounded like a commercial. Wow.

It sounded like a Sally Struthers commercial. “Please give to this charity.”
Right. But they are. And it’s one of those things man where you’re famous, doctors will kiss your ass because they love the celebrity. “Oh, I can call up Eminem and get him on the phone right now. Oh, hi Marshall, how are you doing? Do you need that [prescription]?” There are doctors that will give you certain things just because of who you are.

Reflection Eternal (Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli) talk to Hard Knock TV’s Devi Dev about the impact of Dr Dre’s Chronic album and how Gansta rap dominated music in 1993.

Hi-Tek also talks about being signed to Dre’s aftermath label as a producer, how Dre is a mentor to him and how people perceive Dre. He also talks about the status of Detox. Some memorable quotes from this interview from Tek:

“If you cant make the Dre cut That’s your fault”…”Dre has built nothing but superstars”…”You don’t deserve producer credit if you don’t produce, just because you make a beat doesn’t make you a producer!”

For more of this interview with Reflection Eternal check out: http://www.HardKnock.tv

No stranger to controversy, LA Laker, Ron Artest continues maneuver his career to the beat of his own ball. Coming into the NBA about a decade ago, the proud Queensbridge native has consistently proved his athletic ability on the basketball court. However, his rough play, suspensions and admitted “wild behavior” early in his career have earned him a reputation as one of the NBA’s infamous bad boys. But with his first NBA championship title in place, Artest has become a hero of sorts to fans on both coasts.

From an unknown vacation spot, RonRon phoned into VIBE to discuss his surreal performance in game seven, his reasons for seeing a psychologist and working with Dr. Dre. Let the games begin.

I also heard that Dr. Dre actually worked on the record…
Well, Dre is my man and a couple of his writers helped out a lot on the record, but he didn’t actually produce “Champions.” Me and Dre wrote a brand new verse for the song but depending on the remix if we can get Game, 50 and T-Pain on the hook than we’ll decide what we want to do with it. Dre was just coaching me and telling me the verse was stupid. Right after the game, I went straight to Dre’s studio and recorded that new verse. Chris Brown was actually there, and I gave him my jersey.

Is Chris Brown getting on the remix?
Nah, he was just there, and he wanted my jersey [laughs].

How did you link up with Dre in the first place?
Well, I knew a lot of Dre’s people and honestly I was trying to talk to him for like five years. I kind of got lucky. One day me and my man Chalice went up to the Interscope offices with no appointment and of course we got shut down fast. But I always felt like they were the only people that could market me. They did Tupac, 50 Cent, Eminem and now Ron Artest—we are all rebels. Eventually when I did get to meet some people from Interscope and I slowly got to meet the whole staff and was finally introduced to Dre. It was a long ass process though.

So is Dre working on your album?
I mean it’s pretty much done but if someone like Dre or Polow has some ideas I wouldn’t mind taking them. He did help me out with a record or two, but he didn’t necessarily work on the whole project. He was just looking out.

Click here to read the full interview!

Dr Dre says Detox is coming out by the end of this FALL, says he wants to make sure he give everyone what they are waiting for so they are not disappointed? Dre also tells HardKnock.TV’s Devi Dev in this interview that the “Under Pressure” leak featuring Jay-Z is not a finished song, its not blended right and there is no hook on it yet! Ps the lovely lady next to Dr Dre is his WIFE!

This interview took place at the 23RD ANNUAL ASCAP RHYTHM & SOUL MUSIC AWARDS where DR DRE received the ASCAP’s Founders Award.

Check out what Ted Perlman has to say about Dr. Dre as he goes in depth regarding his legendary 1992 The Chronic album and the many other distinguished artists he and his renowned wife Peggi Blu have worked with.

Interview: Will definitely get into that as well. However I do have something else I want to get your take on. You mentioned the music being good and successful when its song based. In hip-hop, it wasn’t about guys in just getting on stage and acting like thugs. Then again, one of the largest and most praised pieces in hip-hop history is Dr. Dre, The Chronic. That album is about as vulgar as a project in hip-hop can get. What’s your take on that? You praised Dr. Dre earlier, so how do you spin that differently?

Ted Perlman: Well I love that album and I worked with Dr. Dre on the [Burt] Bacharach album that we won a Grammy for. I’ve worked with Dr. Dre and he’s very musical. He’s really aware of a lot of different styles. On The Chronic, that was “Nuthin’ but a ‘G Thang baby, death row is the label that pays me” – I remember that because they sampled Leon Haywood. That came from a guy named Leon Haywood who is a great musician and is kind of like a Barry White orchestra, national sounding records. They sampled all of that.

That was really cool for a lot of musicians that got sampled because they made a lot of money. Leon Haywood made tons of money from that Dr. Dre record because it was very successful. [Dr.] Dre was in a band before NWA and it was like a show band. There are pictures of it online; he was in a band with a friend of mine. And they all look yellow, red and so on, very stylistic. They weren’t gangster at all. It was something like a [Las] Vegas show band.

And then all of a sudden they put on Chicago White Sox hats and they changed the language. That’s what they had to do to get over. Lady Gaga couldn’t get anywhere – she was writing songs, playing piano and performing and nobody paid attention to her until she stuck some three sizes too big hair on and went completely outrageous.

With [Dr.] Dre and hip-hop, in order to get where they wanted to go, they had to get more hardcore. They weren’t hardcore from the beginning; [not until] NWA came around. The “bitches and hoes” stuff, that entire gangster rap, at the time, it wasn’t the prevalent thing in music so it didn’t bother me. It was like okay cool, like Lenny Bruce saying “fuck this and fuck that”, or Richard Pryor saying the “N” word and “motherfucker”, it didn’t mean anything because there was other stuff around. You had Richard Pryor but then you had Bill Cosby and it was balanced.

Gangster rap came in and the thing that was really bad was that it dominated everything and there was no room for anything else. That’s the bad thing. When one style of music dominates everything, it’s really bad and the music struggles. Music should be pop based, and it should have reggae and reggaeton, salsa and it should have European dance music, country music, the blues, rock and roll, soft rock, hard rock, grunge, heavy metal – all of these things should be able to co-exist and none of them should be the dominant force, but hip hop took over for ten years and we had nothing else doing really good except “yo bitch motherfucker.” That’s really bad.

I think we’re more balanced now because a lot of the hip-hop artists have moved off. [Someone like] Jay-Z, it’s more highly developed hip-hop in other words. It’s not gangster rap but you don’t find too many guys like that. You got Lil Wayne and [he’s] in jail (laughs).

Interview: As mentioned, you won a Grammy for the work you did with Burt Bacharach and Dr. Dre. Tell us more about the work you did with Dr. Dre.

Ted Perlman: That was a really great record. It started with [Dr.] Dre and his beats, I sat down with Burt [Bacharach] and we started cutting them up and moving them around. Burt Bacharach started writing these songs and we put music to it. It just developed like that. In the beginning, it was just some drumbeats. All the people aware of music would love Burt Bacharach. The first record I heard was “Walk on By”, Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. Even on a little radio, that music sounded so good because Burt [Bacharach] was cool. Even though it was traditional instruments like the cello, the piano and the orchestra, there was always something unique about everything he wrote. He did the Bobby Vinton, “Blue on Blue”, those songs are cool and the rhythms are cool. The way Burt writes his music isn’t like anybody else.

Even all through the years from that stuff to the stringer things like “Raindrops” and amazing things like “Alfie” – he’s the guy who’s done so many things like “On my Own” with Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald. All through the years, all that music is valid and it’s all great and it’s different.

On this album at this time, except for one song with Rufus Wainwright, most of it is instrumental so we really stretched on this. It really was a wonderful thing that they [Grammy’s] acknowledged the brilliance of this guy. Even to this day, he’s always looking forward – this guy never looks back. All the great things he’s done, he doesn’t live on it because he goes forward. Working with Burt Bacharach is like going to the Burt Bacharach College of music. I love it because I understand music and what he does, he loves working with me and it’s amazing. The people I worked with Burt Bacharach, we worked with Brian Wilson, we worked with Elvis Costello, we worked with Phil Ramone – we always had somebody really cool with us.

[Dr.] Dre, he’s always working with somebody. He’s never the snobby type who feels he doesn’t have to do anything. And that’s great because George Burns was always working. I worked with Bob Hope when he was 90 and he was just as interested in making people laugh at 90 as he was when he was 20. That’s great and whether it’s an actor, a musician, a singer, an artist, a journalist, an author – whatever your doing as you get older, you still want to strive for excellence.

Dan Rather, I’m sure if he didn’t get kicked off he’d still be working hard to do the news. Look at Larry King – that’s the way I want to go out; like Larry King, George Burns and Bob Hope – I want to be working.

For almost three decades Dr. Dre has been a trendsetter in the U.S. music industry, through his recordings with gangsta rappers N.W.A. and later as a producer and record executive who helped launch the careers of Eminem, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent. Dre’s potentially defining, and probably final, musical work is the album Detox, which has achieved near-mythical status after being in production since 2003.

The much anticipated album is inching toward a spring 2010 release. The first single, “Under Pressure” and featuring Jay-Z, will be released this month. Lately, Dre has concentrated on sound from the ears outward. He has leant his name to a line of upscale headphones, “Beats by Dr Dre” by Monster Cable of Brisbane, California.

The pricey devices landed on many “top gadget” lists in 2009 and sold strongly despite the economic downturn. Reuters spoke to Dr Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M records, during a recent trip to Boston.

Q. What’s the next big thing in music?

Dre: “My record. And after that I’m not sure. I’m just keeping my ear to the concrete.”

Iovine: “We all know that Lady Gaga took the world by storm. She’s fused rock and dance and hip-hop. She’s an incredible songwriter — one of the great songwriters to come around, at the level of a Freddie Mercury or an Elton John. She has a long way to go to prove herself, but I believe she’s going to get there.”

Q. What do you listen for in a new artist?

Dre: “Originality. Good vocal performance. And if I can get along with them in the studio, you know?”

Q. Who is your favorite artist at the moment? What is playing on your iPod?

Dre: “I don’t actually have a favorite right now. I’ve been listening to a lot of old 60s and 70s music. Things like Kraftwerk, and Parliament Funkadelic. I’ve really been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk.”

Q. 1970s German electronica? That might surprise people.

Dre: “Kraftwerk had a really big inspiration on the beginning of hip-hop. My tastes change with the season. Right now it’s Kraftwerk. I’ll see what happens this summer.”

Q. What got you into the headphone business?

Dre: “For me it just felt organic. I’m about music. I don’t know anything about fashion so I can’t make clothes, sneakers, or anything like that. I know sound. That’s it. Most people that are making headphones probably aren’t involved in the actual creation of music. So we have an upper hand.”

Q. Music players have gotten smaller and smaller. The latest iPods are practically microscopic.

Dre: “The size of the iPod has no effect on what it sounds like. Our headphones make the music sound big again.”

Q. A lot of people say they prefer the sounds produced by an old-style record over anything since.

Iovine: “The digital revolution … that’s where it went terribly, terribly wrong. In every other field of entertainment it’s improved the quality. In music it’s degraded the quality. The files are bad, the computers sound bad. And the headphones sound bad. So we started with headphones.

“You wouldn’t go and buy a DVD of Avatar and play it on a portable television. People are listening to music through the equivalent of portable televisions.”

Q. What do you think of “American Idol”?

Iovine: “It’s a great show. It gives a lot of unknown people exposure. What they do with the artists after that is up to the label. I think the concept is a great concept. I don’t love the records they make.”

Interview: Washington Post