Throughout his decades-lasting exceptional career, Dr. Dre has cemented his name as one of the greats in hip-hop. Hailing from Compton, California, the former N.W.A. force has conquered the world, selling millions of albums and generating timeless rap classics that will never be duplicated. Even at the height of the West-East Coast rivalry, Dre was solely focused on his music and helped the hip-hop scene of the West flourished.In addition to driving his own career, the Doctor has also recommended some of the "dopest" and "illest" emcees and helped them launch their own musical careers. In fact, these names have also become some of the greatest in the genre, thanks to the Dr. Dre's recipe. Here's how Dr. Dre discovered Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Anderson .Paak, and more.
6 Kendrick Lamar
As a Compton kid, young Kendrick Lamar was a fan of Dr. Dre. In fact, back when he was eight, he witnessed his idol and Tupac Shakur on the set of the "California Love" music video in 1995, and that somehow poked his early interest in rap music. Fast-forward 15 years, Lamar got his stamp of approval from Dre after his 2010 TDE mixtape, Overly Dedicated, landed on Dre's radar. He stumbled across the tape's "Ignorance is Bliss" music video on YouTube and immediately signed him to the Aftermath family.
"I was on the road with Tech N9ne at the time, with Jay Rock. He called the phone, called my engineer’s phone, said he was looking for us. We thought it was fake and whatnot," he recalled, adding, "Finally got in touch with management the next week and locked in the studio with him for eight, nine days."
5 Eminem
Shortly after departing Death Row due to violent disputes against its honcho Suge Knight, Dr Dre went to launch his own label Aftermath Entertainment. The label's debut compilation album, Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath, didn't do critically and commercially as he expected it, and he was on the verge of giving up.
However, the light appeared at the end of the tunnel for Dre when 26-year-old white Detroit emcee Eminem caught his ears thanks to his 1997 record Slim Shady EP. He was also on The Source magazine's "Unsigned Hype" and had made a name for himself in the rap battle community. Under Dre's guidance, Eminem soared to become one of the greatest rappers of all time.
4 Anderson .Paak
A skilled drummer and beats-cooker, Anderson .Paak is a rare talent. The one-half of Silk Sonic super duo was an unknown talent back in the early 2010s, but when he released his debut album Venice, he captured the ear of Dr. Dre, and the latter would go and take him under his wing. After successfully recruiting the African-Korean rapper for his 2015 album Compton, Dre signed him to Aftermath Entertainment. A year later, XXL enlisted Paak on its annual "Freshman Class" list alongside Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Denzel Curry, and more.
3 50 Cent
50 Cent was already signed to Columbia Records back in the 1990s, the same label that housed Nas, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, and more. He was set to release his debut album Power of the Dollar, but it was shelved just days before its due after the rapper was shot nine times and blackballed by the industry.
At the time, nobody wanted to take the risk, so 50 took to the streets to release his back-to-back classic mixtapes, including Guess Who's Back? which eventually landed on Eminem's radar, who was also Dr. Dre's protégé. The Rap God signed 50 to his Shady Records under a joint deal with Dr. Dre's Aftermath and Jimmy Iovine's Interscope.
2 Snoop Dogg
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg go all the way back in the 1990s. Fresh out of N.W.A., Dre stumbled across Snoop's freestyle over "Hold On" by En Vogue on a mixtape. Impressed, Dre recruited the Long Beach rapper for his then-forthcoming soundtrack album project Deep Cover and Dre's classic debut solo album, The Chronic. He then also signed to Death Row and formed an "un-f***witable" trio with Dre and Tupac Shakur under the rule of Suge Knight. Although they're not under the same umbrella anymore, their friendship remains as strong as it was decades ago.
"Snoop comes in the studio and I put this track on. He's just freestyling and it was super sick. Then, the thought of my solo album started becoming a reality in my mind," Dre recalled.
1 Xzibit
Xzibit was already an established talent on the West Coast back in the day, but after releasing his sophomore album 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz, the Detroit emcee's career trajectory shifted into worldwide popularity. He caught the attention of the Dr. Dre thanks to that album, which charted number 58 on the Billboard 200.
Dr. Dre even put Xzibit toe-to-toe with some of the rap game's top profiles from, Snoop Dogg to Eminem, as a featured artist on several albums and helped him blueprint his international breakthrough with X's multimillion-selling third record, Restless. ​​​​​​​
