Dr. Dre and Eminem are among the most iconic collaborative duos to ever grace hip-hop. Even 25 years into their relationship, Dre still believes that the Detroit legend is the best to pick up a microphone.
The West Coast legend stopped by SiriusXM’s The Life of Mine With James Corden on Thursday (March 14), where he championed Eminem’s greatness.
“I think he’s the best emcee ever,” he said of Marshall Mathers, who landed at No. 5 on Billboard‘s Greatest Rappers of All Time list. “Point blank, period. Of course, there are going to be arguments about that because he’s a white guy. I don’t think anyone that’s rapping can touch Eminem on that microphone.”
Dre reflected on meeting Eminem for the first time at Jimmy Iovine’s office in the ’90s and how their first time in the studio produced The Slim Shady LP‘s “My Name Is.”
“I met Eminem at Jimmy Iovine’s office,” Dre shared. “We slapped hands, went to the studio and started recording and I’m not sure if anybody knows this, but I think the first four albums was just me and him and his writing and his delivery and his imagination is off the charts and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.”
“I was playing with the MPC and I hit play on it and he just went, ‘Hi, my name is.’ It happened that fast. No bull—t, and then we went from there and that was the beginning of this relationship.”
Dr. Dre’s handprints are all over Eminem’s first four albums he’s referencing on his Aftermath label, the latter two (Encore and The Eminem Show) Dre served as an executive producer.
The 59-year-old is also reuniting with an old friend for a new project, as Dre’s teasing an album on the way with Snoop Dogg.
From “Stil D.R.E.” to “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” and “The Next Episode,” Dre and Snoop have effortlessly cooked up plenty of G-funk anthems together over the years, and they’re looking to recapture that magic once again decades later.
“I know as odd as it sounds, I’ve only produced one album on Snoop, which was in 1993, Doggystyle,” he said of Snoop’s acclaimed debut, which topped the Billboard 200. “I mean, we’ve done some songs and we’ve played around in between, of course, but that is the one and only album I’ve produced on Snoop, Doggystyle, so we decided to call this one Missionary.”
“Snoop is really sounding fantastic and people are gonna be really shocked and amazed at how we’ve been able to come back together after all these years and do something,” Dre shared. “It’s really interesting.”
