First thing's first, the legendary producer that is Dr. Dre clearly doesn't have anything to prove at this point in his career, however that being said; the latest news has social media users accusing Dre of exploiting the late Nipsey Hussle's death.
Eight days after Nip's tragic shooting, a video of The Game’s Instagram Story was posted to YouTube, showing him in the studio with Snoop Dogg and Dre. Instagram photos from the studio session also show Dre and The Game posing next to a portrait of the murdered rapper, which sparked some controversy online due to an old interview fans recalled, that Nip did with Bootleg Kev back in 2013.
During the West Coast rapper's conversation with Kev, he addressed a line on his track “Mr. Untouchable” from his album The Marathon, which referenced Dre and the idea that Dre didn’t support him or other booming West Coast gangsta rappers. “What I said about the Dre situation was just me being a real nigga,” Nip explained. “It wasn’t like a direct shot. It was just like me speaking what was true to me at the moment. We doing us, and we gonna push regardless of co-signs, help, people coming down dropping ropes. I felt like if I’m sitting back in the game, and I’m watching Nipsey Hussle, and I’m watching Dom Kennedy, and I’m watching YG at that moment developing a situation, I just felt like what I would do — I wouldn’t spend money."
“I wouldn’t necessarily offer financial support," he continues, "but I would do what I do to these young dudes that I see. I would acknowledge they grind. Because when it’s impossible to miss, and you don’t acknowledge it, that becomes intentionally not acknowledging it.” Nip also mentions Dre on the cut “Keys 2 The City,” suggesting the N.W.A legend had decided to opt out of working with him; the lyrics that suggested this being: “Hussle, hussle, Dre passed, Def Jam, Capital Alantic too/Thought that I’ll be dead or doing life, ’cause what I rap is true/Just another you know who.” That particular line gave fans more evidence to build their case on.
As a result, Twitter users took to the platform to give their two cents on Dre’s photo with the Nip portrait. Some found it distasteful, while others deemed it sad that Nip was never able to work with one of his West Coast forefathers.
Check out some of the reactions below.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1129879395714437120
https://twitter.com/_/status/1129852664978825216
https://twitter.com/_/status/1129898174863294471
https://twitter.com/_/status/1129988986338971648