Big Boy, Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Iovine helped welcome the producer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday.
Dr. Dre has become the latest person honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On Tuesday, the nine-time GRAMMY Award-winning artist and producer received his star in the Recording category, with collaborators Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and music impresario Jimmy Iovine on hand to celebrate the occasion.
Taking the podium for his speech, Iovine praised Dre's legacy as a mega-producer and mentor for the hip-hop genre.
"Dr. Dre is the greatest ever. In fact, Billboard just named him the greatest hip-hop producer of all time! And I heard some of the other music he's making right now -- he's coming for other genres," the chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M said. "Dre is the greatest partner, friend, ally you could possibly have. For all you people out there that are aspiring to get into entertainment, when you go to bed tonight, pray you meet a Dr. Dre."
Dr. Dre co-founded the influential rap group N.W.A. -- the fifth hip-hop group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -- and launched his successful solo career with the release of 1992's acclaimed album, The Chronic. He has also mentored and worked with several hip-hop superstars such as Anderson .Paak., Eminem, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar.
Snoop Dogg also took to the podium to praise his collaborator and close friend. The rapper and reality TV star kicked off his speech by thanking himself.
"I wanna thank me for listening to Dre for over the years and letting him be my teacher, mentor, brother, guardian, protector, and most importantly, a good friend," he shared proudly.
Switching up the gears, Snoop went from speaking to rapping. "Dr. Dre, my brother from another mother, a rock in the sand on the beach he'd soon discover, now we deep cover blood brothers on a mission. Dre's edition," he rapped in part. "House with no furniture, studio in the back with a little bit of food in the kitchen. Long Beach to Compton to Calabasas compositions. Pay attention. Quincy had Michael, they rewrote the cycle. So if Dre is Q and Mike is Snoop, we bang G thang motherf**king super group Death Row."
"Now take a look at us, over 30 years later and we still on the grind in the studio and you still make me do every line 100 motherf**king times. Still," Snoop continued. "And I thank you for that, perfectionist. I thank you for being a perfectionist and always pushing me to be great. You always bring out the best of the Dogg, Dr. Dre and that I do appreciate."
The rapper concluded his speech by saying, "There would be no Snoop without Dre. Together we created magic in the studio and our collaborations have left a mark on the world of music. From intro to endo, our partnership has been legendary. Dre, the motherf**king doctor. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor and welcome to my motherf**king neighborhood. Get your walk on, Cuz."
Ahead of Tuesday's ceremony, Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, praised the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics in a statement. "Dr. Dre's star will serve as a lasting symbol of his immense talent and enduring legacy in the world of music," she said. "What is special regarding the location chosen for Dr. Dre's star is that it will be next to the star of his long-time friend Snoop Dogg!"
It's no surprise that Eminem appeared at the ceremony to honor Dre. While recently speaking to James Corden on his SiriusXM Show, This Life of Mine, Dre recalled that he first heard about the "Lose Yourself" rapper thanks to Iovine, who played Eminem's demo during one of their weekly listening sessions at Iovine's house.
"And I had no idea he was a white guy at the time," Dre told Corden. "So, I took it home with me, and I couldn't stop playing this s**t. Couldn't stop playing it, and Jimmy called me the next day and he's like, 'You know it's a white guy, right?"
They'd eventually meet in the recording studio. Dre revealed that during their first meeting, he played the beat to what would eventually become Eminem's iconic 1999 hit, "My Name Is," which peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and gave Em his first-ever top-40 hit.
"We're in the studio. I hit play on it, and he just went, 'Hi, my name is,'" Dre said. "It happened that fast. No bulls**t. And then we went from there, and that was the beginning of this relationship."
Immediately after sharing this tidbit, Dre declared Eminem as the best ever in the rap game.
"His imagination is off the charts, and I don't think anyone would disagree with that. I think he's the best MC ever. Point blank, period," Dre said. "Of course, there are going to be arguments about that because he's a white guy, you know? I don't think anyone that's rapping can touch Eminem on that microphone."
The friendship grew from there, and their strong bond is why many, rightfully so, predicted Dre would somehow get Eminem involved when he was tapped as the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show performer in 2022. Jesse Collins, the halftime show's executive producer, spoke to ET after that iconic performance (which doubled as a tribute to Dre's native Compton) and discussed the significance of the performance for Eminem.
"Dre hasn't come out in years, so of course Em had to be here tonight," Collins shared. "Think about it, that set was more or less a studio where that record happened the first time, in the studio, with Dre. That had to be going through his head. Dre's at the boards, it was really taking him back to that moment."
The halftime went on to earn three Emmys, including Outstanding Variety Special, the only time the Super Bowl halftime show has won an Emmy in that category.
"We've been in development of this since last September, just talking every week, every single moment, and we've been in hard rehearsals probably for the last three weeks," Collins told ET. "I think the hardest part of it was getting it [down] to 13 minutes... You've got monster catalogues and trying to figure out how to make this work... I mean I could think of 10 records that I wish they would've done. But we had to make the best decision possible."
Ultimately, Collins said that the show was more than just a live music event, but instead was a significant message about the role hip hop plays in the fabric of the nation. "We proved tonight that hip hop is part of the Americana, it is part of our culture. Just like rock n' roll, country, hip hop is right there and it's never going away and it is Americana, period."
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