Dr. Dre revealed that he almost backed out of the historic Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, and it took a couple of fellow legends to convince him to perform.
The super producer orchestrated a historic Hip-Hop show featuring Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson .Paak at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium. The event was one of the most talked about events of the year and one of the most celebrated Super Bowl performances. The performance was even nominated five times at the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards.
However, The Compton native was apprehensive and was about to nix his performance until he spoke to a couple of friends. Dre called Jay-Z and Nas, and they literally saved the show.
“I was absolutely concerned about that,” he admitted During a recent appearance on fitness entrepreneur Dolvett Quince’s Workout the Doubt podcast. “I actually called a couple of close friends and said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna pull out.’”
Dr. Dre had concerns he might be seen as a sellout. ‘I’m not going to do the show. Because I don’t know if I want that smoke,” he added. “I don’t know if I want the backlash after doing the show and potentially looking like a f###### sellout or something like that.’”
Jay-Z & Nas Reassured Dr. Dre
However, Jay-Z and Nas convinced him he was doing the right thing. “I got on the phone with Nas. He called me up and said, ‘Yo bro’ — you know, Nas has that voice — ‘Yo bro, you gotta do it. You have to do this. It’s going to be so powerful for f###### Hip-Hop, for the culture, for you, for L.A. and the whole nine.’”
He continued, “We were on the phone for like 10 minutes, and he talked me into doing it. Nas and JAY-Z were big reasons why I decided to do the show.” Watch the clip below.
Dr Dre's impression of Nas's voice tho😂🙌 #hiphop #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/3MHN10syxf
— Daniel D-dot 🇲🇼 (@DanielDdot1) August 16, 2022