Hip-Hop Legends: The Elites Pt 1 - Dr. Dre

You can debate who your pick is for the G.O.A.T all day, every day, and someone will always have an answer. While plenty of artists fall right into the G.O.A.T category, plenty have made their mark on hip-hop who should be. considered great, without being the greatest. Dr. Dre has been a huge part of hip-hop for years and while he doesn’t have the album output as Jay-Z, Eminem, or Nas he’s done enough to change the game to be considered as an elite.

First and foremost, Dr. Dre has been a force in hip-hop for years. Before his split, as a member of the group N.W.A with his crew, put west-coast hip-hop on the map. N.W.A would make huge contributions to the genre and even spawn solo careers for Dre, Ice Cube, and Easy-E. While they were as big as it gets for their era, it was his solo career that really took off. Joining forces with, at the time, Snoop Doggy Dog the duo would contribute some of the best riding around hip-hop joints and party hits. Songs like Nuthin But A G Thang, Still D.R.E, and Gin and Juice were anthems of a generation.

More Hip-Hop: The G.O.A.T Pt 2 – Nas

However, it wasn’t his work as a performer that made Dr. Dre such a force, it was his ability to produce some of the best beats of a generation and put artists on the map. There’s a documentary any hip-hop head should look up The Defiant Ones, originally on HBO but currently on Peacock. If you want to get an idea of his contributions and how he changed a genre for a whole generation. It documents his work in the early days of NWA, working with Snoop, finding Eminem, signing 50 Cent, and everything in between. Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine took Interscope records and made it one of the most powerful labels.

Not only was he a major contributor to hip-hip from a music standpoint, he slapped his name on one of the most recognizable devices for music too. Beats by Dre is still one of the most recognizable products in headphones. Their signature logo “b” on the side of their devices can be seen in sports leagues, in gyms, or just out and about. The brand got so well known, Apple would buy the rights to their brand back in 2014 for $3 billion dollars.

So while Dr. Dre might not have the output that most G.O.A.T. artists have, he still became one of the wealthiest members of the hip-hop community by creating genre-defining music and a brand that can be seen anywhere people enjoy music. Dre might not be in the G.O.A.T category, but he’s hip-hop royalty nonetheless.