Dr. Dre Rejected Working With Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder Outta Fear

[FaTaL]

Damn man, Dre haters working overtime in this thread. So the guy behind Straight Outta Compton, Chronic, Doggystyle, 2001 and multiple other classics doesn't have any talent now

Dre for being honest, he wants artists that he can mold and give direction, ain't nothing wrong with that.

i love dre, theres level to the game. hes not on that top level as a prince and if you think he is you need to get your head examined

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

If people said this about Premo or a lot of producers that get propped to the same level as Dre, this board would erupt. And while I consider Premo a GOAT, he's a very safe producer. And I'm not talking about sample choices, I'm talking about actually making something that showcases a different side of his sound.

not true. he did 5 tracks on Christina Aguilera's album, did remixes for Disclosure, Brandy, and others outside of hip hop. If you cut the check, Primo was there. Primo doesn't have over a 1000 unreleased songs. I just think Dre is afraid of failure. He wants to be known as a guy that never put out anything but classic albums. The man doesn't even claim Aftermath Presents as a real album. it wasn't trash, but not a classic.

 

[JustCKing]

not true. he did 5 tracks on Christina Aguilera's album, did remixes for Disclosure, Brandy, and others outside of hip hop. If you cut the check, Primo was there. Primo doesn't have over a 1000 unreleased songs. I just think Dre is afraid of failure. He wants to be known as a guy that never put out anything but classic albums. The man doesn't even claim Aftermath Presents as a real album. it wasn't trash, but not a classic.

I am not talking about working outside of Hip Hop. Dre has work outside of Hip Hop too. That's not what I'm getting at. What I'm saying is not just having their names as just that names on discog list and the songs themselves not be held in high regard or even known like that.

I love what Premo did with Christina, but are those songs really held in high regard like that? When people talk about all time great Brandy songs, is the Premo remix going to be mentioned.

 

[MurderToCassette]

DJ Quik would've come up with something crazy with those three

 

[FeverPitch2]

Cant come to the studio with pre created beats and trying to shoehorn mike or prince into them. You gotta create that beat and melody from scratch off of the brainstorming session



Sounds like he didnt wanna be put on the spot....i wonder why

This is why Neptunes didn't get those jobs.

 

[Reptile]

I like and respect Dre, but him turning down an opportunity to work with his “heroes” seems very suspicious. What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t like the song, so it doesn’t get released? It’s not like he’s a stranger to that scenario.

How is it suspicious. A nikka dont want to let down his idols. Sounds logical. Yall nerd birds are cynical about everything.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Intimidation happens. It can happen at the highest level.
It happened to LA and Babyface.
MJ flewed them out, gave them a studio, left them for a few days and they came up with nothing.
They eventually shytted out Slave To Them Rhythm which they freely admit isn't any good.

From L.A. Reid's book:
"Intimidated beyond belief, we sat in a couple of Los Angeles studios, trying to come up with something for Michael. But sitting there working for Michael, it was impossible to escape the idea that this was the guy who did Thriller, the biggest-selling album ever. How do you top that? How do you hope to match that kind of magnificence? It towered over us. How do you write a song he will like? At the time, Kenny(Babyface) and I were on a roll, but we couldn’t figure this out.

We were so fascinated by him, so intimidated by his talent and stature—Michael Jackson at the absolute height of his Michael Jackson–ness—that we couldn’t get it right. We spent three weeks working night and day, so we had plenty of time to get over any initial jitters. The significance of the assignment simply overwhelmed us.

I sat across the other side of the glass and watched in what was almost an out-of-body experience as Michael sang our song, top to bottom, twenty-four times in a row, and each take was better than the last. When he was done, I couldn’t tell track eight from track twenty-four—that’s how perfect his performance was. God was in the room and He looked just like Michael Jackson."

 

[dubsmith_nz]

i love dre, theres level to the game. hes not on that top level as a prince and if you think he is you need to get your head examined

Who said he's on the same level as Prince? Prince reached out to Dre, not the other way round.

 

[Complexion]

I sat across the other side of the glass and watched in what was almost an out-of-body experience as Michael sang our song, top to bottom, twenty-four times in a row, and each take was better than the last. When he was done, I couldn’t tell track eight from track twenty-four—that’s how perfect his performance was. God was in the room and He looked just like Michael Jackson."

Meanwhile...

 

[Michael's Black Son]

nikka didn’t want to get found out. Yeah I said it

Yup.

Perfectionist like MJ isn’t gonna let Dre take forever to come up with something.

When he sought Teddy out, dude flew to California with a ton of heat and wound up helping MJ make the best New Jack album of all time.

Look at Teddy banging this groove out for “She Drives Me Wild”. I rock with Dre but no damn way is he doing this in real time with goddamn Bill Botrell 3 feet away. This is a semi-rough demo with barely any vocal and you already KNOW it’s a smash

 

[Michael's Black Son]

Intimidation happens. It can happen at the highest level.
It happened to LA and Babyface.
MJ flewed them out, gave them a studio, left them for a few days and they came up with nothing.
They eventually shytted out Slave To Them Rhythm which they freely admit isn't any good.

From L.A. Reid's book:
"Intimidated beyond belief, we sat in a couple of Los Angeles studios, trying to come up with something for Michael. But sitting there working for Michael, it was impossible to escape the idea that this was the guy who did Thriller, the biggest-selling album ever. How do you top that? How do you hope to match that kind of magnificence? It towered over us. How do you write a song he will like? At the time, Kenny(Babyface) and I were on a roll, but we couldn’t figure this out.

We were so fascinated by him, so intimidated by his talent and stature—Michael Jackson at the absolute height of his Michael Jackson–ness—that we couldn’t get it right. We spent three weeks working night and day, so we had plenty of time to get over any initial jitters. The significance of the assignment simply overwhelmed us.

I sat across the other side of the glass and watched in what was almost an out-of-body experience as Michael sang our song, top to bottom, twenty-four times in a row, and each take was better than the last. When he was done, I couldn’t tell track eight from track twenty-four—that’s how perfect his performance was. God was in the room and He looked just like Michael Jackson."

And it’s wild that Babyface of all people didn’t have much for MJ considering all the heat he was throwing to Bobby, After 7, himself and so many more. But the bar was high when it came to the greatest to ever do it.

Sucks because it would’ve worked out under other circumstances. Meanwhile, Teddy swooped in and was hungry and knew the weight of his own damn sub-genre was on his shoulders. Plus he needed to get as far away from the deal he was in because he was getting pressed by a legit street dude. Dude went to Cali and stayed there and “Dangerous” was the result — and it worked.

 

[DaveyDave]

I ain't even mad at him.

Dre has always been the kind of dude who would rather take on a "new" talent and mould them or at least build with them than be with an established artist. If he had gone on to make AmeriKKKas Most Wanted like he was supposed to, maybe he would have got past that "new artist" mentality but he's stuck where he needs to be the one in control

 

[African Peasant]

Riley, DarkChild and Kellz did not have this problem with MJ though.

 

[Rell84shots]

Prince probably would've walked out, while Mike would've shaded him the entire session

"I like how long it takes you to get the simplest thing right"

 

[Da Jungles]

Oh so Dr. Dre is a fraud of a producer now? To all of you spitting that nonsense, get the fukk outta here.

If a few people say anything enough times on here, the rest will follow to dap fish.