Dr Dre says he watched Eminem create his debut hit ‘My Name Is’ within minutes during their first ever studio session.
Eminem and Dr Dre are without a doubt one of the most iconic duos in music, and when you realise that their first few minutes together birthed one of the most popular rap songs of all time, it all makes sense.
It all started when Eminem walked into Dre’s studio, dressed in a ‘bright yellow f***ing sweatsuit’.
Speaking to Netflix’s The Defiant Ones, Eminem recalled being totally blown away by the producer, who was one of his ‘biggest influences ever in life’.
Within just seconds of pulling up a sample for Eminem, the then-unknown rapper launched into a the now-famous hook.
“I went and I put some samples together, did a couple of things in the drum machine, and I invited him over,” Dre remembered.
“I was like, ‘Man, listen. I put this sample together. Tell me if you like it’. And I hit the drum machine.
“Maybe two or three seconds went by and he just went: ‘Hi! My name is…my name is…’
“That’s what happened our first day in the first few minutes of us being in the studio.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
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The former NWA member signed Eminem up to Aftermath Entertainment, and producing his first record, The Slim Shady LP, so he’s regularly credited as the man who brought Slim Shady to the masses.
Since then, Dr Dre and Eminem have gone on to work on a number of tracks together, including ‘Forgot About Dre’, ‘Guilty Conscience’, ‘I Need A Doctor’, and ‘Say What You Say’.
Since their rise to the top, Dr Dre has come out and admitted that, before he met Eminem face to face, he had no clue that the rapper was white.
Speaking at Eminem’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last year, Dr Dre recalled: “Over 20 years ago, Jimmy Lovine played a demo tape for me from a guy who called himself Eminem.
“The first thing I said when I heard it was, ‘What the f**k did he just say?’ I loved it so much, I couldn’t stop listening to it.
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“A few days later, Jimmy called me and said, ‘Hey Dre, you know that’s a white guy, right?’ That completely f**ked me up… it didn’t even cross my mind.”
He went on: “Each of us was exactly what the other one needed – and I was willing to bet my entire career on it.”
After hearing Eminem lay down a hook like ‘My Name Is’, though, how could you not?
And it’d be fair to say that Dr Dre’s bet most definitely paid off.
