Two key Kendrick Lamar albums aside, Dr. Dre says there’s not much in the recent hip-hop landscape that has left him feeling inspired.
Speaking with Complex for a new cover feature alongside Snoop Dogg, whose Dre-produced Missionary is out now and features everyone from Sting to Eminem, the seven-time Grammy winner and Aftermath founder again underscored his reluctance to wade into the choppy waters of nostalgia when answering a question about fan expectations. Per Dre, he doesn’t listen to “any of the songs I’ve ever made since 1985,” though a hypothetical catalog play-through could happen at the behest of his grandchildren.
“I think I’m making the best shit ever,” Dre told Complex, prompting Snoop to affirm his agreement while also stating that Dre’s older work is also “fucking amazing” in its own right. From there, Dre assessed how he sees the current music industry climate, specifically whether or not he’s finding inspiration in what he sees making the rounds at the moment.
“I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody right now, but I'm not really inspired by what's happening with hip-hop these days,” he explained. “It's not for me. I've always said I'm not going to disrespect it or anything like that, but I haven't heard anything that makes me go fuck, why didn't I do that? I haven't heard that in a long time, which makes my job easy to be honest.”
Naturally, Dre was then asked to pinpoint the last time he was moved to the point of inspiration by another artist’s work, resulting in one hell of a Kendrick shoutout.
“Well, if you're talking about new shit, I would say good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar were the last hip-hop albums that inspired me,” Dre, whose mutual affinity for Kendrick is well-documented, said.
Read the full feature here. For those looking for a physical Missionary experience, Complex Shop has several options available, including an exclusive red picture disc.
