Book Reveals Dr. Dre Nearly Quit Music While Creating Classic Album ‘The Chronic’

Famed music producer Dr. Dre was on the cusp of quitting music while making his classic album The Chronic, according to an excerpt from the book The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness, released on Oct. 3.

According to Rock the Bells, legendary hip-hop recording artist LL Cool J coauthored the new tome, which contains stories from esteemed hip-hop artists who have made their mark over the past 50 years of hip-hop. The book contains anecdotes from MC Lyte, Grandmaster Flash, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, KRS-One, Nas, and many others. One that stands out is the story of Andre Young, aka Dr. Dre, almost giving up his career in the early 1990s due to issues he was facing at that time.

This moment took place while he was just getting started on his solo project The Chronic and was fighting with N.W.A member Eazy-E and his former manager, Jerry Heller. Dre had already exited the famed group, having been the second person to leave after Ice Cube left in a dispute over money. Cube broke out with a successful project, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, and Dre was prepping to become a solo success as well.

“In 1992, I had just bought a new house. Eazy-E and Jerry Heller were trying to starve me out and refused to pay the money they owed me. I was driving on the 101 freeway headed to the studio and, on that drive, I was thinking about quitting. I had been working on music for ‘The Chronic’ for at least a month, and everything I was doing either sounded like what I had already done or not as good as what I had already done. I started second-guessing my ability and whether music was what I was supposed to be doing, but I pushed those doubts aside and persevered,” Dre recalled, according to The Streets Win.

Dre goes on to explain that after that brief moment of wanting to give up, his creative juices started flowing and he went on to create what we as hip-hop fans consider one of the best albums of all time.

“A week later, I started making the best music I had ever made. That moment was crucial to helping me solidify my determination to be a success. It also confirmed that I possessed everything I needed, and all I had to do was stay patient and persistent. If I had listened to that little thing that told me to quit, my entire life would be different now,” he recalled.

Lucky for hip-hop fans and enthusiasts around the world, Dre kept on that path to become one of the most successful music producers and hip-hop entrepreneurs of our time.