“Detox is the concept Dre had been trying to fully conceptualize for years. He was so serious at one point just after the second Chronic album that he had T-shirts made up…It was the farewell album he would walk off to, the one that might show him graduating from gangsta rap, basically. It made sense, going from The Chronic to Detox , because that’s what Dre had done, basically. The problem was, he didn’t know what to write about. Who wanted to hear about his stable, suburban life?” pgs 144-145
HipHopDX: Detox. You already know my question…
Bruce Williams: People are on Dre about Detox and Dre never really wanted to do Detox. He’s 40-something [editor's note: 43] years old, what’s he going to talk about? He’s gotta relate to these 13 year olds buying records. What is he going to talk about? He can’t come out here saying, "Fuck the police," he can’t keep talking about smoking weed, he’s been there and done all that. Where is there to go now? But it has to be done and he’s going to make sure that shit is right before he puts it out.
DX: Will we have to wait much longer to wait for Detox?
BW: I don’t think so. If it comes out, I’ll be shocked - and I’ll also know that it has to come out.
“…But Rakim was not the rapper he once was. He didn’t even rhyme in the studio with the crew hanging out. Dude was writing only at home. Dre wanted to do tracks in a way that allowed you to feel the camaraderie. Rakim’s a legend, but he was a legend in his day. The chemistry between these two just wasn’t there…” – pg 128
DX: So what exactly happened with the whole Rakim ordeal?
BW: Oh My God album? Every time Dre did an interview, they asked him what emcee he would love to work with and his response was always the same: Rakim. We went through all this stuff trying to get Rakim and finally, Dre got Rakim. And with a title like Oh My God, the public was waiting on some astronomical shit! And they just never meshed together. A few of 50 Cent’s songs on Get Rich Or Die Tryin' were Rakim songs. Like “Back Down” and “Heat;” there were quite a few of them.
I’ll put it to you like this: Rakim is a legend…let a legend be a legend. With all these new emcees and things sometimes the world is not going to appreciate this. We appreciate it because we grew up on it.
DX: What is the deal with Aftermath and the “revolving door” of artists?
BW: Look at Aftermath. Are they a household name? No, they’re not. I can say Aftermath, and people will say, “Who is that?” but when I say Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem then they get an idea. If you say G-Unit [click to read], everybody knows G-Unit. If you say Shady, everyone knows Shady. Aftermath is not a household name because we don’t put out enough stuff.
Everybody’s catering to Dre and he don’t have time to nurture new artists. Why do you think Game had so many problems? Game couldn’t do hooks. But for two years he was hustling by himself.
If you don’t push the acts that you have in your company, then your company will never be made whole. Dre is doing records for everyone else on Interscope and not building his own company up. That contributes to not really being a businessman.
“When that beef between 50 Cent and The Game went public, Al Sharpton called over and asked for a half a million dollars. Otherwise he was going to bring the heat on behalf of 'The Community.' We gave him $250,000. Then we had The Game and 50 make up in public, holding an elaborate press conference.” Pg. 148
DX: In your book you basically say that Al Sharpton hustled you guys for money in order to not go and publicly march about the Game/50 Cent beef.
BW: He said if we didn’t have a million, we marching. It’s that easy. Look at C. Delores Tucker back in the day. They was sitting up there talking all that bullshit when behind closed doors they was trying to start their own label. But that isn’t what they were telling motherfuckers in the street! We got a lot of black leaders that don’t do shit to me. I don’t see what they do. In the [Game vs. 50 Cent] situation, you are going to come and say, "We need ‘X’ amount of money,” whether you are going to give it to charity or not. Why don’t you come and say, “Hey, let’s all of us sit down and figure this out;” don’t come and say, “Give me a half a million dollars or we marching!” That didn’t even get the situation resolved. You seen it. They didn’t even look like they squashed anything.
DX: So the so called squashing of the beef…
BW: The entire thing was orchestrated by Al Sharpton.
DX: Come on…are you serious?
BW: Yeah, they do that shit all the time man! [So-called activists] don’t want nothing but money.
We had to go to New York for this big meeting. Quincy Jones, Colin Powell, dude who runs Black Enterprise magazine [Earl G. Graves, Sr.], one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Puffy. When Death Row was big. They were trying to tell us how to use our power and use our money. Where were you when we were trying to get this money? None of you were trying to get us a record deal, yet, all of you talk shit about us and then you don’t put a foot forward [in helping us]. They try to tell us how to use our money but they weren’t fucking with us before that.
“’You know what?' asked Busta Rhymes after taking in one particularly take, ‘When you’re rappin’, sometimes your shit is just so borderline disrespectful. I mean you really take it there!’
Everyone busted out laughing.
That’s what’s great about The Game. And that’s his problem too. His 2004 album, The Documentary, is the sound of someone struggling to keep up with the talent around him. He didn’t always respect his place in the process…” – pg 140
DX: So back to 50 Cent and Game. How real was this beef?
BW: Game and 50 wasn’t cool with that situation from jump. Jimmy Iovine was the one who was the brainchild of putting Game in G-Unit because that gave G-Unit a bigger presence on the west coast, plus Game had a bigger buzz on the east than the west at the time. So that way Game could ride with G-Unit and vice versa. Just for bigger album sales.
But you gotta understand that Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo were soldiers for 50. Game already had a deal with Aftermath. Game already had his own people. Game and 50 are very similar in their ways, and never really did like each other. But they understood the game. 50 gave Game a few of his songs for Game’s album and those were Game’s biggest hits. [50 Cent] did the hooks. But 50 wanted Game to be a soldier and Game did not want to be a soldier. That’s just the way it was. 50 wanted to be the boss.
You gotta think about the timing of all this. At one time, everyone was talking about Game. 50 was pushing up his album. All the beef stuff was a little orchestration of jealousy.
The video for “This Is How We Do” was supposed to be like this: one side of the street would be Cali and the other side would be New York. 50’s on one side and Game would be on the other. 50 didn’t want to do the video. Reason why? [50 Cent said] “Game wasn’t on my level if people see me and Game doing a video together they will think that he’s on my level.”
DX: Damn…
BW: I felt Dre should have stepped up to the plate on that. He’s the icon, he could have shut that whole thing down. Sometimes you have to take that role. But if you don’t, the beef is going to go where it’s going to go.
DX: So did you ever hear all these so called projects that were supposed to come out that never did?
BW: Did I hear it? Shit, I still got it!
DX: Are there that many songs in the vault?
BW: He has a whole bunch of songs that never made it out. I still have Rakim songs.
DX: What about the rumored Helter Skelter album with Ice Cube?
BW: We didn’t finish the Helter Skelter album. If Dre ever decides to put out the shit that he has in the vault, you’d be like, “Wow!”
DX: So what finally led to your departure from Dre and the industry?
BW: I want our whole crew to make it. Dre was supposed to be the roots of that strong tree and we were supposed to be the branches. Don’t tell me what we’re going to do. Seventeen years went by and nothing materialized. I got three kids and a wife. He didn’t want to hear my mouth anymore so he had me doing stuff for his wife. I started thinking that I was going to be a retired-ass dude who never got to do what he wanted to do. You want to step out on your own but you think about being around Dre for so long and how is the rest of the world going to accept me? I just finally made that decision. My last conversation in Aftermath with Dre was me telling him I had to go to a meeting…I just never came back.
“In hindsight, things have gone down between me and the biz exactly as they are supposed to.
Experience was the salary at both Death Row and Aftermath. My genius friend can be irresponsible and self-absorbed, but the cat can teach a lesson in his own special way.
I’m happy where I am now. I helped make history with my man Dre. And I got to witness the strengths of street knowledge – and its weaknesses. And even if a part of me wishes I could have been there to watch the Doctor struggle through another album-patient, I’m not complaining in the least. It ain’t all bad being the man next to da man.” – pg 164
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