Disney Wanted To Sign Dr. Dre After The Chronic Blew Up

Dr. Dre is the founder and CEO of Beats Electronics and Aftermath Entertainment, but before that the House of Mouse was very interested in him. Dre is renowned for his ever-changing production style and grinding away in the studio. Dr. Dre’s attorney recently revealed that Disney once tried to sign him, but it didn’t come to pass.

Dr. Dre’s attorney, Peter Paterno, was on the most recent edition of the Connection Is Magic podcast. He is also known for representing Pharrell, Metallica, and Guns N’ Roses. Paterno reflected on the period after Dre’s seminal debut album, 1992’s ‘The Chronic.’

“The first album that I was actually involved in was [1999’s] ‘2001,’” Paterno told host Samson Shulman. “So I was working with Dre, and [‘The Chronic’] came out and it blew up… it was Number One.”

Paterno was also the president of Disney’s Hollywood Records at the time. ‘2001’ was eventually released by Interscope Records and Dre’s own label, Aftermath.

“We’d have these music meetings every week with Michael Eisner at Disney, and Michael Eisner came by, and he sees the record’s at Number One, and he goes, ‘I thought you had a relationship with this guy?’”

“I said, ‘I do.’ He said, ‘How come we don’t have this record?’ I go, ‘Well, Michael, let me just read you some of the lyrics… Mtherf*cker, motherf*cker. And you know what this is on the cover? That’s a marijuana leaf’.”

“The deal was $4 million. He goes, ‘We can’t do that!’ I go, ‘That’s why he’s not on the label.’”

“To be fair, Jimmy [Iovine, co-founder of Insterscope] would’ve probably would’ve gotten it anyway ’cause he was smarter than I was. But I didn’t even try. I mean, to be really honest, I had enough problems with hip-hop with Disney.”

Dre revealed in March that he still owns 100% of the rights to ‘The Chronic.’ Despite Snoop Dogg’s February acquisition of Death Row Records, the good doctor still owns his masters. Earlier this month, Dr. Dre disclosed that he made 247 songs during the pandemic, and fans are still waiting for his next album to drop.

We’ll have to wait and see what the great rapper has in store for us next. You can hear the conversation in the video below. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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