Dr. Dre Almost Pulled Out Of Super Bowl Halftime Show Performance

Jay-Z and Nas were entangled in a bitter feud that lasted for years, in the late ’90s and early ’00s. They continued to trade insults with each other up until 2018. Recently, the two rappers from New York worked together to persuade Dr. Dre to remain in the Super Bowl performance.

Dr. Dre revealed that he had doubts about performing at Super Bowl LVI until he spoke with JAY-Z and Nas. This went down during a recent interview on fitness entrepreneur Dolvett Quince’s Workout the Doubt podcast. The hip-hop mogul said he was unsure about the February halftime show due to concerns about looking like a “sellout.”

The NFL has come under fire for evicting Colin Kaepernick from the league after he took a knee during the National Anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality in the United States. However, after speaking with Hov and Esco, Dre was convinced that putting on the show was a good idea.

“I was absolutely concerned about that. I actually called a couple of close friends and said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna pull out. I’m not gonna do the show. Because I don’t know if I want that smoke. I don’t know if I want the backlash after doing the show and potentially looking like a f*cking sellout or something like that.’”

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“I got on the phone with Nas. He called me up and was like, ‘Yo bro’ — you know, Nas has that voice — ‘Yo bro, you gotta do it. You gotta do this. It’s gonna be so powerful for f*cking Hip Hop, for the culture, for you, for L.A. and the whole nine.’”

“We were on the phone for like 10 minutes and he talked me into doing it. Nas and JAY-Z were big reasons why I decided to do the show.”

Dr. Dre shared the stage with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson. Paak, soundtracking the Los Angeles Rams’ 32-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium. Classics like “The Next Episode,” “Still D.R.E.,” and 2Pac’s “California Love” were performed by the all-star ensemble. The performance was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards in 2022.

Snoop previously revealed that JAY-Z told the NFL that if Dre and co. didn’t perform at the Super Bowl, he’d step down as the league’s live music entertainment strategist. “We love each other,” Snoop told TIDAL in March. N.O.R.E. claimed in April that Eminem told Hov that he refused to perform at the Super Bowl without 50 Cent.

“Like, not secretly, like publicly, we love each other. It is what it is, so it’s like for him to go to bat for us and tell the NFL, ‘Fu*k that. They perform or I quit,’ that was the most gangster sh*t out of everything. Then with attire and kneeling and all this … you can’t wear your gang bang sh*t? JAY-Z hit me like, ‘Wear what the f*ck you want to wear. Peace to the Gods.’”

“I said to JAY-Z, I have to ask this straight up. ‘Who is gonna perform at the NFL?’ and he said to me—and I’m sorry for everybody who don’t understand—and he said, ‘The white guy called for 50 Cent.’ I said, ‘Who is the white guy? Jimmy Iovine?’ And he said, ‘No, Eminem called directly for Fifty and he said I can’t do it if I can’t bring 50 with me.’ That’s spiritual.”

50 Cent responded to the claim at the time, saying: “Why would he have to say that should be the question?NORE Your big homie is running around trying to look like a gay painter.”

At one point, no one could have imagined JAY-Z paying homage to his bitter rival Nas. Hov unveiled his newest TIDAL-exclusive playlist, a 24-track homage to Nas after the two had amicably put a storied rap beef to rest. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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