Forgot About Dre

Forgot About Dre

Dr. Dre (Ft. Eminem)

“Forgot About Dre” was released as the second single from Dr. Dre’s 2001 album, and it was his statement to anyone feeling like his production suffered after his escape from Death Row in 1996. During an interview with MTV, Dre spoke about the song’s concept:

‘Forgot About Dre’: The song is basically about the little period of time I went through in between records, and what people out in the street were saying about me, about, you know, how I fell off and how I couldn’t do it anymore, and all this nonsense. So this is just a response to that. That’s all it is. Period.

Eminem not only features on the track, he also wrote almost all of the lyrics, including the majority of Dre’s verses. This is rather obvious given the rapid flow, jam-packed with multisyllabic assonance—a marked departure from Dre’s usual style. Dre talked about how the song came together:

This is actually one of the few times where the lyrics were written before the track. Eminem actually wrote that. He came in and was like, ‘I got this song I wrote for you.’ So, we had the problem of trying to figure out what the track was gonna be to the lyrics, and it was a little bit difficult because I’m doing it that way. But we made it happen.

The single peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Rhythmic Top 40 charts, while also achieving platinum status in the United Kingdom. This track brought in a Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group in 2001 and also won for Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.