Two times Grammy winning, multi-platinum music producer Illmind, who’s worked with artists such as 50 Cent, Kanye West, J. Cole, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z and Future, has recently recalled the times when he met Dr. Dre for the first time and played some beats to impress him but it didn’t go the way he expected.
“I met the legendary, the GOAT, Dr. Dre through mutual friend of mine named Tahim. It was 2014 and I’m in LA in the studio. I went to meet Dr. Dre and Tahim at the bar. I walked into the bar and Tahim introduced me to Dre. Dre told me ‘I heard you got fire beats.’ Then we ordered a drink and chatted a little bit. Then Dre turns to me and says ‘I want to hear your beats, lets go to the studio.'” said Illmind
Then he continues: “We leave the bar and we walk in the studio. I plugged my computer and started playing beats. The first beat I played, I’m nodding my head and going crazy. I literally played my favorite beats, in my mind, what were my best beats and I thought Dre would like. I played the first beat, I’m playing the second beat, I’m going crazy. The first time I played beats I was too scared to turn around and look at Dre. After probably the 5th or 6th beat I took a glance and I turned around too look at Dre and literally I see Dre on the phone, sitting down, looking on his phone, bored out of his mind. Not nodding his head. Just super bored and unimpressed. I turned back around and I was like ‘F–K. DRE HATES MY BEATS!’ I played couple more. Then I stopped the music and Dre says ‘yo, beats are cool but it’s nothing I have not heard before.’
“That hit me. My heart sank. I went so confident thinking that he would love my beats. And when he told me that it was nothing he has not heard before that literally changed the way that I think about music and the way I approach music. After that, we had great conversation… Thank you Dre for teaching me and changing my life.” Illmind added.
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