Dr. Dre Criticizes Old Rappers Hating on New Hip-Hop – PEOPLE

Dr. Dre has a message for people hating on young rappers: don’t.

In a candid chat with Kevin Hart on a recent episode of the comedian’s Peacock series Hart to Heart, the conversation arrived at the artistry and “state of hip-hop today” and Dre, 58, was more than ready to give his two cents.

When Hart, 44, asked the legendary producer about “old heads,” or stuck-in-their-ways rappers who are not supportive of their successors, Dre responded with some choice words: “F— that.”

“Let me tell you something,” he elaborated. “Hip-hop is what it is. Anybody that’s talking about the state of hip-hop right now and talking about it from a negative place sounds like somebody’s f—ing grandfather.”

“You know what I’m saying?” he asked Hart. “This is just what it is. Hip-hop is evolving.”

He also offered up some simple advice for haters of today’s hip-hop: “If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.”

Despite his fervent support of young rappers, however, Dre told the Hart to Heart host that he does not necessarily tune into new hip-hop. “I don’t listen to a lot of that s—,” he told the Ride Along star. “But I’m not hating on it. I’m never gonna hate on it.”

The “Still D.R.E” musician went on to acknowledge the accessibility of the genre — which he said is very different from when he was an up-and-coming artist — saying that young rappers “have everything at their fingertips right now.”

“But you can’t be mad at that,” he said, once again adding that it just “is what it is.”

The Death Row rapper also offered up a call to action.

“If you don’t like it, motherf—er, do something about it,” he said. “If you don’t like what’s happening right now, are you f—ing strong enough or talented enough to do something new to change it, to do something that you like?

“Other than that, shut the f— up. That’s it. Stop hating.”

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In the same episode, the producer commented on why he turned down working with some of his industry “heroes,” including Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder.

“They just asked me to work with them and I was just like, ‘What the f— am I going to do with them?’” Dre told host Hart.

“My entire life and career has been dealing with and working with new artists. That’s what I like,” Dre said, per BET. “It’s a ball of clay when they walk in the room. You can just form it and do what you want. That’s what I want. Everybody else, especially my heroes, they’re coming in and there’s a set plan as to how the s— should sound. I can’t explore.”

He added, “I like the idea of what I grew up listening to [them], and I want to keep it like that. I don’t want to f— up that idea and that look.”