Dr. Dre

Released: December 15, 1992

Featuring: Daz Dillinger Snoop Dogg

Songwriter: The D.O.C. Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg

Producer: Daz Dillinger Dr. Dre

[Intro]
—so, all of you Africans
All of you Africans that know how to do things that's working for other people
Y'all need to open your own business
Save your money, quit paying motherfuckers for jheri curls
Quit paying motherfuckers for perms
Save your money, start your own business
So these little Africans will have wa— places to work
This is our future right here!
This our future right here! (Right there)
This— (The new generation is goin'! The new generation!)
Hey, I'ma tell you right now
If— If— If I have to die today, for this little African right here to have a future, I'm a dead motherfucker! (You right! Respect!)

[Verse 1: Snoop Dogg]
Wake up, jumped out my bed
I'm in a two man cell with my homie Lil 1/2 Dead
Murder was the case that they gave me
Dear God, I wonder, can you save me?
I'm only eighteen, so I'm a young buck
It's a riot, if I don't scrap, I'm getting stuck
But that's the life of a G, I guess
Eses way deep, shanked two in the chest
Best run 'cause brothers is dropping quicker
Uh, too late, damn, down goes another nigga
Bouncing off the walls, throwing them dogs
Getting that rep as a young hog
It ain't nothing like the street life
You better be strapped with your shank, 'cause ain't no fist fight
So I guess I gots to handle mine
Since I did the crime, I gots to do my time

[Chorus: Daz Dillinger & Donny Hathaway]
Them say me grow up to be nothing
Look at me now and tell me what you see
I am what I am, it's only me
Little ghetto boy
Playing in the ghetto street
Whatcha gonna do when you grow up
And have to face responsibility?

[Verse 2: Dr. Dre]
Now I'm holding a dub, sitting on swoll
27 years old, up for parole, stroll
I'm back up on my feet with my mind on the money
That I'll be making soon as I touch the streets
Things done changed on this side
Remember they used to thump, but now they blast, right
But it ain't no thang to me
'Cause now I'm what they call a loced-assed OG
The little homies from the hood with grip
Are the ones I get with 'cause I'm down to set trip
Nigga, I'm bigger than you, so what you wanna do?
Didn't know he had a twenty-two
Straight sitting behind his back
I grabbed his pockets and then I heard six caps
I fell to the ground with blood on my hands
I didn't understand
How a nigga so young could bust a cap
I used to be the same way back
I guess that's what I get (For what?)
For trying to jack the little homies for they grip

[Chorus: Daz Dillinger & Donny Hathaway]
Me learn many things from what me see from the street
The outcome of what I've come to be
Little ghetto boy
Playing in the ghetto street
Whatcha gonna do when you grow up
And have to face responsibility?

[Verse 3: Snoop Dogg]
Something for the real OGs to get with
Some facts, made our made, now you runnin' but don't play
Like every single day, really, though
You know me, I'm the smooth macadamien, gaming them for my homie
No needing being calm if you pack right
And learning just enough to keep your sack right
Late nights, I wonder what they getting for?
Early morning on the corners, what they hitting for?
Seven young G's put they serve down
In a G ride, east side's where they swerve now
Not thinking about what's really going on
Got crept on, stepped on, now they gone
I spent four years in the county with nothing but convicts around me
But now I'm back at the Pound
And we expose ways for the youth to survive
Some think it's wrong but we tend to think it's right
So make all them ends you can make
'Cause when you're broke, you break, check it out
So ain't no need for your mama to trip
'Cause you's a hustlin'-ass youngsta, clocking your grip

[Chorus: Daz Dillinger & Donny Hathaway]
Now me finally grown as you can see, still an OG
For life and always remain to be
A little ghetto boy
Playing in the ghetto street
Whatcha gonna do when you grow up
And have to face responsibility?

Dr. Dre is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, producer, and mogul who is considered by many to be the greatest hip-hop producer of all time. He raised the profile of West Coast rap after he helped pioneer the sounds of gangsta rap in the 1980s with N.W.A and helped popularize the G-Funk sound in the 1990s with his label Death Row Records before changing his sound again after he established Aftermath Entertainment. Dre assisted in the rise of hip-hop stars Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, and Kendrick Lamar, while producing hits for many other artists. He also became a mogul with his Beats empire and partnership with Apple, helping him become one of the richest musicians in the business.

Born Andre Romelle Young in Compton, California on February 18, 1965, Dr. Dre started as a club and radio DJ. In 1984, he joined the music group World Class Wreckin Cru, which featured producer DJ Yella. Dre’s cousin Sir Jinx introduced him to a rapper named Ice Cube, and they later connected with Compton hustler Eazy-E, rapper MC Ren and producer Arabian Prince to form the gangsta rap group N.W.A. They released their seminal debut album Straight Outta Compton in 1988 and helped put the West Coast on the hip-hop map.

Financial issues led to the demise of N.W.A and caused Dre to form Death Row Records along with The D.O.C. and Suge Knight. Dre released his classic solo debut album The Chronic in 1992 and further helped the West Coast dominate the sound of hip-hop. Due to disagreements with Suge Knight, Dre left Death Row in 1996 and formed Aftermath Entertainment. He released his classic sophomore album 2001 in 1999 and later released multi-platinum albums from Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, and Kendrick Lamar. In 2002, Dre won a Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

more tracks from the album

The Chronic Re-Lit & From The Vault

From the albums

The Chronic (1992)
Death Row Greatest Hits (1996)
The Chronic Re-Lit & From The Vault (2009)

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