Dr. Dre initially turned down GTA Online because 'I don't make things for kids'

Dr DRE in GTA Online. — (Image credit: Rockstar North)

Late last year GTA Online added The Contract, a bunch of new story content bringing back one of the main GTA 5 protagonists Franklin and debuting new music from the legendary rapper and producer Dr. Dre. This followed a brief Dre cameo in 2021's Cayo Perico update, but according to a new interview with DJ Pooh the whole shebang barely happened: because Dre said "I don't make things for kids."

A recent show on BET with Ural Garrett (which can be seen here) called The Oral History of How Dr. Dre joined 'Grand Theft Auto The Contract' features DJ Pooh explaining further (thanks, Kotaku).

"Initially it was just no. But the answer was initially no because Dre’s not a gamer. He just didn't play any of the games. It's not like he dislikes them or something, he just didn't play them. He was like I don't make things for kids."

You'd think someone so into the chronic would at least have had a bash on Mario Kart, but I suppose the life of a jet-set baller is a busy one. DJ Pooh thought Dre just didn't quite get what GTA had become over the years, and so insisted on bringing over his console so they could check it out.

"He was blown away. He didn't know you could do all this stuff—all the layers of gameplay that people are calling the metaverse, but it's doper than that. He was like, 'This shit is awesome,' and he's seeing me driving around in a lowrider. We out here putting different rims on the car, getting in a shootout, hanging out with my friends, I got a girlfriend–all that!"

It's especially notable to me that DJ Pooh out of nowhere references the metaverse, because it's obviously one of those buzzwords of the moment and GTA Online often gets dragged into these conversations. The difference is that GTA Online is wildly successful, aims only to be GTA Online, but has this incredibly rich layer of options that let players roleplay in in so many different ways. Dr. Dre is one of those artists that has been consistently ahead of the curve, and stayed relevant his entire career. So it's no surprise that, when the he got a glimpse of GTA's potential, he set out to operate.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."