Andre Young, born February 18, 1965, in Compton, was the West Coast’s most important producer in 1995: co-founder of N.W.A, co-founder of Death Row, architect of The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle. When Tupac arrived at Death Row in October 1995, two of the biggest names in the genre came together. Six months later they were adversaries.
“California Love”
The main result of their collaboration was California Love (with Roger Troutman): Dre produced it, rapped the first verse and shot the Mad Max-style apocalyptic video with Tupac. As a double A-side with How Do U Want It, the single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996, the first No. 1 for both of them. On All Eyez on Me Dre also produced Can’t C Me and the remix of California Love. It is sometimes said that Dre first wanted the song for his own album and Suge Knight decided to put it on Tupac’s double album instead. There is no evidence for this.
The split
In March 1996 Dre left Death Row and founded Aftermath Entertainment, also partnered with Interscope. Reports cited a contract dispute and Dre’s growing unease with Suge Knight’s leadership and the violence around the label. Dre deliberately stayed out of the East-West conflict.
To Tupac and Knight his exit was betrayal. In the Death Row camp it was said, among other things, that Dre had failed to stand by Snoop Dogg during his murder trial; it is often told that way. Tupac attacked him in several songs: Against All Odds, To Live & Die in L.A. and above all Toss It Up. Its first version deliberately imitated Dre’s production for Blackstreet’s hit No Diggity; after a cease-and-desist demand from Blackstreet’s Teddy Riley the beat had to be replaced, and a new verse aimed at Dre was added in the process. Some of the attacks traded in homophobic insinuations, typical of the diss culture of the time and noted here only as fact.
Dre’s stance
Dr. Dre never answered Tupac with a diss track. He later expressed respect for Tupac and regret that they fell out before Tupac’s death. Lines are often quoted from a later song in which Dre says, in essence, that it was a shame they fell out before Tupac passed; the exact source could not be verified.
Dre’s stance was clearest in April 2012: at the Coachella festival he and Snoop Dogg shared the stage with a digital projection of Tupac, a performance reported around the world. From Dre’s side, one might say, the conflict never really existed. More on the label under Death Row Records.