Dr. Dre Says He's 'Working Really Hard' to Not Let Decisions From His Twenties Define Him

Dr. Dre doesn’t want to be defined by the mistakes he made in his twenties, especially being that he's now in his sixties.

The legendary producer, rapper and business mogul was the first guest on Ice Cube and Mike Epps' new podcast Listen and Laugh, and acknowledged on the Friday (November 6) episode that there are a "few mistakes" he'd undo if given the chance.

"Seriously, throughout my life and especially when I've gotten older, [I’ve been] working really hard on not letting the decisions I made in my twenties define who I am as a man moving forward," Dre said around the 56-minute mark of the video below.

"And it's crazy trying to get around and get over the mistakes you made and especially the way people look at you," he continued. "So people still could be looking at me about the the mistakes I made in my twenties. Although I've been three different n***as since then."

The former N.W.A. member added that detractors will pull stories from his twenties to "hate on" him, although it's been four decades since then.

While Dre didn't specify the mistakes he was referring to, he has been accused of domestic violence by multiple women in the past, including his ex-wife, Nicole Young, singer Michel'le, whom he dated and shares a child with, and journalist Dee Barnes.

Barnes has frequently lambasted Dr. Dre on social media and interviews years after claiming that the musician assaulted her during a 1991 party in Hollywood. The incident was reportedly in response to an interview she did with Ice Cube on an episode of former show Pump It Up! after his departure from N.W.A.

In a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Barnes criticized the Recording Academy for naming the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award after the musician.

"Everybody wants to separate the art from the artist, and sometimes that's just not possible. Most people without a knowledge of [Dr. Dre's] history are going to say, 'Oh, he must deserve that. He must be such a great person for them to put an award in his name.' But they named this award after an abuser," she told the publication.

In 2105, Dr. Dre issued an apology to the women he's allegedly harmed in a statement written in the New York Times, writing "I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives."