Kaytranada Recounts Once Turning Down A Meeting With Dr. Dre

Kaytranada details "Bubba," and turning down a meeting with Dr. Dre once upon a time in a new interview.

BYAron A.
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One of Kaytranada's biggest regrets, he says, is turning down a meeting with Dr. Dre. In a recent profile with GQ, Kaytranada, a few months removed from his new project Bubba, detailed the early years of his career when he first began to pop in 2013. At the time, he was getting a lot of people who reached out to him for production or a simple meeting. However, many of those artists, he felt, wouldn't be a good meeting. 

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"There's a lot of artists that wouldn’t have made sense. A lot of pop artists. There's a lot of artists that I used to love their music, but I don't think, like, today it would make sense if I collaborated with them. Maybe I was trippin'," he explained. When asked for a specific example of an artist he turned down meeting, he revealed that he was once offered an opportunity to sit down with Dr. Dre.

"Dr. Dre wanted to meet me and play beats and, I didn't think I had the beats to play, and I was just like, 'You know what? Nevermind. Maybe next time." And I kind of regret it today," he said.

However, maybe the Dr. Dre collaboration wouldn't have worked out in the way he would've liked. He explained that because he became accustomed to working on music alone in his bedroom, there needs to be established chemistry before he gets into the booth with anyone. 

"I've always been this loner guy. And I never liked being on teams. That's why I have a lot of problems collaborating with [other] producers, personally," he said. "If that person happens to be my friend, it would be much easier! It would be fun and exciting! The session would be perfect. But like people I don't know? I'm gonna be very shy. It will take a while for me to open up. But I'm doing my best to fake that, so it happens."


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About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.