Dr. Dre Explains How Social Media Is Damaging the Game

Everyday social media becomes more and more ingrained in the music industry, with rap turning as hard into the Instagram curve as any other genre.

Dr. Dre's not sure if that's a good thing.

“I probably would’ve hated social media when I was coming up,” Dre says during an interview with GQ. “There’s a certain mystique that gets destroyed. I like the mystique. I like waiting. I don’t need anybody to know where I am every minute or what I’m doing. Or what I’m about to do ... There’s a certain mystique that came along with music that was entertaining to wait to see what was about to happen."

Dre's business partner and best buddy Jimmy Iovine is also skeptical of social media impact.

“I don’t know the impact of Instagram, it’s not mutual. If Michael Jackson had Instagram, would he have ended up healthier? Who knows. I think what’s happened is, ‘great’ was never behind fame as much as it is now. Fame is what the currency is. Likes or whatever the stuff is. So fame, and if you happen to be great … musicians up until recently, that’s why people put music out every day. That’s marketing," Iovine said. But not all of its great because that’s impossible. I think ‘great’ has pulled back a little bit.”

Jump to 15 minutes to hear Dre and Iovine talk about social media.  But the whole interview is worthwhile.