Dr. Dre’s prominent appearance in Grand Theft Auto Online: The Contract almost didn’t happen.
DJ Pooh discussed Dr. Dre’s initial reluctance about a Grand Theft Auto collaboration in an interview with BET. DJ Pooh, who began working with Rockstar Games on 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, said Dr. Dre wasn’t interested in getting involved with the series when first presented with the opportunity.
“Initially it was just no,” DJ Pooh explained. “But that’s the normal answers you get from Dre. I mean, I was surprised I got him to do The Wash [movie], but he had already promised me that so he couldn’t back out. 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.”
DJ Pooh eventually convinced Dr. Dre by explaining everything the game had to offer and playing Grand Theft Auto V at the producer’s Calabasas mansion. Dr. Dre then spoke with Rockstar executives, which led to him releasing music exclusively for GTA and becoming a character in the game.
“He needed to be fully integrated so that it made sense, and we wanted to make sure that his music had the impact it deserved,” Rockstar North’s Head of Development Rob Nelson said. “We asked ourselves, how can we integrate Dre into this experience at every level, and how can we get there in a way that makes it feel believable and fun? And so we literally built the game around him, not just his music.”
GTA Online: The Contract was released in December 2021. The expansion brought back Franklin Clinton, one of the main characters in Grand Theft Auto V, for a story centered around Dr. Dre.
Check out Dr. Dre in The Contract below.