OTG Daily News

Ask most people to name the greatest hip-hop producer ever and "Dr. Dre" is the first name out. But Dre himself gave the crown to somebody else. On the premiere of Listen & Laugh with Ice Cube and Mike Epps, Dre said Larry Smith is the greatest hip-hop producer of all time — explaining how Smith inspired an entire generation but never got the recognition he deserved. Dre also gave Sylvia Robinson her flowers for her impact on hip-hop. Smith co-produced Run-DMC's "Run-D.M.C." (1984) and "King of Rock" (1985) with Russell Simmons and produced Whodini's "Escape" (1984) and "Back in Black" (1986). Ecstasy of Whodini once called him "the Quincy Jones of rap," and DJ Premier put him #1 on his own top-5 producers list. Larry Smith died in 2014. Sources: Listen & Laugh premiere (Nov 6, 2026); Wikipedia (Larry Smith production credits).

Dr. Dre is not running from AI — he's running toward it. On the premiere episode of Listen & Laugh, the new podcast from Ice Cube and Mike Epps, Dre said he is "extremely excited" about artificial intelligence: "I love it. I love the potential of it." Dre explained that with music and film, AI can use your image and your voice — with your approval — and "you don't even have to be there." He's already using it to make music himself. And he had a message for the critics: the only people mad about the elevation of AI, he said, are people who "aren't that creative." It's the same stance Dre took in his New York Times interview earlier this year, where he called AI a new tool for creativity — like the drum machine before it — and said the only people who see it as a threat are the ones who have trouble creating. Sources: Listen & Laugh podcast premiere (Nov 6, 2026); New York Times interview (Aug 2026), via Digital Tren...