You can add Devin the Dude’s name to the long list of rappers who owe their careers to Dr. Dre. The Houston rapper recently stopped by the XXL offices to talk about the impact of appearing on the good doctor’s 2001 album.

According to the rap vet, Dre called him during a transitional period in his life, where he was questioning his decision to make MCing his sole source of income. “It helped me out a lot, ’cause I was at a time where I was unsure with what I wanted to do,” he shared with XXLMag.com. “Even though I had group projects with the Odd Squad and the Facemob, and then I had a solo project, The Dude, that was already out. [While] I got good recognition on it…I wasn’t financially stable enough to just leave everything alone and just pursue that career.” [Watch below]

When Devin received a call from the West Coast producer in 1999 to be on the one night stand anthem “Fuck You,” it gave the Dude a sense of purpose. “When Dre came along and asked me to be a part of [2001] it really uplifted me, man, and let me know I was here for some type of reason. He told me he used to listen to our music with the Odd Squad back in the day when him and Snoop was on the first Chronic tour and that just put so much fuel in me, man…I was like, ‘Oh, okay, cool, man. I’ma just try to go at it full throttle.’”

Off the heals of his collaboration with Dre, Devin was able to land guest spots on tracks by De La Soul and UGK, among others, and of course release five more solo albums. His latest disc, Suite #420, is set to hit stores on April 20 through E1 Music. —Elan Mancini with reporting by Anslem Samuel

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