Dr. Dre’s Former Protégé Brian “Hittman” Bailey Says He Was Initially Pissed Jay Z Wrote “Still D.R.E.”

When Hittman signed to Aftermath Entertainment, he was known as Dr. Dre's protege. The super producer and rapper spoke of Hittman's promise and made it his duty to put his talents to work on his chart-topping album 2001 (also referred to as The Chronic 2001). Hittman wrote several songs for the project including "F**k You," "The Next Episode," "Xxplosive," and more. After proving himself on the album, fans assumed it would only be a matter of time until he produced a full body of work through Aftermath, but Hittman surprisingly parted ways from the record label before that day arrived. Hittman recently chopped it up with Not Mad, to discuss his life at Aftermath and revealed he was angry Dre got east coast rapper Jay Z to write "Still D.R.E." for 2001.

"Yeah. And I was pretty damn angry about that when it first went down," said Hittman. "I was like “between me, Em, The D.O.C. and countless other in-house pens on deck, we ain’t capable of comin’ with somethin’ for this?” Then I heard that they paid Jay like a hundred grand to write it, wow! Not that I have anything against Jay Z, he’s one of the dopest of all time. But it was just the principle of havin’ an East Coast guy pen Dre the anthem for his comeback record. That was baffling to me."

Hittman, who's real name is Brian Bailey, went on to say Dre's move to reach out to someone on the opposite side of the country ultimately worked in favor of the album because the single and the project in itself became a huge success. With Dre's reputation of being a perfectionist, it's unlikely he would make an executive move without being 100% sure of the outcome anyway.

For more details of Hittman's life at Aftermath and the making of 2001, check out part one and two of the interview.

[Not Mad]