The D.O.C. Recalls Dr. Dre Telling Him Not to Rap After Car Accident Altered His Voice

The D.O.C. says Dr. Dre shared the “hard truth” about the former’s decision to remain in the rap industry following a devastating car accident in the 1980s.

In November 1989, the Dallas native was thrown out of his rear window in a near-fatal car accident on the Ventura Freeway in California. After hitting his face on a tree, D.O.C. underwent 21 hours of surgery, during which a breathing tube scarred his larynx, leading to a permanent injury that altered his voice.

Although D.O.C. wanted to continue his streak in the music industry, following the success of his debut album No One Can Do It Better, it was Dr. Dre that was honest about his changed voice.

The D.O.C. revisited the conversation in a new interview on podcast Life After With David Vobora, as seen around the 17-minute mark of the video below.

“Dre’s my brother on another level. He’s the only guy that’s ever told me, ‘Don’t rap. You don’t sound good. They think you’re the king, you should go out like that,'” D.O.C. recalled. “Imagine the love that it takes to tell somebody something like that. That’s real and he’s always been that backbone for me.”

The D.O.C.’s accident was a pivotal aspect in Dre’s storyline in 2015 music biopic Straight Outta Compton, where the D.O.C. was played by Marlon Yates Jr. D.O.C. began penning for Dre, his former group N.W.A., and Snoop Dogg, who was an early prodigy of the rapper-producer in the 1990s.

“Snoop was so inviting and receptive of what I wanted to give him. I didn’t teach him anything, but I allowed him, through me, to find what he was looking for, because it was always there,” D.O.C. said.

“That was liberating because I got a chance to be what I was supposed to be in my mind through [Snoop] because we share similar traits, very expressive, very funny, extremely charming, very personable, can act, sing, rap, dance, just a talented person.”

In 2023, D.O.C. appeared on CBS Mornings, where he was shown in recording sessions using artificial intelligence through Suno AI to recreate his original voice. Following No One Can Do It Better, he released two more albums, his last being Deuce in 2003.