Dr. Dre Made Erick Sermon Never Want To Write Raps Again

Erick Sermon credits Dr. Dre for changing his rap writing style. In a studio session with Dre, Sermon was encouraged to freestyle and collaborate on verses instead of composing. Then, according to Sermon, he began to write rhymes but received a warning from Dr. Dre’s songwriter Smitty, “We do not do that here.” “Dre would say the cadence and then we would all say a rhyme, and then if the rhyme sounds good, then we put that down. So there’s no writing; it’s just 16 bars of whatever your freestyle may be,” E. Dub remembered Smitty telling him. Sermon said working with Dre improved his mental health and that they collaborated on numerous tracks, including one with Snoop Dogg for an upcoming release.

Who or what had the most influence on how you work?