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Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Image

Dr. Dre Credits JAY-Z & Nas For Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show

While on podcast Workout the Doubt, Dr. Dre credited JAY-Z and Nas for convincing him to go through with performing at Super Bowl LVI.

It looks like Dr. Dre almost didn't go through with performing at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show before JAY-Z and Nas came to the rescue. While recently visiting Workout the Doubt hosted by fitness mogul Dolvett Quince, Dre, whose real name is Andre Romelle Young, spoke about nearly pulling out of the performance due to the NFL's indifference towards racial inequality and police brutality.

“I was absolutely concerned about that,” Dre admitted on the podcast. “I actually called a couple of close friends and said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna pull out. I’m not gonna do the show. Because I don’t know if I want that smoke. I don’t know if I want the backlash after doing the show and potentially looking like a fucking sellout or something like that.’

Two of those close friends were Nas and JAY-Z, who spoke with Young and assured him that performing with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak during the halftime show would be a historical feat.

"I got on the phone with Nas. He called me up and was like, ‘Yo bro’ — you know, Nas has that voice — ‘Yo bro, you gotta do it. You gotta do this. It’s gonna be so powerful for fucking hip-hop, for the culture, for you, for LA and the whole nine.'”

He continued, “We were on the phone for like 10 minutes and he talked me into doing it. Nas and JAY-Z were big reasons why I decided to do the show.”

After the halftime performance at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on February 13, the Los Angeles Rams won a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The halftime show has since received five nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special, and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special.

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