'GTA 5' Actor Explains Why Dr. Dre Agreed To Appear In 'GTA Online'

In December, Grand Theft Auto Online dropped its latest DLC, The Contract. Any and all DLCs are guaranteed to drum up some excitement, but The Contract had a secret weapon up its sleeve - Dr. Dre himself.

Set a few years after Grand Theft Auto V, The Contract features Dr. Dre as one of Franklin Clinton’s VIP clients. Players are tasked with locating the star's phone after it's stolen by Johnny Guns’ men - plus Dre provided a banging soundtrack for the DLC. If you’ve ever wondered how someone like Dr. Dre ended up in GTA Online, DJ Pooh has all the answers.

Take a look at Dr. Dre in action in Grand Theft Auto Online's The Contract below.

Known for co-producing and writing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, DJ Pooh also voices the host of West Coast Classics radio station in both Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V. In a recent interview with BET Music (geo-locked), Pooh revealed that Dre initially said he didn’t want to “make things for kids”. Pooh went on to say, “Initially, it was just no but that's the normal answer you get from Dre [...] the answer was initially no because Dre's not a gamer.”

Like any good friend, Pooh educated Dre on the joys of gaming - taking his PlayStation over to Dre’s house where he played through Grand Theft Auto V. Soon after, Dre’s “no” turned into “This s**t is awesome” and we ended up with The Contract.

According to Rockstar North’s head of development Rob Nelson, Rockstar built Dre a recording studio within the motion capture stage. “He needed to be fully integrated so that it made sense, and we wanted to make sure that his music had the impact it deserved," he said. "We asked ourselves, how can we integrate Dre into this experience at every level, and how can we get there in a way that makes it feel believable and fun? And so we literally built the game around him, not just his music." It’s only what a king deserves.

Topics: Grand Theft Auto, GTA Online