Dr. Dre tells Ice Cube only uncreative people will be mad about AI, on the first episode of Listen & Laugh

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube started N.W.A together in the 1980s. On Friday, they couldn’t agree on AI.

Dre was the first guest on Listen & Laugh, the new podcast Ice Cube hosts with Mike Epps, which went up on YouTube on November 6, 2026. About 28 minutes in, Dre told Cube he’s “extremely excited” about AI, and that “the only people that are gonna be mad about the elevation of AI are the people who aren’t that creative,” Complex reports.

What Dr. Dre told Ice Cube about AI on Listen & Laugh

Dre’s pitch was an AI version of the artist, with the artist in charge of it:

“What happens if someone says, ‘I’m gonna pay you, Cube, to be in my movie, right? You don’t even have to be there, but you get to approve what they do. It’s your image and your voice. What’s wrong with that? It’s just a whole new level of creativity.’”

That’s paid, approved use of your image and voice. It’s close to what Denmark’s digital replica bill wants to make the legal default: no AI copy of you without your consent.

Cube tested him. Would Dre mind a producer using AI to copy his mixing style? “I could not be mad at that. I would respect that,” Dre said. And if someone remade “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and it got bigger than the original? “I would love that because that is a part of creativity and innovation, right?” He pointed out that the song wouldn’t exist without sampling, and then closed the point:

“

This is just a whole new level of creativity that we have to get used to. You have to get used to it or you're gonna be left behind.

The embed below starts at the AI conversation, and the full episode is on the Listen and Laugh YouTube channel:

Cube didn’t buy all of it.

Ice Cube’s pushback on AI in the Listen & Laugh debate

Cube told Dre he’s fine with AI in the hands of “creators”. What bothers him is “that somebody who never would think about doing what it takes to make a great record” can now skip the years it takes to learn.

Dre turned that around. “Why do you give a f**k about how we made records opposed to how the new generation is making them?” he asked. “It’s like we don’t wanna take the time to learn a new technology, so we have a problem with the way they’re doing things.” Cube answered that his real problem is computers taking “total control” of the creative process, and the pair agreed to disagree.

That’s a softer line than Cube took 3 years ago. In May 2023, he called AI “demonic” on the Full Send podcast and said he’d sue anyone who made an AI Ice Cube song, The Fader reported.

Dr. Dre’s position on AI before Listen & Laugh

Dre has been on this side of the argument for a while. In August, he told The New York Times he already uses AI in the studio, and the producer adoption numbers show how common that already is.

He’s not alone this week either. Nile Rodgers defended his AI music video on November 5, and my list of famous artists using AI keeps getting longer.