"It's aight," Dre said about the state of hip-hop. "There are a lot of artists that I like, I love Wayne, I love Drake, I love the new artist J. Cole. There's some new brothers coming out on my record, Slim the Mobster, he's out of South Central. I think it could be better and hopefully I can do my part to assist in that." (Rap-Up)
Fellow rap producer DJ Premier recently said he felt J. Cole and Drake were taking hip-hop back to its essential form.
"[Drake] brought lyricism back," he said of the Toronto-native. "For a 22-year-old man, he brought lyricism back. When [Gang Starr's] Step In The Arena came out, I was 22-years-old. And I just thought about it, I was like, 'D*mn, I was a youngster.' I wasn't 30, 31. I was 22 and coming with heat. And that's why I like that he's bringing stuff back....J. Cole, I like that he's bringing lyrics back. Everything doesn't have to be super, over-lyrical, but we do pride ourselves on cats that can spit, because [rap music] was always a competition about who got the dopest rhymes." (XXL Mag)