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Dr. Dre Says Doctors Thought He Was Going to Die from Brain Aneurysm: “They Thought I Was Outta Here”

Dr. Dre has revealed that doctors were preparing his family for the worst after he suffered from a brain aneurysm back in January 2021. During an appearance on fitness entrepreneur Dolvett Quince’s Workout the Doubt podcast, the hip-hop mogul explained how his loved ones were invited to the hospital because doctors thought he might not make it.

“I’m at Cedars Sinai hospital and they weren’t allowing anybody to come up, meaning visitors or family or anything like that, because of COVID, but they allowed my family to come in,” Dre remembered. “I found out later, they called them up so they could say their last goodbyes because they thought I was outta here.”

At the time, Dre had “no idea” his medical condition was “that serious.” He continued by describing the extensive tests that were administered on the hour while he was in intensive care.

“I’m in the ICU for two weeks,” he said. “Because of what was going on in my brain, they had to wake me up every hour on the hour for two weeks to do these tests. Basically looking like sobriety tests, like touch your nose, rub your heel on your calf and all that shit.”

Dre was rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center on January 4th, 2021 after suffering from the brain aneurysm. Reports at the time said he was “stable and lucid,” and the artist followed up with an Instagram post saying he was “doing great.”

He later opened up about the aneurysm in a June 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Times, saying it was caused by high blood pressure, but that he was “feeling fantastic.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, Dre said he had doubts about performing at Super Bowl LVI until getting reassurance from JAY-Z and Nas. “We were on the phone for like 10 minutes and he talked me into doing it,” Dre said about a conversation with the latter artist. “Nas and JAY-Z were big reasons why I decided to do the show.”

Following the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Dre’s 1999 album 2001 rose to the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 for the first time since 2000.