You grew up in Red Hook—

** **I came from Brooklyn. My nickname was Moochie. My father was incredible, a longshoreman; my mother was a secretary. Very "go to work" people. That’s how I saw things. I loved music, and I wanted to do something different.

When did you get turned on to music?

** **Very simple: "She Loves You." Boom! I was on the floor of my mother’s house, looking at an RCA television, waiting for the Beatles to come on.

You never thought of music before that?

** **No. It was like getting burnt. You remember it.

John Lennon once asked you why you got into music. And you lied to him.

** **Well, yeah, because you’ve got a Beatle asking you. You know, I’m 20 years old, and he goes, "Why are you doing this?" I said, "I saw you guys on Ed Sullivan; I bought a guitar, and I wanted to be in a band. And I realized I couldn’t be in a band, so I wanted to get as close to it as I can." I said, "John, why’d you get into it?" He said, "To get laid." I said, "Fuck, that’s why I got into it!"

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Which is interesting, because you gained success with these artists by being brutally honest with them. The power of the truth, right?

** **Every day. Springsteen and Patti [Smith] were so uncompromising. They were going for greatness. And in the studio, remember: The truth is attached to something. I was always able to care about their music as much as they did. When I was in there with them, there was nothing else I gave a shit about in life. Nothing. Not even myself.

See, I’m a sponge. I can’t learn in school, but I can learn from somebody who I think is cool and great. I have a gift: I’m very lucky to be able to spot when a person is special. I’m good at casting my life, you know?

How did you meet Dre?

** **Him and Suge [Knight, then CEO of Death Row Records] came in, and they brought The Chronic. I’d just come out of Rattle and Hum with U2. I knew hip-hop was going around, but I had no idea what it was. And then Dre walked in, and I said, "I don’t know hip-hop, but I know my speakers. Who engineered it?" Dre said, "I did." When they told me the story of how they made the record, you might as well make a record falling out of a building. They were sneaking into studios; the government was after them; there were lawsuits, one RICO case, all on a bunch of guys who had no money and were making an album. I said, "Wow. If you can do it under those circumstances, let’s go."