Hittman was one of the brightest young stars in hip-hop at the turn of the millennium, with nine featured tracks on Dr. Dre's 2001.
But the California rapper left Aftermath before releasing his heavily anticipated solo debut, and the decision forever changed his course.
Hitt recently sat down with Not Mad to talk about Dre, with whom he is now friends again.
"I probably came back into the mix right around the time he had the prototype for the Beats headphones, I remember because he showed them to me," he said (via HHDX). "So I've been around, just lurking in the shadows. What I can honestly say though is that I know he wants to do his last album for sure. "
Apparently, Dre is pumped about the new material.
"Dre stays in mover and shaker mode," Hittman said. "He ain't tryin' to be stagnant, so he'll poke his head into the studio to hear what you got brewing. He'll say wassup and then he's out of there, like 'I got to hit this movie set' or 'I got to fly up north to meet the people at Apple.'"
All these years later, Hitt is still standing by his choice to be an independent rapper.
"It's funny, because artists would run up on me and be like 'can you give this to Dre?'" Hittman says. "And I'm like 'No, I know you're not gonna believe this - because you think I'm trying to block your opportunity - but independence is better man, it's free."
Independence is great and all, but even Hittman admitted it's a huge burden.
"You don't have the amenities that you've grown accustomed to having during his recording process and all of a sudden your comfort zone is snatched from under you with no real explanation," he said. "You feel slighted and helpless and unable to fend for yourself, well at least that's how I felt."
Check out the full interview below:
