Why Dr. Dre and this congresswoman are beefing over a song

Lawyers for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have promised Dr. Dre the Republican congresswoman will make “no further use” of his Still D.R.E. hit song. According to New York Post, the letter sent to Dr. Dre comes after the veteran rapper and record producer threatened to take legal action against Greene after she used the song in a video she shared on her Twitter account last week. 

The 57-year-old sent the controversial Republican lawmaker a cease-and-desist for using his song without seeking permission. In the video that has since been taken down on Twitter, the Georgia congresswoman is seen walking through congress as the 1999 hit song’s conspicuous piano melody is repeatedly played in the background.

But after she posted the video on Twitter, the award-winning rapper got in touch with the social media platform and demanded that they take it down because of copyright infringement, TMZ reported. Dr. Dre also told the news outlet that he doesn’t license his music to politicians, “especially someone as divisive and hateful as this one.” 

“We are in receipt of your correspondence of January 9, 2023,” Greene’s lawyer wrote in the letter, per Billboard. “On behalf of Congresswoman Greene, please be advised that no further use of Mr. Young’s copyright will be made by a political committee or via social media outlet she controls.”

Greene also responded to Dr. Dre in a statement to TMZ, telling the rapper that while she appreciates “the creative chord progression”, she “would never play” his “words of violence against women and police officers”, and his “glorification of the thug life and drugs.”

After Greene posted the video on Twitter, Dre’s attorney, Howard King, threatened to take legal action against her, saying that the Congresswoman “should be making laws not breaking laws.”

“The United States Copyright Act says a lot of things, but one of the things it says is that you can’t use someone else’s song for your political campaign promotions unless you get permission from the owner of the copyright in the song, a step you failed to take,” King stated in a letter to Greene.