Cannes Film Festival 2013

Watch: Dr. Dre's new video featuring Eminem for 'I Need a Doctor'

Go back in time with the good doctor

<p>Eminem raps to a healing Dr. Dre as Skylar Grey hovers in the new video for "I Need A Doctor."</p>

Eminem raps to a healing Dr. Dre as Skylar Grey hovers in the new video for "I Need A Doctor."

Take a trip down memory lane with Dr. Dre in the stunning clip for “I Need a Doctor.”

The video, directed by Allen Hughes (“Menace II Society,” “Book of Eli”), is an 7:30 minute mini-movie that opens with flashbacks of Dre’s life starting on Feb. 18, 2001 (his 36th birthday). Dre is reflecting back—through excellent archival footage—on his career with N.W.A., the early days of Eminem’s nascent professional life and times with Tupac,  as well as his personal life. He seems trouble, so it’s not clear if the dreadful accident that follows when he drives his Porsche over a cliff is truly an accident.

[More after the jump...]

Flash forward and Eminem enters a room where a spectral image sings the ethereal  “I Need a Doctor” refrain hovers over a comatose Dre, who remains in a vegetative state (granted an extremely cool looking one) following the accident from years before.

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Eminem does the heavy lifting in the video as he raps his heart out, spilling out his life story (as spelled out in the song’s verses) in an effort to bring Dre back to life. There’s also a phalanx of doctors attending to Dre, shifting his lifeless body from a hovering form out of a number sci-fi flicks to water tanks.

He’s revived just in time for his part of the song and begins a long rehabilitative stint that serves as a way to show off just how incredibly buff he is. No atrophying for Dr. Dre.

The video ends, touchingly, with Dr. Dre at the real graveside of Eric Wright, aka Eazy-E, his partner in N.W.A., who dies in 1995 from AIDS. It’s a reminder that, sadly, we can’t bring everything back to life as easily as it happens in the video.

Following its performance on Feb. 13’s Grammy Awards, “I Need a Doctor” has shot back up the Billboard Hot 100, leaping 32-4 this week. It is the second single from Dre’s third and final solo album, “Detox.”

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  • One small correction. While Skylar Grey(a.k.a. Holly Brook) does indeed appear in the video(as Dre's female Doctor), the ghostly image of the girl during the chorus is not her. Not sure why they went that way.

    February 24, 2011 at 8:43PM EST Reply to Comment
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      melinda Good to know! Thanks!

      February 24, 2011 at 9:48PM EST
    • Not a problem. Skylar is a beautiful woman, so I was a bit surprised to see someone else lip syncing to her vocals. I know she's trying to keep somewhat of a low profile until it gets closer to time for her album to be released... maybe that's the reason.

      February 25, 2011 at 12:17PM EST
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    Jamil Sneed

    N.W.A broke up long before 2001, for the record

    February 25, 2011 at 12:18AM EST Reply to Comment
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    j

    make note that it is not a Porsche, its a Ferrari

    February 25, 2011 at 6:31AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      a how is possible not recognize the little horse

      February 26, 2011 at 6:51AM EST
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    name

    I was hoping it would have tracks lik Shh popped off and You ain't Fresh, not The Akon track and I need an Love song.

    February 25, 2011 at 6:16PM EST Reply to Comment

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