Hits and impact speak for themselves. The acts who were named - Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, The D.O.C. - hip-hop wouldn't be the same without them. Period.

Even when Dr. Dre isn't making the beats, his fingerprints are all over everything he does. Mixing/mastering, sequencing, etc. - you can always tell what a Dre product is, whether he's the one on the MPC or not. And almost always, that stamp is quality.

Anyone who needs examples, take a look at 50 Cent's career. Dr. Dre executive produced "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'" and "The Massacre," and you see how different those albums turned out compared to his other works. And Dre didn't make all of the beats on those records, either. But his impact is very clear on everything that he puts his hands on.

If you need an example of the influence on Kendrick's new album, turn it on in the car and turn on Section.80 in the car. He's helped make GKMC bumpable, and I think that's part of what can make this album successful.

Come to think of it, think of the quality of most of those artists' albums with Dre's direction, and compare it to the quality of their albums without Dre's direction. The distinction is undeniable; he understands how to extract the most out of artists he works with and help them achieve or fine tune their vision.

And is there anyone else who has had gamechangers in different eras the way he has? He's got a different leader for different eras in rap.