Dope Beat collects early mixtapes that Dr. Dre made in the mid-1980s, well before his breakthrough with N.W.A. As a teenager from Compton he mixed the most popular electro and rap records of the day into continuous mixes. These recordings were originally sold on cassette at the Roadium, a large swap meet in Southern California. The collection offers a glimpse of the formative years of a producer who would later help shape West Coast hip-hop. The material carries the raw, danceable style of early electro and electro-hop.