Dr. Dre Contract in GTA Online: Payout, How to Start, and Walkthrough

Quick facts

How to unlock The Contract

Here is how to start the Dr. Dre Contract in GTA Online, step by step:

1. Buy an Agency. Any of the four locations works:

1. Register as a VIP, CEO, or MC President, then visit the Agency and sit through the intro cutscene.

2. Complete a Security Contract from your desk computer. Sources disagree on whether the VIP Contract appears after one completed Security Contract or two. Run two and you are covered.

3. Wait for Franklin's call, then meet him, DJ Pooh, and Dr. Dre at the Los Santos Golf Club. That meeting is the first mission, On Course.

No Agency upgrade is required to start The Contract. The Armory (GTA$ 720,000) and Vehicle Workshop (GTA$ 800,000) are optional quality-of-life purchases, not gates.

How much The Contract pays

The finale, Don't F**k With Dre, pays the leader GTA$ 900,000. Before the update of July 14, 2026 it paid GTA$ 1,000,000, so ignore any older figure you see quoted.

The weekly first-clear bonus is the number worth planning around. If the host has not yet completed the finale in the current weekly period, rewards increase for everyone on the mission, and the leader's Contract pay becomes GTA$ 1,099,800 (about 1.22 times the standard amount). This is not a host-only bonus: associates on the mission earn their own increased pay too, separate from the leader's lump sum. The weekly period resets on Thursday alongside everything else on the weekly checklist, so one clear per week is the efficient rhythm.

The rest of the money breaks down like this:

• Missions 1–12 pay variable cash and RP depending on how long you take.

• The leader earns a one-time GTA$ 100,000 award for each of the three Data Leaks recovered, and further one-time awards exist across the chain on a first playthrough.

• Associates earn separate mission pay (around GTA$ 50,000 on the finale before the 2026 rebalance).

Run once per week for the bonus and The Contract holds its own against the options in our solo money making guide, especially since it has no setup costs once you own the Agency.

All 13 missions in order

The Contract runs 13 missions. The three Leak strands can be played in any order, but the missions inside each strand are fixed, and each strand's finale carries the strand's name.

Between missions you usually need to step outside the Agency to trigger a phone call, then head back to your desk computer to launch the next one. Jump straight to any strand: Nightlife, High Society, or South Central.

Setup missions: On Course and Data Recovery

The two setup missions only have to be completed once. After your first full playthrough they move to the Archive tab on the Agency computer, still playable for fun but no longer required, and replays start straight at the three Leak strands.

On Course

On Course is mostly cutscenes and supports 1–2 players.

• Head to Franklin's marker at the Los Santos Golf Club and watch the long intro scene with Dre and DJ Pooh.

• You will end up in a golf cart chasing two runners. Ram them until the intimidation meter in the bottom right fills; take your time, they keep circling.

• Once both are intimidated, follow the second one to the pier for a short beatdown. Mission complete.

Franklin calls a minute or two later. Meet him at the Agency for a cutscene, and the VIP Contract appears on your desk computer.

Data Recovery

Launch Data Recovery from the desk computer.

• You start in a helicopter. Land on the skyscraper marked with the yellow dot.

• Inside, the communications room is in the far left corner. Blow the door with a grenade, access the computer, and hold the doorway against enemies while the stall meter fills.

• When it maxes out, find the hard drive in one of the wall cabinets (its spot is random each run).

• Exit the building and lose the cops. Flying off the roof works if you can reach the helicopter; parachuting down and ducking into cover or the sewers is often easier.

• Return to the Agency to finish. Step outside afterward to trigger Franklin's call, then check the computer: all three Leak strands are now available.

You have to complete all three strands, and the order is entirely up to you.

The three Data Leak strands

Each strand recovers one of the three Data Leaks, and the leader banks a one-time GTA$ 100,000 award per leak recovered. Difficulty is uneven: Nightlife is straightforward shooting, High Society ends with the hardest fight in the whole Contract, and South Central is pure volume of enemies.

The Nightlife Leak

If you are a decent shot, this strand is comfortable. Every stage is some flavor of infiltrating a guarded location; stealth is sometimes an option, shooting always is.

The Nightclub. Drive to the marker and head in loud, or grab the nearby cleaning van (van icon on the radar, only available before you enter) for a stealth angle. Honestly, skip the van: the detour and the police attention cost more than the disguise saves. The tape sits on a desk in the round VIP room upstairs. Grab it, shake the pursuers, and return to the Agency.

The Marina. Find the green speedboat at the marina; starting it aggros the nearby guards. Take it (or your own vehicle) out to the yacht at the yellow marker. Reach the bridge to unlock the main cabin, then search the cabin for evidence (its location is random) and photograph it. Once the photo sends, the mission counts even if you die on the way out.

The Nightlife Leak finale. Head to the casino, park in the garage, and take the elevator to the penthouse. The DJ with the laptop is all the way at the back. When you reach for it he bolts and armed guards pour in, so fight down through the club to the VIP section, take the laptop, and leave through the main gate or the garage.

The High Society Leak

The first two stages are easy. The finale is one of the toughest fights in the entire VIP Contract, so bring your best loadout.

The Country Club. Approach the country club and deal with the keypad flanked by two cameras. Getting spotted only alerts four guards, but you can avoid it entirely by hopping down from the roof next to the keypad. The keypad hack is the same style of minigame you will meet in the Sightseer VIP mission if you want practice. Inside, clear the guards and hack a computer, then head to the new marker and find the limo. Either apprehend the driver directly, or tail the limo while keeping the detection meter low, photograph the entrance at its destination, send the photo, and drive off.

Guest List. The party guests are in the yard behind the house. Security opens fire the moment they see you, and you need them gone anyway, so clear them without ceremony. The lawyer shows as a blue dot once you get close: stun him with the stun gun, load him into the trunk of his own car, and deliver him to the Agency.

The High Society Leak finale. Drive the lawyer's car to the mansion party; act normal and security waves you through. After Franklin's phone call, you are told to trash the party. Hold a defensible corner and let the chaos come to you. Your target eventually flees in a helicopter, and shooting it down is the objective: down it at the party if you can, otherwise chase it by car while guards pursue you. A useful trick: if you bait the pursuers out of their vehicle and steal their car without killing them, replacements stop spawning. If the helicopter escapes, it lands on a yacht in the north; board it, kill the target at the bow, take his phone, and escape (the speedboat is the clean exit).

The South Central Leak

This strand is mostly clearing large numbers of gang members. If that sounds easy to you, it is.

Davis. Meet Vernon at the marker; he trades information for a favor. Drive his car to the next location, clear the red dots with your blue-dot allies, then take the white van. Lose the dealers and the cops, and drop the van at the final marker.

The Ballas. Meet Vernon again and drive his Cavalcade into another firefight. Once the enemies drop, ignore the police and just follow Vernon into the garage; the cutscene inside clears your wanted level. Leave the area in any vehicle to finish.

The South Central Leak finale. A car waits outside the Agency. Follow the two cars that cut in front of you at the marked location, clear the ambush on arrival, then chase the owner of the phone copy when he bolts. He stops among more enemies: drop him, drop his friends, and steal the car. Expect light pursuit on the drive back to the Agency.

Studio Time

With all three leaks recovered, Studio Time triggers from the yellow marker in the Agency hallway between your desk and Franklin's. On paper you are just returning Dre's car to the studio; in practice, it is an ambush.

• Drive to the studio. The game warns you not to damage Dre's car, but there is no real penalty.

• The studio is crawling with gang members, and more arrive by car as you fight. Clear the outside first, then push in.

• Inside, enemies hide in doorways and spawn behind you, so sweep corners and watch your back on the way to the center.

• Once the building is clear you find Dre in the mixing room, and the celebration cutscene rolls.

The finale: Don't F**k With Dre

The final mission is shorter and easier than Studio Time, so relax and enjoy the victory lap.

• Follow the waypoint to the yellow search area, keep to its right edge, and drive to the far corner: your target is in the Mirror Park Railyard, under the big entrance sign.

• A short cutscene plays as he escapes, leaving you to clear the railyard, including the reinforcements that drive up.

• Next stop is the airport. Enter the warehouse through the marked open door and fight through to the large hangar; enemies hide throughout.

• The main target ends up alone on the raised platform near the hangar's center, and he shoots back, so wing him until he drops, then grab him to trigger the cutscene.

• Afterward you drive Dr. Dre back to the country club while he plays you a world premiere track. Roll credits.

Completing the finale pays the leader GTA$ 900,000, or GTA$ 1,099,800 if this was the host's first clear of the weekly period.

Replaying The Contract

The Contract becomes available again roughly one in-game day after you finish it; Franklin messages you that it is ready for replay at your Agency. Start it from the desk computer as before.

On replays, On Course and Data Recovery move to the Archive tab and are no longer required, so a rerun is just the three strands plus Studio Time and the finale. The finale payout is unchanged on replays, and the GTA$ 1,099,800 first-clear figure still applies once per weekly period.

What unlocks after The Contract

Finishing The Contract opens up more than the payout:

• Record A Studios. You gain access to Dre's studio space.

• Dr. Dre's Media Stick. The host receives the third and final of the Media Sticks added with The Contract, delivered to the Agency desk.

• Short Trips. These launched alongside The Contract but have not been gated behind it since the Valentine's Day 2022 event week: all players can start the three strictly two-player missions (Seed Capital, Fire It Up, and OG Kush) from the Pause Menu, earning GTA$ 50,000 each on Normal difficulty. Our Short Trips guide covers all three.

Separately, running Security Contracts for the Agency unlocks Payphone Hits through Franklin: quick assassination jobs paying GTA$ 15,000 base, plus a bonus for meeting the assassination criteria. Together with The Contract's weekly clear, they round out the Agency's income loop.

Dr. Dre Contract FAQ

How do you start the Dr. Dre Contract in GTA Online?
Buy an Agency, register as a VIP, CEO, or MC President, and complete a Security Contract from the desk computer. The Contract unlocks after one or two completed Security Contracts (sources disagree, so budget for two); Franklin then calls you to the Los Santos Golf Club.

Is The Contract a heist?
Players often call it the "Dr. Dre heist," but officially it is a VIP Contract run through the Agency. Unlike a heist, everything launches from your own desk computer.

Is The Contract the same thing as "The Data Leaks"?
Yes. The three middle strands are the Data Leaks, and the whole Contract often appears under that name, for example in weekly event listings.

Can you complete The Contract solo?
Yes. Every mission supports 1–4 players (On Course supports 1–2), and the full chain is comfortably soloable.

How long does The Contract take?
Plan for up to about six hours at a relaxed pace on a first playthrough; experienced players finish in around four. Replays are faster since the two setup missions are skipped.

How much does the Dr. Dre Contract pay?
The finale pays the leader GTA$ 900,000, or GTA$ 1,099,800 on the host's first clear of the weekly period (resets Thursday). Missions 1–12 add variable time-based cash and RP, plus one-time awards including GTA$ 100,000 per Data Leak recovered.

Can you replay The Contract?
Yes, about one in-game day after finishing it, from the Agency computer. The finale payout is unchanged, and the weekly first-clear bonus can be earned once per weekly period.