D.L. Hughley is coming out swinging for Dr. Dre ... telling us Dre's daughter needs to appreciate the fact he "pushed" her to go to USC, and also that her dad can afford to LEGALLY grease the wheel for her.
We got the comedian at LAX, and our photog asked him about Dre deleting his post throwing shade at Lori Loughlin and all the other parents swept up in the college admissions bribery scandal.
D.L. says the rap mogul shouldn't apologize for donating $70 million to the University -- and adds even IF that helped his daughter, Truly Young, get in ... it's the least USC can do!!!
As for Truly saying her dad pushed her to attend SC ... D.L. says Dre's just being a good parent, and Truly has 70 million reasons to be grateful.
D.L.'s an expert on the topic ... his daughter's also at USC, and he's hustling every day -- he was just getting back from a gig -- to pay her tuition. College ain't cheap, even when ya do it all legal and stuff.
You gotta see his take on Dre's fam as a whole -- D.L.'s got a feeling Truly won't be its last Trojan.