HISTORY OF DR DRE
Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known by his
stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer,
rapper and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of
Aftermath Entertainment and
Beats Electronics. Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on,
Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including
Snoop Dogg,
Eminem,
Xzibit,
50 Cent,
The Game, and
Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of
West Coast G-funk,
a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow,
heavy beats. In 2014, Dr. Dre was ranked as the second richest figure in
the American hip hop scene by
Forbes with a net worth of $550 million;
[4] he is at the top of the 2015
Forbes list, with an estimated pre-tax take of $620 million in 2014.
[5]
Dre began his career as a member of the
World Class Wreckin' Cru and later found fame with the influential
gangsta rap group
N.W.A with
Eazy-E,
Ice Cube,
MC Ren, and
DJ Yella, which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut
The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, led him to become one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993 and to win a
Grammy Award for the single "
Let Me Ride". That same year he produced Death Row labelmate
Snoop Dogg's quadruple platinum debut
Doggystyle.
In 1996, he left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced a compilation album titled
Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996, and released a solo album titled
2001
in 1999. During the 2000s, he focused on production for other artists,
while occasionally contributing vocals to songs. Dr. Dre signed
Eminem and
50 Cent to his record label in 1998 and 2002 respectively, while contributing production on their albums. He has won six
Grammy Awards, including
Producer of the Year. Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as
Set It Off,
The Wash and
Training Day.
Rolling Stone ranked Dre at 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All-Time".
Early life
Andre Romelle Young was born in
Compton, California
on February 18, 1965. He was the first child of Theodore and Verna
Young. Young's middle name, Romelle, is derived from his father's
amateur
R&B singing group, The Romells. Married in 1964, Young's parents separated in 1968 and divorced in 1972.
[6] Verna later married Curtis Crayon. They had three children together, two sons named Jerome and Tyree (both deceased)
[7][8] and daughter Shameka.
[9]
In 1976, Young began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to
gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School.
[10] Verna later married Warren Griffin, whom she met at her new job in Long Beach,
[11]
which added three stepsisters and one stepbrother to the family. His
stepbrother Warren Griffin III, would eventually become rapper
Warren G.
[12] Young attended
Centennial High School in Compton during his freshman year in 1979, but transferred to
Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles due to poor grades. Young attempted to enroll in an apprenticeship program at
Northrop Aviation Company,
but poor grades at school made him ineligible. Thereafter, he focused
on his social life and entertainment for the remainder of his high
school years.
[13]
Young fathered a son, Curtis, born December 15, 1981, with Lisa
Johnson. Curtis Young was brought up by his mother and first met his
father 20 years later, when Curtis became rapper Hood Surgeon.
[14]
Music career
1984–85: World Class Wreckin' Cru
Inspired by the
Grandmaster Flash song "
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel",
he often attended a club called The Eve After Dark to watch many DJs
and rappers performing live. He subsequently became a DJ in the club,
initially under the name "Dr. J", based on the nickname of
Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. At the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member
DJ Yella of
N.W.A.
[15]
Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias
Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as the "Master of
Mixology".
[16] He later joined the musical group
World Class Wreckin' Cru under the independent
Kru-Cut Records in 1984. The group would become stars of the electro-hop scene that dominated early 1980s
West Coast hip hop,
and their first hit "Surgery" would prominently feature Dr. Dre on the
turntables and sell 50,000 copies within the Compton area.
[17] Dr. Dre and DJ Yella also performed mixes for local radio station
KDAY, boosting ratings for its afternoon rush-hour show
The Traffic Jam.
[18] Dr. Dre's earliest recordings were released in 1994 on a compilation titled
Concrete Roots. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the website
Allmusic
described the compiled music, released "several years before Dre
developed a distinctive style", as "surprisingly generic and unengaging"
and "for dedicated fans only".
[19]
His frequent absences from school jeopardized his position as a diver
on his school's swim team. After high school, he attended Chester Adult
School in Compton following his mother's demands for him to get a job
or continue his education. After brief attendance at a radio
broadcasting school, he relocated to the residence of his father and
residence of his grandparents before returning to his mother's house.
[20] He later dropped out of Chester to focus on performing at the Eve's After Dark nightclub.
1986–91: N.W.A and Ruthless Records
In 1986, Dr. Dre met rapper
O'Shea Jackson—nicknamed Ice Cube—who collaborated with Dr. Dre to record songs for
Ruthless Records, a rap record label run by local rapper
Eazy-E.
N.W.A and fellow West Coast rapper
Ice-T
are widely credited as seminal artists of the gangsta rap genre, a
profanity-heavy subgenre of hip hop, replete with gritty depictions of
urban crime and gang lifestyle. Not feeling constricted to racially
charged political issues pioneered by rap artists such as
Public Enemy or
Boogie Down Productions,
N.W.A favored themes and uncompromising lyrics, offering stark
descriptions of violent, inner-city streets. Propelled by the hit "
Fuck tha Police", the group's first full album
Straight Outta Compton became a major success, despite an almost complete absence of radio airplay or major concert tours. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation sent Ruthless Records a warning letter in response to the song's content.
[21]
After Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989 over financial disputes, Dr. Dre produced and performed for much of the group's second album
Efil4zaggin. He also produced tracks for a number of other rap acts on Ruthless Records, including
Above the Law, and
The D.O.C. for his 1989 album
No One Can Do It Better.
[22] In 1991, at a music industry party in Hollywood, he assaulted television host
Dee Barnes of the
Fox television program
Pump it Up,
because he felt dissatisfied with her news report about the feud
between the remaining N.W.A members and Ice Cube. Subsequently, Dr. Dre
was fined $2,500 and given two years' probation and 240 hours of
community service, as well as a spot on an anti-violence
public service announcement on television.
[23][24]
1992–96: The Chronic and Death Row Records
After a dispute with Eazy-E, Dre left the group at the peak of its
popularity in 1991 under the advice of friend, and N.W.A lyricist,
The D.O.C. and his bodyguard at the time,
Suge Knight.
Knight, a notorious strongman and intimidator, was able to have Eazy-E
release Young from his contract and, using Dr. Dre as his flagship
artist, founded
Death Row Records. In 1992 Young released his first single, the
title track to the film
Deep Cover, a collaboration with rapper
Snoop Dogg, whom he met through Warren G.
[21] Dr. Dre's debut solo album was
The Chronic, released under Death Row Records. Young ushered in a new style of rap, both in terms of musical style and lyrical content.
[25]
On the strength of singles such as "
Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", "
Let Me Ride", and "
Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')" (known as "Dre Day" for radio and television play), all of which featured Snoop Dogg as guest vocalist,
The Chronic became a cultural phenomenon, its
G-funk sound dominating much of hip hop music for the early 1990s.
[21] In 1993 the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple platinum,
[26] and Dr. Dre also won the
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for his performance on "
Let Me Ride".
[27] For that year,
Billboard magazine also ranked Dr. Dre as the eighth best-selling musical artist,
The Chronic as the sixth best-selling album, and "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" as the 11th best-selling single.
[28]
Besides working on his own material, Dr. Dre produced Snoop Dogg's debut album
Doggystyle, which became the first debut album for an artist to enter the
Billboard 200 album charts at number one.
[29] In 1994 Dr. Dre produced some songs on the soundtracks to the films
Above the Rim and
Murder Was the Case. He collaborated with fellow N.W.A member Ice Cube for the song "
Natural Born Killaz" in 1995.
[21] For the film
Friday, Dre recorded "
Keep Their Heads Ringin'", which reached number ten on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Rap Singles (now Hot Rap Tracks) charts.
[30]
In 1995, Death Row Records signed rapper
2Pac, and began to position him as their major star: he collaborated with Dr. Dre on the commercially successful single "
California Love", which became both artists' first song to top the
Billboard Hot 100.
[21][31] However, in May 1996 Young left the label amidst a contract dispute and growing concerns that label boss
Suge Knight
was corrupt, financially dishonest and out of control. Later that year,
he formed his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, under the
distribution label for Death Row Records,
Interscope Records.
[21] Subsequently, Death Row Records suffered poor sales by 1997, especially following the death of 2Pac and the
racketeering charges brought against Knight.
[32]
Dr. Dre also appeared on the single "
No Diggity" by
R&B group
Blackstreet
in 1996: it too was a sales success, topping the Hot 100 for four
consecutive weeks, and later won the award for Best R&B Vocal by a
Duo or Group at the
1997 Grammy Awards.
[33]
After hearing it for the first time, several of Dr. Dre's former Death
Row colleagues, including 2Pac, recorded and attempted to release a song
titled "
Toss It Up",
containing numerous insults aimed at Dr. Dre and using a deliberately
similar instrumental to "No Diggity", but were forced to replace the
production after Blackstreet issued the label with a
cease and desist order stopping them from distributing the song.
[34]
1996–98: Move to Aftermath Entertainment
The
Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, released on November 26, 1996, featured songs by Dr. Dre himself, as well as by newly signed
Aftermath Entertainment artists, and a solo track "
Been There, Done That", intended as a symbolic farewell to
gangsta rap.
[35] Despite being classified platinum by the RIAA,
[26] the album was not very popular among music fans.
[21] In October 1996, Dre performed "Been There, Done That" on
Saturday Night Live.
[36] In 1997, Dr. Dre produced several tracks on
The Firm's
The Album;
it was met with largely negative reviews from critics. Rumors began to
abound that Aftermath was facing financial difficulties.
[37] Aftermath Entertainment also faced a
trademark infringement lawsuit by the underground thrash metal band Aftermath.
[38] First Round Knock Out,
a compilation of various tracks produced and performed by Dr. Dre was
also released in 1996, with material ranging from World Class Wreckin'
Cru to N.W.A to Death Row recordings.
[39]
The turning point for Aftermath came in 1998, when Jimmy Iovine, the
head of Aftermath's parent label Interscope, suggested that Dr. Dre sign
Eminem, a rapper from
Detroit. Dre produced three songs and provided vocals for two on Eminem's successful and controversial debut album
The Slim Shady LP, released in 1999.
[40] The Dr. Dre-produced lead single from that album, "
My Name Is", brought Eminem to public attention for the first time, and the success of
The Slim Shady LP – it reached number two on the
Billboard 200 and received general acclaim from critics – revived the label's commercial ambitions and viability.
[40][41][42]
1999–2000: 2001
Dr. Dre's second solo album,
2001, released on November 16, 1999, was considered an ostentatious return to his gangsta rap roots.
[43] It was initially titled
The Chronic 2000 to imply being a sequel to his debut solo effort
The Chronic but was re-titled
2001 after Death Row Records released an unrelated compilation album with the title
Chronic 2000: Still Smokin in May 1999. Other tentative titles included
The Chronic 2001 and
Dr. Dre.
[44] The album featured numerous collaborators, including
Devin the Dude, Hittman, Snoop Dogg,
Xzibit,
Nate Dogg and Eminem.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the website
AllMusic described the sound of the album as "adding ominous
strings, soulful vocals, and
reggae" to Dr. Dre's style.
[43] The album was highly successful, charting at number two on the
Billboard 200 charts
[45] and has since been certified six times platinum,
[26]
validating a recurring theme on the album: Dr. Dre was still a force to
be reckoned with, despite the lack of major releases in the previous
few years. The album included popular hit singles "
Still D.R.E." and "
Forgot About Dre", both of which Dr. Dre performed on NBC's
Saturday Night Live on October 23, 1999.
[46] Dr. Dre won the
Grammy Award for
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2000,
[21] and joined the Up in Smoke Tour with fellow rappers Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube that year as well.
[47]
During the course of
2001's popularity, Dr. Dre was involved in several lawsuits.
Lucasfilm Ltd., the film company behind the
Star Wars film franchise, sued him over the use of the
THX-trademarked "
Deep Note".
[48]
The Fatback Band also sued Dr. Dre over alleged infringement regarding
its song "Backstrokin'" in his song "Let's Get High" from the
2001 album; Dr. Dre was ordered to pay $1.5 million to the band in 2003.
[49] The online music file-sharing company
Napster also settled a lawsuit with him and heavy metal rock band
Metallica in the summer of 2001, agreeing to block access to certain files that artists do not want to have shared on the network.
[50]
2001–08: Focus on production
Following the success of
2001, Dr. Dre focused on producing songs and albums for other artists. He co-produced six tracks on Eminem’s landmark
Marshall Mathers LP, including the Grammy-winning lead single, “
The Real Slim Shady”.
The album itself earned a Grammy and proved to be the fastest-selling
rap album of all time, moving 1.76 million units in its first week
alone.
[51] He produced the single "
Family Affair" by R&B singer
Mary J. Blige for her album
No More Drama in 2001.
[52] He also produced "
Let Me Blow Ya Mind", a duet by rapper
Eve and
No Doubt lead singer
Gwen Stefani[53] and signed R&B singer
Truth Hurts to Aftermath in 2001.
[54] Dr. Dre was the executive producer of Eminem’s 2002 release,
The Eminem Show. He produced three songs on the album, one of which was released as a
single, and he appeared in the award-winning video for “
Without Me”. He also produced
The D.O.C.'s 2003 album
Deuce, where he made a guest appearance on the tracks "Psychic Pymp Hotline", "Gorilla Pympin'" and "Judgment Day".
Another copyright-related lawsuit hit Dr. Dre in the fall of 2002, when
Sa Re Ga Ma, a film and music company based in
Calcutta, India, sued Aftermath Entertainment over an uncredited sample of the
Lata Mangeshkar song "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" on the Aftermath-produced song "Addictive" by singer
Truth Hurts. In February 2003, a judge ruled that Aftermath would have to halt sales of Truth Hurts' album
Truthfully Speaking if the company would not credit Mangeshkar.
[55]
Another successful album on the Aftermath label was
Get Rich or Die Tryin', the 2003 major-label debut album by
Queens, New York-based rapper 50 Cent. Dr. Dre produced or co-produced four tracks on the album, including the hit single "
In da Club", a joint production between Aftermath, Eminem's boutique label
Shady Records and Interscope.
[56] Eminem's fourth album since joining Aftermath,
Encore,
again saw Dre taking on the role of executive producer, and this time
he was more actively involved in the music, producing or co-producing a
total of eight tracks, including three singles. In November 2004, at the
Vibe magazine awards show in Los Angeles, Dr. Dre was attacked
by a fan named Jimmy James Johnson, who was supposedly asking for an
autograph. In the resulting scuffle, then-G-Unit rapper
Young Buck stabbed the man.
[57]
Johnson claimed that Suge Knight, president of Death Row Records, paid
him $5,000 to assault Dre in order to humiliate him before he received
his Lifetime Achievement Award.
[58] Knight immediately went on
CBS's
The Late Late Show to deny involvement and insisted that he supported Dr. Dre and wanted Johnson charged.
[59] In September 2005, Johnson was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to stay away from Dr. Dre until 2008.
[60]
Dr. Dre also produced "
How We Do", a 2005 hit single from rapper
The Game from his album
The Documentary.
[61] For an issue of
Rolling Stone magazine in April 2005, Dr. Dre was ranked 54th out of 100 artists for
Rolling Stone magazine's list "The Immortals: The Greatest Artists of All Time".
Kanye West wrote the summary for Dr. Dre, where he stated Dr. Dre's song "Xplosive" as where he "got (his) whole sound from".
[62]
In November 2006, Dr. Dre began working with
Raekwon on his album
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II.
[63] He also produced tracks for the rap albums
Buck the World by
Young Buck,
[64] Curtis by 50 Cent,
[65] Tha Blue Carpet Treatment by Snoop Dogg,
[66] and
Kingdom Come by Jay-Z.
[67] Dre also appeared on
Timbaland's track "Bounce", from his 2007 solo album,
Timbaland Presents Shock Value alongside,
Missy Elliott, and
Justin Timberlake.
[68] During this period, The D.O.C. stated that Dre had been working with him on his fourth album
Voices through Hot Vessels, which he planned to release after
Detox arrives.
[69][70]
Planned but unreleased albums during Dr. Dre's tenure at Aftermath have included a full-length reunion with Snoop Dogg titled
Breakup to Makeup, an album with fellow former N.W.A member Ice Cube which was to be titled
Heltah Skeltah,
[22] an N.W.A reunion album,
[22] and a joint album with fellow producer
Timbaland titled
Chairmen of the Board.
[71] Other upcoming albums for which he will produce include
The Reformation by Bishop Lamont
[72] and an upcoming album by
Queen Latifah.
[73]
2000–2007: Third studio album
Dr. Dre in 2008
Dr. Dre's third studio album, formerly known as
Detox, is slated to be his final studio album.
[74] Work for the upcoming album dates back to 2001,
[75] where its first version was called "the most advanced rap album ever," by producer
Scott Storch.
[76]
Later that same year, he decided to stop working on the album to focus
on producing for other artists, but then changed his mind; the album had
initially been set for a fall 2005 release.
[77] Producers confirmed to work on the album include
DJ Khalil,
Nottz, Bernard "Focus" Edwards Jr.,
[78] Hi-Tek,
[79] J.R. Rotem,
[80] RZA,
[81] Jay-Z,
[82] Warren G, and
Boi-1da.
[83] Snoop Dogg claimed that
Detox was finished, according to a June 2008 report by
Rolling Stone magazine.
[84] After another delay based on producing other artists' work,
Detox was then scheduled for a 2010 release, coming after 50 Cent's
Before I Self Destruct and Eminem's
Relapse, an album for which Dr. Dre handled the bulk of production duties.
[85][86] In a
Dr Pepper commercial that debuted on May 28, 2009, he premiered the first official snippet of
Detox.
[87][88] 50 Cent and Eminem asserted in an interview on
BET's
106 & Park that Dr. Dre had around a dozen songs finished for
Detox.
[89]
On April 20, 2010, "Under Pressure", featuring
Jay-Z and co-produced with
Scott Storch, was confirmed by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre during an interview at
Fenway Park as the album's first single.
[90][91] The song leaked prior to its intended release in an unmixed, unmastered form without a chorus on June 16, 2010:
[92]
however, critical reaction to the song was lukewarm, and Dr. Dre later
announced in an interview that the song, along with any other previously
leaked tracks from
Detox 's recording process, would not appear on the final version of the album.
[93] Two genuine singles – "
Kush", a collaboration with Snoop Dogg and fellow rapper
Akon, and "
I Need a Doctor" with Eminem and singer
Skylar Grey – were released in the United States during November 2010 and February 2011 respectively:
[94][95] the latter achieved international chart success, reaching number four on the
Billboard Hot 100 and later being certified double platinum by the RIAA and the
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
[26][96]
In a June 2014 interview with RapUpTV,
Marsha Ambrosius
talked about working on Dr. Dre’s third album. She stated that she had
gone to Hawaii before the end of 2013 for a few weeks to work with him
on “so many things” including his upcoming album and a project of her
own among other unspecified projects. Ambrosius also told RapUpTV that
Dr. Dre’s third album is no longer called
Detox, but didn’t reveal the new title.
[97] In a September interview with Shots Fired that same year, Aftermath Entertainment in-house producer
Dawaun Parker
confirmed the title change. Parker also refrained from revealing the
new title because of the fact that the title hadn’t been leaked online.
He also told Shots Fired that there are as many as 300 beats that have
been created for the album over the years, but few of them have had
vocals recorded over them.
[98]
The length of time that
Detox has taken to record, as well as
the limited amount of material that has been officially released or
leaked from the recording sessions, has given it considerable notoriety
within the music industry.
[99]
Numerous release dates (including the ones mentioned above) have been
given for the album over the years since it was first announced,
although none of them have transpired to be genuine.
[100][101] Several musicians closely affiliated with Dr. Dre, including Snoop Dogg, fellow rappers
50 Cent and Game and producer
DJ Quik,
have speculated in interviews that the album will never be released,
due to Dr. Dre's business and entrepreneurial ventures having interfered
with recording work, as well as causing him to lose motivation to
record new material.
[100][101][102][103]
2008–present: Production work, The Planets, a break, and Coachella
On December 15, 2008, Dre appeared in the remix of the song "
Set It Off" by Canadian rapper
Kardinal Offishall (also with
Pusha T); the remix debuted on
DJ Skee's radio show.
[104] At the beginning of 2009, Dre produced, and made a guest vocal performance on, the single "
Crack a Bottle" by
Eminem and the single sold a record 418,000 downloads in its first week.
[105] and reached the top of the
Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week of February 12, 2009.
[106] Along with this single, in 2009 Dr. Dre produced or co-produced 19 of 20 tracks on Eminem's album
Relapse. These included other hit singles "
We Made You", "
Old Time's Sake", and "
3 a.m.". (the only track Dre didn't produce was the Eminem produced single "
Beautiful")
On June 25, 2010, The
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Dr. Dre with its Founders Award for inspiring other musicians.
[107][108]
In an August 2010 interview, Dr. Dre stated that an
instrumental album titled
The Planets is in its first stages of production; each song being named after a
planet in the
Solar System.
[109] On September 3, Dr. Dre showed support to longtime protégé
Eminem, and appeared on his and
Jay-Z's
Home & Home Tour, performing hit songs such as "Still D.R.E.," "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," and "Crack a Bottle," alongside
Eminem
and another protégé, 50 Cent. Sporting an "R.I.P. Proof" shirt, Dre was
honored by Eminem telling Detroit's Comerica Park to do the same. They
did so, by chanting "DEEE-TOX," to which he replied, "I'm coming!"
[110]
Dr. Dre was featured on the cover of
XXL in the December/January 2011 issue. After
Detox he will be one of the producers of
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' album
Still Cool.[111]
On November 14, 2011, Dre announced that he will be taking a break from music once he has finished producing for artists
Slim the Mobster and
Kendrick Lamar.
In this break he will work on bringing his Beats By Dre to a standard
as high as Apple and will also spend time with his family.
[112]
On January 9, 2012 Dre was announced to headline the final nights of the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival taking place the weekends of April 13–15 and April 20–22.
[113]
Other ventures
Film career
Dr. Dre made his first on screen appearance as a weapons dealer in the 1996 bank robbery movie
Set It Off.
[114] In 2001, Dr. Dre also appeared in the movies
The Wash and
Training Day.
[115] A song of his, "Bad Intentions" (featuring
Knoc-Turn'Al) and produced by Mahogany, was featured on
The Wash soundtrack.
[116]
Dr. Dre also appeared on two other songs "On the Blvd." and "The Wash"
along with his co-star Snoop Dogg. In February 2007 it was announced
that Dr. Dre would produce dark comedies and horror films for
New Line Cinema-owned company Crucial Films, along with longtime video director
Phillip Atwell.
Dr. Dre announced "This is a natural switch for me, since I've directed
a lot of music videos, and I eventually want to get into directing."
[117] Along with fellow member Ice Cube, Dr. Dre will produce a biographical film about N.W.A tentatively titled
Straight Outta Compton.
[118]
Entrepreneurship
Beats By Dr. Dre logo
In July 2008, Dr. Dre released his first brand of headphones,
Beats by Dr. Dre. The line consisted of Beats Studio, a
circumaural headphone, Beats Tour, an in-ear headphone, Beats Solo & Solo HD, a
supra-aural headphone, Beats Spin, Heartbeats by
Lady Gaga, also an in-ear headphone, and
Diddy Beats.
[119] In autumn 2009, Hewlett Packard participated in a deal to bundle Beats By Dr. Dre with some HP laptops and headsets.
[120] HP and Dr. Dre announced the deal on October 9, 2009, at a press event in
Santa Monica,
California. An exclusive laptop, known as the HP ENVY 15 Beats limited
edition, was released for sale October 22. In May 2014, technology giant
Apple Inc.
made a bid for the Beats by Dre brand for a reported $3 billion. This
makes the takeover Apple's most expensive purchase by far.
[121] The deal reportedly made Dr. Dre the "Richest Man in Hip-Hop", surpassing former leader,
Diddy.
[122]
Philanthropy
During the May of 2013, Dr. Dre and
Jimmy Iovine donated a $70 million endowment to the
University of Southern California
to create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts,
Technology and the Business of Innovation. The goal of the Academy has
been stated as "to shape the future by nurturing the talents, passions,
leadership and risk-taking of uniquely qualified students who are
motivated to explore and create new art forms, technologies, and
business models." The first class of the Academy began in September
2014.
[123]
Endorsements
Dr. Dre started Burning Man rumors
In 2011, a tumblr blog titled Dr. Dre Started Burning Man
[125] began proliferating the notion that the producer, rapper and entrepreneur had discovered
Burning Man
in 1995 during a music video shoot and offered to cover the cost of the
event's permit from the Nevada Bureau of Land Management under an
agreement with the festival's organizers that he could institute an
entrance fee system for the festival, which had not existed prior to his
participation.
[126][127]
This claim was also supported by an alleged letter from Dre to Nicole
Young which indicated that Dre had shared his experience witnessing the
Burning Man festival with her.
[128][129] Business Insider
mentions the portion of the letter in which Dr. Dre purportedly states
"someone should get behind this...and make some money off these fools"
and compares Dr. Dre's potential entrepreneurial engagement with Burning
Man as a parallel to
Steve Jobs' efforts to centralize and profit off of the otherwise unorganized online music industry.
[130] According to
Salon (website),
Dr. Dre's ethos does seem to be aligned with seven of the ten
principles of the Burning Man community: "radical self-reliance, radical
self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no
trace, participation and immediacy.
[126]"
Musical influences and style
Production equipment
Dr. Dre has said that his primary instrument in the studio is the
Akai MPC3000, a drum machine and sampler, and that he often uses as many as four or five to produce a single recording. He cites 1970s
funk musicians such as
George Clinton,
Isaac Hayes and
Curtis Mayfield
as his primary musical influences. Unlike most rap producers, he tries
to avoid samples as much as possible, preferring to have studio
musicians re-play pieces of music he wants to use, because it allows him
more flexibility to change the pieces in rhythm and tempo.
[131] In 2001 he told
Time
magazine, "I may hear something I like on an old record that may
inspire me, but I'd rather use musicians to re-create the sound or
elaborate on it. I can control it better."
[132] Other equipment he uses include the
E-mu SP-1200 drum machine and other keyboards from such manufacturers as Korg, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Moog, and Roland.
[133] Dr. Dre also stresses the importance of
equalizing
drums properly, and admits to using to same drum sounds but sound
differently to other listeners due to strong equalization during the
audio mixing process when a record is produced.
[134] Dr. Dre also uses the digital audio workstation,
Pro Tools and uses the software to combine hardware drum machines and vintage analog keyboards and synthesizers.
[134][135][136]
After founding Aftermath Entertainment in 1996, Dr. Dre took on producer
Mel-Man
as a co-producer, and his music took on a more synthesizer-based sound,
using fewer vocal samples (as he had used on "Lil' Ghetto Boy" and "Let
Me Ride" on
The Chronic, for example). Mel-Man has not shared
co-production credits with Dr. Dre since approximately 2002, but fellow
Aftermath producer Focus has credited Mel-Man as a key architect of the
signature Aftermath sound.
[137]
In 1999, Dr. Dre started working with
Mike Elizondo, a bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist who has also produced, written and played on records for female singers such as
Poe,
Fiona Apple and
Alanis Morissette,
[138] In the past few years Elizondo has since worked for many of Dr. Dre's productions.
[139][140] Dr. Dre also told
Scratch
magazine in a 2004 interview that he has been studying piano and music
theory formally, and that a major goal is to accumulate enough musical
theory to score movies. In the same interview he stated that he has
collaborated with famed 1960s songwriter
Burt Bacharach by sending him hip hop beats to play over, and hopes to have an in-person collaboration with him in the future.
[131]
Work ethic
Dr. Dre has stated that he is a perfectionist and is known to
pressure the artists with whom he records to give flawless performances.
[131] In 2006, Snoop Dogg told the website Dubcnn.com that Dr. Dre had made new artist
Bishop Lamont re-record a single bar of vocals 107 times.
[141]
Dr. Dre has also stated that Eminem is a fellow perfectionist, and
attributes his success on Aftermath to his similar work ethic.
[131] He gives a lot of input into the delivery of the vocals and will stop an
MC during a take if it is not to his liking.
[142]
However, he gives MCs that he works with room to write lyrics without
too much instruction unless it is a specifically conceptual record, as
noted by
Bishop Lamont in the book
How to Rap.
[143]
A consequence of his perfectionism is that some artists who initially
sign deals with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label never release albums. In
2001, Aftermath released the soundtrack to the movie
The Wash,
featuring a number of Aftermath acts such as Shaunta, Daks, Joe Beast
and Toi. To date, none have released full-length albums on Aftermath and
have apparently ended their relationships with the label and Dr. Dre.
Other noteworthy acts to leave Aftermath without releasing albums
include
King Tee,
2001 vocalist Hittman,
Joell Ortiz,
Raekwon and
Rakim.
[144]
Collaborators and co-producers
Over the years, word of other collaborators who have contributed to
Dr. Dre's work has surfaced. During his tenure at Death Row Records, it
was alleged that Dr. Dre's stepbrother Warren G and
Tha Dogg Pound member
Daz made many uncredited contributions to songs on his solo album
The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's album
Doggystyle (Daz received production credits on Snoop's similar-sounding, albeit less successful album
Tha Doggfather after Young left Death Row Records).
[145]
It is known that
Scott Storch, who has since gone on to become a successful producer in his own right, contributed to Dr. Dre's second album
2001; Storch is credited as a songwriter on several songs and played keyboards on several tracks. In 2006 he told
Rolling Stone:
"At the time, I saw Dr. Dre desperately needed something," Storch
says. "He needed a fuel injection, and Dr. Dre utilized me as the
nitrous oxide. He threw me into the mix, and I sort of tapped on a new
flavor with my whole piano sound and the strings and orchestration. So
I'd be on the keyboards, and Mike [Elizondo] was on the bass guitar, and
Dr. Dre was on the drum machine".[146]
Current collaborator
Mike Elizondo,
when speaking about his work with Young, describes their recording
process as a collaborative effort involving several musicians. In 2004
he claimed to
Songwriter Universe magazine that he had written the foundations of the hit Eminem song "
The Real Slim Shady", stating, "I initially played a bass line on the song, and Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster Jr. and I built the track from there.
Eminem then heard the track, and he wrote the rap to it."
[140] This account is essentially confirmed by Eminem in his book
Angry Blonde,
stating that the tune for the song was composed by a studio bassist and
keyboardist while Dr. Dre was out of the studio but Young later
programmed the song's beat after returning.
[147]
A group of disgruntled former associates of Dr. Dre complained that
they had not received their full due for work on the label in the
September 2003 issue of
The Source. A producer named Neff-U claimed to have produced the songs "Say What You Say" and "My Dad's Gone Crazy" on
The Eminem Show, the songs "If I Can't" and "Back Down" on 50 Cent's
Get Rich or Die Tryin', and the beat featured on Dr. Dre's commercial for
Coors beer.
[144]
Although Young studies piano and musical theory, he serves as more of a
conductor than a musician himself, as Josh Tyrangiel of
TIME magazine has noted:
Every Dre track begins the same way, with Dre behind a drum machine
in a room full of trusted musicians. (They carry beepers. When he wants
to work, they work.) He'll program a beat, then ask the musicians to
play along; when Dre hears something he likes, he isolates the player
and tells him how to refine the sound. "My greatest talent," Dre says,
"is knowing exactly what I want to hear."[132]
Although Snoop Dogg retains working relationships with Warren G and
Daz, who are alleged to be uncredited contributors on the hit albums
The Chronic and
Doggystyle,
he states that Dr. Dre is capable of making beats without the help of
collaborators, and that he is responsible for the success of his
numerous albums.
[148] Dr. Dre's prominent studio collaborators, including
Scott Storch, Elizondo,
Mark Batson and
Dawaun Parker,
have shared co-writing, instrumental, and more recently co-production
credits on the songs where he is credited as the producer.
Ghostwriters
It is acknowledged that most of Dr. Dre's raps are written for him by
others, though he retains ultimate control over his lyrics and the
themes of his songs.
[149] As Aftermath producer Mahogany told
Scratch:
"It's like a class room in [the booth]. He'll have three writers in
there. They'll bring in something, he'll recite it, then he'll say.
'Change this line, change this word,' like he's grading papers."
[150]
As seen in the credits for tracks Young has appeared on, there are
often multiple people who contribute to his songs (although often in hip
hop many people are officially credited as a writer for a song, even
the producer).
In the book
How to Rap,
RBX explains that writing
The Chronic was a "team effort"
[149] and details how he
ghostwrote "
Let Me Ride" for Dre.
[149] In regard to ghostwriting lyrics he says, "Dre doesn't profess to be no super-duper rap dude – Dre is a super-duper producer".
[149] As a member of N.W.A, The D.O.C. wrote lyrics for him while he stuck with producing.
[22] New York City rapper
Jay-Z ghostwrote lyrics for the single "Still D.R.E." from Dr. Dre's album
2001.
[44]
Personal life
Relationships and family
Dr. Dre's eldest son is named Curtis Young. When Curtis Young was
born, Cassandra Joy Greene was 16, and Dr. Dre was 17. Curtis Young is
an aspiring rapper who goes by the rap moniker "Hood Surgeon".
[151]
In 1988, Dr. Dre had his second son, Andre Young Jr., with Jenita
Porter. Porter sued Dr. Dre in 1990 in Orange County Superior Court
seeking $5,000 of child support per month.
[152] From 1990 to 1996, Dr. Dre dated singer
Michel'le, who frequently contributed vocals to Death Row Records albums. In 1991, the couple had a son, Marcel.
[153] In 1996, Dr. Dre married Nicole Threatt, the ex-wife of
NBA player
Sedale Threatt.
[154] They have two children together: a son named Truice (born 1997) and a daughter named Truly (born 2001).
[155]
On August 23, 2008, Young's second son, Andre Young Jr., died at the age of 20 at his mother's
Woodland Hills home.
[152] The coroner determined that he died from an overdose of
heroin and
morphine.
[156]
Violence against women
Dr. Dre has been convicted in multiple cases of violence against
women and a police officer. In February 1992, Dr. Dre faced trial as a
defendant in lawsuit filed by
Dee Barnes,
a Fox TV host who claimed she was assaulted by Young. Dr. Dre plead no
contest and was sentenced to a fine of $2500, 240 hours of community
service, and 24 months of probation. Barnes stated that Young "began
slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a
wall near the stairway." Dr. Dre later commented "People talk all this
shit, but you know, somebody fucks with me, I'm gonna fuck with them. I
just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it.
Besides, it ain't no big thing – I just threw her through a door."
[157]
Dr. Dre plead guilty in October 1992 in a case of battery of a police
officer and was convicted on two additional battery counts stemming
from a brawl in the lobby of the New Orleans hotel in May 1991.
[158]
In March 2015, singer
Michel'le accused him of physical abuse during their time together as a couple, but did not initiate legal action.
[159]
Income
In 2001, Dr. Dre earned a total of about US$52 million from selling part of his share of Aftermath Entertainment to
Interscope Records and his production of such hit songs that year as "
Family Affair" by
Mary J. Blige.
Rolling Stone magazine thus named him the second highest-paid artist of the year.
[52]
Dr. Dre was ranked 44th in 2004 from earnings of $11.4 million,
primarily from production royalties from such projects as albums from
G-Unit and
D12 and the single "
Rich Girl" by singer
Gwen Stefani and rapper
Eve.
[160] Forbes estimated his net worth at US$270 million in 2012.
[161]
The same publication later reported that he acquired US$110 million via
his various endeavors in 2012, making him the highest–paid artist of
the year.
[162]
Income from the 2014 sale of Beats to Apple, contributing to what
Forbes termed "the biggest single-year payday of any musician in history," made Dr. Dre the world's richest musical performer of 2015.
[5]
Discography
- Studio albums
- Collaboration albums/EP's
