Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young (Compton, California; February 18, 1965), better known by his stage name Dr. Dreis an American rapper, producer and businessman.

Early years

The first child of Theodore and Verna Young, Dr. Dre was born under the name Andre Romelle Young on February 18, 1965, when his mother and father were 24 and 25 years old respectively. Verna married Theodore in 1964. Young's middle name, "Romelle," She came from his father's amateur R&B group, The Romells. In 1968, his parents divorced, and his mother married Curtis Crayon. They had three more children together, two sons named Jerome and Tyree (both deceased) and a daughter, Shameka.

In 1976 Young became interested in attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton but due to gang violence she transferred to the safer Roosevelt Junior High School. Verna later married Warren Griffin, whom she met at a new work in Long Beach, which added three new stepsisters and a stepbrother to the family. The stepbrother, Warren Griffin III, would later become a rapper under the stage name Warren G.

Young attended Centennial High School in Compton during his teenage years in 1979, but moved to Fremont High School as a result of his poor grades. Young attempted to enter an apprenticeship program at the Northrop Aviation Company, but his poor grades in school made him ineligible. Since then, he focused on his social life and having a good time. Young had a son, Curtis, born on December 15, 1981 with Lisa Johnson. Curtis Young was raised by his mother and did not meet his father until Curtis had become a rapper about 20 years later.

Musical career

World Class Wreckin' Cru (1984–1985)

Inspired by Grandmaster Flash's song 'The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel', Young often attended a club called The Eve After Dark to see DJs and rappers perform live.. He would later become the club's DJ, initially under the name 'Dr. J & # 34;, based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. At the club he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, who would later become a member of N.W.A. like DJ Yella. Shortly afterward he adopted the nickname Dr. Dre, a mix of his previous alias Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as "El Maestro De La Mezclologia." He later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin' Cru on the independent Kru-Cut label in 1984. The group would become stars of the electro scene that dominated the early 1980s on the West Coast. The World Class album contained Young's first hit, "Surgery", a song in which Dr. Dre is present on the decks. The album would achieve sales of 50,000 copies in the Compton area. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella also perform mixes for KDAY, a local radio station. During this time Dr. Dre recorded several songs that would later be published in 1994 on a compilation album titled Croncrete Roots.

After high school, he attended Chester Adult School in Compton after his mother's advice. After her brief assistance, she moved to her father's residence, originally her grandparents' home, before returning to her mother's home. She later retired from Chester to focus on pursuing her career on The Eve After Dark.

N.W.A. and Ruthless Records (1986-1991)

In 1986 he met rapper Ice Cube, who collaborated with him to record songs for Ruthless Records, a rap record label run by rapper Eazy-E. N.W.A., along with fellow West Coast rapper Ice Cube 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 the gangster lifestyle. A genre that also deals with the political-racial issues promoted by rap artists such as Public Enemy or Boogie Down Productions, N.W.A. with themes and lyrics that offer stark descriptions of violence in the streets. Fueled by the hit 'Fuck Tha Police', the group's first album Straight Outta Compton became a huge hit, despite a lack of airtime on the part of the radio or concerts. The FBI sent Ruthless Records a warning letter in response to the song's content.

After Ice Cube left N.W.A. As a result of financial disputes, Dr. Dre produced most of Niggaz4Life, the group's second album. He also produced songs for other Ruthless Records rappers, including Above The Law and The D.O.C.'s album No One Can Do It Better. In 1991, at a music industry party in Hollywood, Dre attacked and beat the television host Dee Barnes of the Fox television show Pump It Up, for disagreeing with a news report given by her in relation to the existing fight between the members of N.W.A Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. For this reason, Dr. Dre was fined $2,500, two years of probation and 240 hours of community service.

The Chronic and Death Row Records (1992-1995)

After a dispute with Eazy-E, Dre left the group N.W.A. at the peak of his popularity in 1991 under the advice of his friend, The D.O.C. and his bodyguard at the time, Suge Knight. Knight, a strong and notoriously intimidating man, was able to get Eazy-E to release Young from his contract and with him as a star artist founded the Death Row Records label. In 1992, Young released his first single, the title track from the film Deep Cover, a collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg whom he met through Warren G. Dr. Dre's debut album solo was The Chronic, released on Death Row Records. Young delved into a new style of rap, both stylistically and lyrically.

Based on singles like "Nuthin' But A G Thang", "Let Me Ride" and 'Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')', which featured Snoop Dogg as guest vocalist, The Chronic became a cultural phenomenon, making his g-funk sound the dominant style in hip hop for much of the first half of the 1990s. In 1993, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album multi-platinum, and Dr. Dre also won the Grammy Award for his performance in "Let Me Ride". That year, Billboard magazine also ranked Dr. Dre as the eighth best-selling artist, The Chronic as the sixth best-selling album and "Nuthin' But A G Thang" as the 11th best-selling single.

In addition to working on his own material, Dr. Dre produced Snoop Dogg's debut album, Doggystyle. In 1994 Dr. Dre produced the soundtracks for the films Above The Rim and Murder Was The Case. He collaborated with his former bandmate Ice Cube for the song 'Natural Born Killaz'. in 1995. For the film Friday, Dre recorded "Keep Their Heads Ringin'", which peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Rap Singles (Hot Rap Tracks later).

In 1995, Death Row Records signed rapper Tupac Shakur, positioning him as its biggest star, after which Young left the label due to a contract dispute and growing concerns about his reputation for corruption, dishonesty and loss of control. economic situation that surrounded the figure of Suge Knight. Thus, in 1996 he formed his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, under Death Row Records' distributor, Interscope Records. Death Row Records subsequently suffered a decline in sales in 1997, especially following the death of Tupac and the criminal charges brought against Knight.

Aftermath Entertainment (1996-1998)

Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath, released on November 26, 1996, featured songs by Dr. Dre himself, as well as artists newly signed to Aftermath, and a solo track 'Been There'., Done That', understood as a symbolic farewell to gangsta rap. Despite the platinum rating by the RIAA, the album was not very popular with fans. In October 1996, Dre performed "Been There, Done That" on Saturday Night Live. In 1997, Dr. Dre produced several tracks for The Album, which was the debut album of the group The Firm, the album was received with negative reviews from critics and not so much from fans. Rumors began to abound that Aftermath was facing financial difficulties. Aftermath also faced a trademark infringement lawsuit by thrash metal band Aftermath. First Round Knock Out, a compilation of various songs produced and performed by Dr. Dre, was also released in 1996, with material ranging from World Class Wreckin'; Cru to N.W.A. with Death Row recordings. The turning point for Aftermath came in 1998, when Jimmy Iovine, head of Interscope, suggested to Dr. Dre that he sign Eminem, a rapper from Detroit. Dre produced three songs and made two features for Eminem's debut album, The Slim Shady LP, released in 1999. Dr. Dre produced the first single from that album, "My Name Is&# 34;, a song that would help propel Eminem to stardom.

2001 (1999-2000)

Dr. Dre's second solo album, 2001, released on November 16, 1999, was considered a return to his gangsta rap roots. It was initially titled The Chronic 2000, intended to be a sequel to their debut album, The Chronic, but was retitled 2001, after Death Row Records released a compilation album titled Chronic 2000: Still Smokin in May 1999. Other working titles included The Chronic 2001 and Dr. Dre. The album featured numerous collaborators, including Devin the Dude, Hittman, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg and Eminem. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic describes the album's sound as adding strings...soul vocals and Dr. Dre-style reggae. The album was a huge success, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and has since gone six times platinum. The album included the singles "Still D.R.E." and "Forgot About Dre", which Dr. Dre performed on Saturday Night Live on October 23, 1999. Dr. Dre won the Grammy Award for "Producer of the Year" in 2000, and he joined the Up In Smoke Tour with rappers Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. During the course of 2001, and due to the popularity he achieved, Dr. Dre was involved in several lawsuits. Lucasfilm, the film company behind the Star Wars film saga, sued him for the use of the THX Deep Note trademark. The band Fatback also sued Dr. Dre for alleged infringement regarding his song 'Backstrokin'. In his song 'Let's Get High', from the album 2001, Dr. Dre was sentenced to pay 1.5 million to the band in 2003. The music company Online file-sharing site, Napster, also filed a lawsuit with him.

Focusing on production (2001-2008)

After the success of 2001, Dr. Dre focused on producing songs and albums for other artists. He co-produced six tracks on Eminem's album, The Marshall Mathers LP, including the Grammy-winning first single, "The Real Slim Shady." The album won a Grammy and turned out to be the best-selling rap album of all time, selling 1.76 million units in its first week. He produced the single "Family Affair" by R&B singer Mary J. Blige from her album No More Drama in 2001. He also produced "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", a duet from the rapper Eve and singer Gwen Stefani. He also signed R&B singer Truth Hurts in 2001. 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'. Another copyright lawsuit for Dr. Dre appeared in the fall of 2002, when Sa Re Ga Ma, a company based in Calcutta, India, sued Aftermath Entertainment for its use of an uncredited sample of the Lata Mangeshkar song & #34;Thoda Resham Lagta Hai'. In February 2003, a judge ruled that Aftermath would have to end sales of the Truth Hurts album.

Another successful album he produced was Get Rich Or Die Tryin', the debut album by New York rapper 50 Cent. Dr. Dre produced the single "In Da Club". Eminem's fourth album since joining Aftermath, Encore, again saw Dre taking on the role of executive producer. In November 2004, at the Vibe Magazine Awards in Los Angeles, Dr. Dre was attacked by a fan named Jimmy James Johnson, who was supposedly asking for an autograph. In the resulting melee, then-former G-Unit member Young Buck stabbed the man. Johnson claimed that Suge Knight paid him $5,000 to assault Dre in order to humiliate him before receiving his Lifetime award. Knight immediately went on the CBS Late Show to deny his involvement and insisted that he supports Dr. Dre and that he wanted to file defamation charges against Johnson. In September 2005, Johnson was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to stay away from Dr. Dre until 2008.

Dr. Dre also produced "How We Do", a new 2005 hit by rapper Game, then called The Game, from his album The Documentary. >In November 2006, Dr. Dre began working with Raekwon on his album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Part. II, 2009. He also produced songs for the albums Buck The World by Young Buck, Curtis by 50 Cent, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment i> by Snoop Dogg and Kingdom Come by Jay-Z. Dre also appeared on Timbaland's song, 'Bounce', from his 2007 solo album.

Detox (2009-2014)

In 2002, Dre told Corey Moss of MTV News that he intended to "detox" to make a concept album. Sessions for the album date back to early 2004, but later that year, he decided to stop working on the album to focus on producing for other artists; the album had initially been set for fall 2005. After After several delays, the album was finally scheduled for release in 2010. Snoop Dogg stated that he had finished Detox, according to a Rolling Stone magazine report in 2008. After a further delay based on the production of works by other artists, Detox is scheduled for a 2010 release, coming after 50 Cent's albums, Before I Self Destruct and Relapse by Eminem, an album for which Dr. Dre did virtually all the production. In early 2009, Dre produced and collaborated on the single "Crack A Bottle" by Eminem and the single had 418,000 downloads in its first week, and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of February 12, 2009. In a commercial for Dr Pepper, which debuted on May 28, 2009, it premiered a fragment of a Detox song. 50 Cent and Eminem stated in an interview on BET 106 & Park that Dr. Dre had about a dozen songs ready for Detox. It was announced that the first single would be, "Under Pressure" in collaboration with Jay-Z, something that did not happen.

In an interview in August 2010, Dr. Dre said that an instrumental album titled The Planets is in its early stages of production, that the concept is for each song to be named after a planet. Of the solar system. On September 3, Dr. Dre showed his support for his protégé, Eminem, and appeared at his concert with Jay-Z in Detroit, on the The Home & Home Tour, with songs like "Still D.R.E.", "Nuthin' But A G Thang" and "Crack A Bottle", along with his also protected, 50 Cent. Likewise at that concert Eminem asked the audience to shout "Deee-TOX", to which Young responded "It's coming!" .

Straight Outta Compton and The Contract (2015-present)

Finally, on August 1, 2015, Dr Dre announced the publication of Compton a Soundtrack by Dr. Dre, which would be the soundtrack of the new movie Straight Outta Compton. In the interview he also indicates that Detox is not good enough, and that is why he discarded it in 2010.

At the end of 2021, Dre collaborated with Rockstar Games for the new section of the game Grand Theft Auto V titled The Contract and released 6 singles, this collaboration came out in early February 2022 and in She collaborated with historical hip hop artists, these were Eminem, Nipsey Hussle, Ty Dolla Sign, Rick Ross, Anderson Paak, Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes.

On February 13, 2022, he headlined the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. The performance received critical acclaim and earned him his first award at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Musical style

Dre has said that his main instrument in the studio is the Akai MPC3000, a drum machine and sampler, and that he often uses many of his co-producers to produce a single recording. He cites George Clinton, Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield as his main musical influences. Unlike most current rap producers, who try to avoid samples as much as possible (because of how expensive it is due to new copyright laws), he prefers to have musicians in the studio playing with the songs he creates. you want to use, because it allows you greater flexibility to change pieces in rhythm and tempo. Other equipment he uses are the E-mu SP-1200 and other keyboards from manufacturers such as Yamaha, Korg, Rhodes, Moog and Roland.

After founding Aftermath Entertainment in 1996, Dr. Dre took on Mel-Man as a co-producer and his music took on a more synthesizer-based sound, using fewer vocal samples. Mel-Man hasn't shared co-production credits with Dr. Dre since around 2002, but his fellow Aftermath producer Focus... has credited Mel-Man as a key architect of the label's sound. About.com ranked Dr. Dre as the second-greatest producer of all time (tied with Pete Rock) in their 'Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers'. In 1999 Dr. Dre began working with Mike Elizondo, a bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist who has also produced and written. In recent years Elizondo has worked for many of Dr. Dre's productions. Young also told Scratch magazine in a 2004 interview that he has been studying piano and formal music theory. In the same interview he stated that he has collaborated with famous songwriter Burt Bacharach, sending him beats, and hopes to make a song with him in the future.

Work ethic

Dr. Dre has indicated that he is a perfectionist and is known for putting pressure on the artists he records with to give flawless concerts. In 2006, Snoop Dogg told Dubcnn.com that Dr. Dre had his new artist Bishop Lamont record a single bar of vocals 107 times. Dr. Dre has also stated that Eminem is a perfectionist and attributes his success to the aftermath of his similar work ethic. A consequence of his perfectionism is that some artists who initially sign deals never end up releasing albums because Dr. Dre doesn't think they're good enough. In 2001, Aftermath released the soundtrack to the film The Wash, featuring a number of rappers such as Shaunta, Daks, Joe and Bestia Toi, to date, none have released full-length albums and apparently, They have ended their relationships with the record label and Dr. Dre. Other notable rappers who never released albums include King Tee, Hittman, Joell Ortiz, Raekwon, and Rakim.

Collaborators and co-producers

For years the word of other collaborators has emerged. During his tenure at Death Row Records, it was alleged that Dr. Dre's half-brother Warren G and Tha Dogg Pound member Daz have made many uncredited contributions to songs on his solo album The Chronic. i>. Scott Storch, who has since gone on to become a successful producer in his own right, is known to have contributed to Dr. Dre's second album, 2001, Storch is credited as a songwriter on several songs and played on keyboards in several songs. Mike Elizondo, when discussing his work with Young, describes his recording process as a collaborative effort between several musicians. In 2004 he told Songwriter Universe magazine that he had written the basics for Eminem's hit song 'The Real Slim Shady', stating, "I initially played with a bass line in the song, and Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster Jr. and I built the track from there. Eminem then heard the track, and wrote the rap to it. This account is confirmed in Eminem's book, Angry Blonde, which indicates that the song's melody was composed by a studio bassist and keyboardist while Dr. Dre was out of the studio.

Moreover, in the September 2003 issue of The Source magazine, a group of disgruntled former associates of Dr. Dre complained that they had not received his full recognition. A producer named Neff-U claimed to have produced the songs "Say What You Say" by Luxor, "My Dad's Gone Crazy" by Eminem and the songs "If I Can't" and "Back Down" by 50 Cent. It should be noted that Dr. Dre's notable collaborators on the studio, including Scott Storch, Elizondo, Luxor and Parker Dawaun, have shared co-producing and co-writing credits.

Ghostwriters

It is acknowledged that the majority of Dr. Dre's rap is written for him by other writers, although he retains ultimate control over the lyrics and music of his songs. As seen in Young's song credits, there are several people who contribute to his songs (it should be noted that often in hip hop people write the songs they sing). In the book How To Rap, RBX explains that writing The Chronic was a team effort. And the details of how he wrote 'Let Me Ride' by Dre. As far as the lyrics go, he says, "Dre doesn't go around bragging that he's a super rapper... Dre is a super producer." As a member of N.W.A., The D.O.C. wrote the lyrics for him while he did the production. Another example is that rapper Jay-Z wrote the lyrics to the song "Still D.R.E." from Dr. Dre's album, 2001.

Discography

With N.W.A.

• Straight Outta Compton (1988)
• Niggaz4Life (1991)

Solo

• The Chronic (1992)
• 2001 (1999)
• Compton (2015)
• The contract (2021)

Cinema and other projects

Dr. Dre made his first on-screen appearance as an arms dealer in the 1996 film Set It Off. In 2000, Dr. Dre made a cameo alongside other musical artists, such as Eminem, in the video clip for the song "Break Stuff" from the group Limp Bizkit. In 2001, Dr. Dre also appeared in and produced the films The Wash and Training Day. One of his songs, "Bad Intentions" appeared on the soundtrack of The Wash. Dr. Dre also appeared on two other songs "In The Blvd." and "The Wash" along with his co-star Snoop Dogg. In the video game GTA: San Andreas, the protagonist Carl Johnson, “CJ,” is an obvious parody of Dr. Dre. Other characters, such as Ryder and Sweet, are parodies of his former teammates Eazy-E and Ice Cube, respectively. Years later, Dr. Dre also appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online, playing himself. In February 2007 it was announced that Dr. Dre would produce dark comedies and horror films for New Line Cinema, owned by Crucial Films, along with his former video director Phillip Atwell. Dr. Dre announced "This is a natural change for me, since I have directed a lot of music videos, and I finally want to get into directing.". Along with another former member, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre co-produced "Straight Outta Compton" (2015), a film about N.W.A., the group in which they began their professional musical careers.

Filmography

Businessman

Dr. Dre launched his headphone brand, Beats by Dr. Dre. The headphones were made by Monster but at the end of 2012 they broke their contract due to disagreements over revenue. But currently beats are still manufactured by Monster. He is also planning to launch an "Aftermath Cognac and Vodka" around the same time I launched Detox. For the fall 2009 season, HP and Dr. Dre have teamed up to launch Beats By Dr. Dre with sales of all HP laptops and headphones. Dr. Dre and HP announced the agreement on October 9, 2009, at a press event in Santa Monica, California. In addition to the laptop, the PC comes with Dr. Dre's signature headphones. Later, on August 11, 2011, an agreement was reached with the Taiwanese company HTC, with which it jointly produced a series of smartphones, such as the HTC Sensation It has built-in Beats Audio listening mode and Tour headphones with ControlTalk. In 2014, Apple bought Beats for $3 billion.

Personal life

Young had a son, Andre Young Jr., born in 1988, with his then-girlfriend Kimberly Escobar Baeza. From 1990 to 1996, Young was in a relationship with singer Michel'le, who often contributed vocals to her on Death Row albums. In 1991 the couple had a son, Marcel.

In May 1996, Young married Nicole Threatt, the ex-wife of NBA player Sedale Threatt. Threatt and Young have two children, a son named Truth, born in 1997, and a daughter named Truly, born in 2001.

On August 23, 2008, her second son, Andre Young Jr., died at the age of 20 in Woodland at his mother's home. The medical examiner determined that he died from an overdose of heroin and morphine.