Dr. Dre. Part 1
Andre Romell Young. Born February 18, 1965, Known professionally as Dr. Dre, Is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, & actor. He is the founder & CEO of Aftermath Entertainment & Beats Electronics, & co-founded & was the president of Death Row Records. Dre began his career as a member of The World Class Wreckin’ Cru. In 1984, & later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting & popularization of West Coast G-funk, A subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation & slow, Heavy production.
Released as Death Row’s first major project, Dr. Dre’s solo debut studio album, The Chronic (1992) made him one of the best-selling American music artists of 1993. It earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance with the single, Let Me Ride, as well as several accolades for the single, Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang, Featuring Snoop Dogg. That year, he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Doggy Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, & mentored producers such as his stepbrother Warren G (leading to the multi-platinum debut Regulate… G Funk Era in 1994) & Snoop Dogg’s cousin Daz Dillinger, Leading to the double-platinum debut Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound in 1995, as he would mentor other producers including Mel-Man & Scott Storch. In 1996, Dre left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, His compilation album, Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath (1996) & second studio album, 2001 In1999 followed thereafter. During the 2000s, Dr. Dre shifted focus onto production for other artists, occasionally contributing vocals. He signed Eminem in 1998 & 50 Cent in 2002, While extensively contributing to releases by both artists. Aftermath has since signed other artists including The Game, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic, Busta Rhymes, Eve, & Rakim, Among others. He has won seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non Classical. Rolling Stone ranked him number 56 on the list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Outside of music, Dre has acted in films such as Set It Off, The Wash, & Training Day.
Dr. Dre. Andre Romell Young, Was born in Compton, California, on February 18, 1965, The son of Theodore & Verna Young. His middle name Romell is derived from the Romells, his father’s amateur R&B group. His parents married in 1964, Separated in 1968, & divorced in 1972. His mother later remarried to Curtis Crayon & had three children. Sons Jerome & Tyree, Both deceased. & a daughter Shameka.
In 1976, Dre began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. The family moved often & lived in apartments & houses in Compton, Carson, Long Beach, & the Watts & South Central neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Dre has said that he was mostly raised by his grandmother in the New Wilmington Arms housing project in Compton. His mother later married Warren Griffin, which added three step sisters & one step brother to the family, The latter would eventually begin rapping under the name Warren G. Dre is also the cousin of producer Sir Jinx. Dre 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. He attempted to enroll in an apprenticeship program at Northrop Aviation Company, but was ineligible due to poor grades. Thereafter, he focused on his social life & entertainment for the remainder of his high school years.
The World Class Wreckin’ Cru, 1984 – 1986, Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, Dr. Dre often attended a club called Eve’s After Dark to watch many DJs & 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. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, A mix of previous alias Dr. J & his first name, Referring to himself as, The Master of Mixology. Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four track studio where Dre & Yella recorded several demos. In their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled, Surgery, in 1984. Dr. Dre’s earliest recordings were released in 1994 on a compilation titled Concrete Roots. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described the compiled music, released, Several years before Dre developed a distinctive style, as, Surprisingly generic & unengaging, &, For dedicated fans only.
Dre later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Which released its debut album under the Kru-Cut label in 1985. The group would become stars of the Electro Hop scene that dominated early-mid 1980s West Coast hip hop. Surgery, Which was officially released after being recorded prior to the group’s official formation, would prominently feature Dr. Dre on the turntable. The record would become the group’s first hit, selling 50,000 copies within the Compton area. Dr. Dre & DJ Yella also performed mixes for local radio station KDAY, boosting ratings for its afternoon rush hour show The Traffic Jam.
N.W.A. Ruthless Records. 1986 –1991 Dr. Dre met rapper O’Shea Jackson, known as Ice Cube, Who collaborated with him to record songs for Ruthless Records, A hip hop record label run by local rapper Eazy-E. N.W.A & 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 & 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 & 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.
After Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989 over financial disputes, Dr. Dre produced & performed for much of the group’s second album Efil4zaggin. He also produced tracks for a number of other acts on Ruthless Records, including Eazy-E’s 1988 solo debut Eazy-Duz-It, Above the Law’s 1990 debut Livin’ Like Hustlers,
Michel’le’s 1989 self-titled debut, the D.O.C.’s 1989 debut No One Can Do It Better, J.J. Fad’s 1988 debut Supersonic & funk, rock musician Jimmy Z’s 1991 album Muzical Madness.
The Chronic. Death Row Records. 1991–1996. After a dispute with Eazy-E, Dre left the group at the peak of its popularity in 1991 under the advice of friend, & N.W.A lyricist, the D.O.C. & his bodyguard at the time, Suge Knight. Knight, a notorious strongman & intimidator, was able to have Eazy-E release Young from his contract &, 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. Dr. Dre’s debut solo album was, The Chronic, released under Death Row Records with Suge Knight as executive producer. Young ushered in a new style of rap, both in terms of musical style & lyrical content, Including introducing a number of artists to the industry including Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Nate Dogg & Jewell.
On the strength of singles such as, Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang, Let Me Ride, & Fuck wit Dre Day, & Everybody’s Celebratin‘, Known as Dre Day, for radio & 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. In 1993, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Certified the album triple platinum, & Dr. Dre also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for his performance on, Let Me Ride. For that year, Billboard magazine also ranked Dr. Dre as the eighth best selling musical artist, The Chronic as the sixth best selling album, & Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang, As the 11th-best selling single.
