Someone is born to be famous rapper. Someone is born to be producer. Someone is finding talents and helping them to become famous. Dr Dre makes it all.
Andre Rommel Young aka Dr Dre was born in 1965 in unfamous city of Compton, California. He was absolutely into music from the star: he has got his middle name from The Rommels band which Dre’s father liked alot. Dre dived deeply in street culture of Los-Angeles very early and begun DJing in his teens. He recieved music mixer for 1984 Christmas and made a studio out of his bedroom. Music was a whole world for Dre, and he became vital part of it.
Later Dre started to spend time in L.A. clubs, mostly in Eve After Dark. Here he started to perform for some audience and moved into World Class Wreckin’ Cru. Also, he presented his gimmick Dr Dre in Eve after Dark (at the beginning it was Dr Dre Master of Mixology).
Dre could be a famous DJ or producer, but real fame came to him as a gangsta rap pioneer and part of iconic band NWA. He joined Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Yella, MC Ren, Arabian Prince and D.O.C in 1985 – year of birth for NWA. Niggaz With Attitude decided to go hard way, telling harsh and unpleasant truth via lyrics supported by the beat. They touched social problematics of street life and rapped about gangsta life.
“Straight Outta Compton” by NWA was released in 1988 and sold over 2 million copies, which were record for such uneasy content, Major NWA hit “F*** the Police” was a matter of huge controversy, touching a problem of rival between young people of color and police. It even attached FBI interest, Bureau sent a letter to Ruthless Records.
Such bunch of rap star couldn’t live together for a long time and Dre decided to go solo. In 1992 he releases “The Chronic” which was absolute hit. Main hit “Nuthin but a ‘G’ Thang” was made in collaboration with Snoop Dogg.
Whole album was about introducing so called G-Funk to the audience: combination of funk and gangsta rap. Seven years after “Chronic” Dre released “2001” that also was a hit, but third Dre’s solo album “Detox” were never released. Dr Dre has something more interesting to do than just being world famous rapper.
Dre founded Death Row records with Marion “Suge” Knight in 1991 and from the start begin to co-op with huge artists. He worked on the first Snoop Dogg album “Doggystyle” and Tupac’s “All Eyez on Me”. In 1996 Dr Dre literally escaped Death Row in front of growing conflict between East and West coasts.
As well, Dre went on his own, founding Aftermath Entertainment, which connected to Interscope Records. Aftermath worked with dozens of great artist but two main stars remains the same. Dr Dre signed Eminem and 50 cent to Aftermath, and worked on iconic albums “The Slim Shady LP”, “Marshall Mathers LP” and “Get Rich or Die Tryin”.
Once again, Dre could not stay on one place. In 2008 he has founded Beats Electronic, which later produced famous line of headphones Beats by Dr Dre. In 2014 he launched streaming service Beat Music.
After Apple purchase of Beats for $3 billion Dre’s net worth has jumped up to $800 million, making him one of the richest rapper in whole world. In 2015 Dr Dre reunited with Ice Cube to produce “Straight Outta Compton” documentary followed by “Compton” music album. Guess what: it was great success, as well.