Tones: Humorous, Menacing, Confrontational, Street-Smart, Boisterous, Rousing, Malevolent, Brash, Confident, Laid-Back/Mellow, Thuggish, Aggressive, Theatrical, Visceral, Stylish, Party/Celebratory, Rebellious, Hostile .
Instruments: Producer, Vocals, Keyboards .
Labels:
Priority/Interscope (8), Interscope (5), Universal International (4), Death
Row (4), Triple X (3), JDC (3), Aftermath/Interscope (3) .
C.E.O.
of Aftermath Entertainment
.
Wifes:
Four Kids from Nicole Young - One Kid from Dre's divorced wife Michel'le .
Roots
and Influences:
George Clinton Zapp Parliament Ice-T Cameo Funkadelic
Followers: Detroit's Most Wanted E-40
Mac Dre Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Rappin' 4-Tay Mystikal Partners-N-Crime Smoove
Da Hustler Soopafly Cellski Outlawz Caz T.W.D.Y. Richie Rich 2Wice Beyond
Formal Connections: N.W.A.
Eazy-E Snoop Dogg The Firm Eminem Ice Cube Mel-Man The D.O.C. Suge Knight
2Pac Eve Scott Storch Hittman MC Ren World Class Wreckin' Cru Mike Elizondo
Lil ½ Dead Yella Awesome Dre' & Hard Core Commi Jay-Z
Performed Songs By: Snoop Dogg A. Young
RBX O. Jackson William Stewart Larry Troutman Teddy Riley Roger Troutman Chauncey
Hannibal Lynise Walters Kurupt Colin Wolfe Sam Sneed Norman Durham Woody Cunningham
2Pac L.T. Patterson Richard Vick Leon Haywood
Worked With: Richard Huredia Mary J. Blige
Camara Kambon King T Chris "The Glove" Taylor
Knoc-Turn'al
Worked
as: Dj
- Member World Class Wreckin’ Cru’ - Member
N.W.A.
---------------------------------------------
Though
Dr. Dre's music career hasn't always been a "'G' Thang," (the "G"
stands for "gangsta"), his own recordings combined with his production
work made gangsta rap among the most vital pop genres of the 1990s. Born Andre
Ramelle Young in Compton, California, Dre was raised by his mother. From the
time he was four years old, he loved playing DJ at her parties. In 1981, he
heard a song by Grandmaster Flash that inspired him to change his name in
honor of basketball star Julius "Dr. J" Erving and become a full-time
DJ.
Spinning recordsDre began spinning records at a Los Angeles nightclub called
Eve After Dark. He produced the dance tapes in the club's four-track studio
during the week, then played them on the weekends. In addition to using the
rap trademarks of sampling, scratching, and drum machines, he added keyboards
and vocals. "I would put together this mix shelf," Dre told Jonathan
Gold in Rolling Stone, "lots of oldies, Martha and the Vandellas and
stuff like that. And where normally you go to a club and the deejays play
all the hit records back to back, I would put on a serious show. People would
come from everywhere, just to see Dre on the wheels of steel."In 1982,
when Dre was 17 years old, he formed the World Class Wreckin' Cru with Yella
(Antoine Carraby), his fellow DJ and manager of Eve After Dark. Dre's demo,
"Surgery," became the group's first independently released single
and sold 50,000 copies. Dre graduated from Compton's Centennial High School
in 1983. Impressed with his studies in mechanical drafting, Northrop Aircraft
offered him a job, but he turned it down. Dre discovered he could make more
money as a DJ, and all of his spare time was spent preparing for the release
of the World Class Wreckin' Cru's second album.
Ska-ting arenas
Dre
left the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1984. "They wouldn't do my songs,"
Dre said in a Death Row Records biography. "They said they'd never get
on the radio." Dre joined with Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson), who was in
a group with his cousin at the time. Together they performed live wherever
they could, including dates at skating rinks, where they played in front of
2,000 people at a time.
N.W.A.: Success and controversy. In 1985, Dre and Eazy-E (Eric Wright) decided
to start up their own record company with Eazy-E's capital and Dre's producing
talent. Dre produced the label's first project, "Boyz-n-the-Hood,"
featuring Eazy-E as the artist. They sold about 10,000 copies out of the trunks
of their cars and used the money to finance the first single for their newly
formed group, N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude). N.W.A. included Dre, Ice Cube,
Eazy-E, Yella, M. C. Ren (Lorenzo Patterson), and Arabian Prince. Dre wrote
and produced the group's first single, "Dopeman." He also produced
Eazy-E's first platinum album, Eazy-Duz-It, that same year.
N.W.A. began their controversial and successful career in 1987 with the release
of N.W.A. and the Posse on Macola Records. Two years later, the group released
Straight Outta Compton on Ruthless Records and sold more than two million
copies. Of course, the controversy behind the group and the album only assisted
in launching their sales. Milt Ahlerich, assistant director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's Office of Public Affairs, wrote a letter to the
group's parent record company objecting to the lyrics of the song "F---
tha Police." Police throughout the country added fuel to the fire by
allegedly making it standard operating procedure to pull over any car driven
by African American men blaring N.W.A. "We loved the controversy,"
Dre said in his record company biography. "It's the reason we blew up
as big as we did. It wasn't hurting us, it was helping us."Keeping his
career as a producer alive, Dre produced the D.O.C. (Tray Curry), a rapper
he had discovered in Dallas, Texas. The D.O.C.'s album, No One Can Do It Better,
became Number One on Billboard's R&B album chart, Number 20 on the pop
chart, and reached platinum sales. The track titled "It's Funky Enough"
became a Number One rap single. Dre also produced an album for his girlfriend,
Michel'le, which went platinum and reached Number One on Billboard's R&B
chart.In January of 1990, Ice Cube left N.W.A. over a financial dispute and
started a solo career. Later that year, N.W.A. released the platinum EP 100
Miles and Runnin' on Ruthless Records. The group's third album, Efil4zaggin
("Niggaz 4 Life"), hit the stores in 1991, sold over a million copies
in just two weeks, and reached Number One on Billboard's album chart. N.W.A.'s
success and controversy brought them lots of attention, and Dre began receiving
attention for his antics outside of the recording studio. On January 27, 1991,
Dre allegedly hit Denise ("Dee") Barnes, the former host of Pump
It Up, a FOX-TV show, and tried to push her down a staircase at an L.A. nightclub.
Pump It Up had aired a segment about the separation of Ice Cube and N.W.A.,
with Ice Cube and the members of the group talking about each other. N.W.A.
and Dre decided the show made them look bad. After the incident, Barnes filed
assault charges and a $22.75 million suit against Dre; he settled out of court.
Leaving Ruthless
Later
in 1991, Dre and Marion "Suge" Knight inspected Dre's contract with
Ruthless Records. Dre, the house producer at Ruthless Records, had watched
seven of the eight albums he produced go platinum. Knight claimed Ruthless
had taken advantage of Dre by paying him a substandard royalty rate and withholding
back pay. Dre left Ruthless, and Knight engineered his release from his contract
with the label. Ruthless Records president Eazy-E claimed that he only agreed
to end the contract because Knight and two other men threatened him with baseball
bats and pipes.
"I got Ice Cube his start. I also launched Eazy," Dre said in his
record company biography. "There ain't no question that N.W.A. became
what it was in large part because of my music and my producing. Me and Eazy
had agreed from Jump Street that we was to be partners. Now Eazy says he's
the owner of the record company, Ruthless. Well, let him own it then. But
I was never supposed to be signed to him or owned by him." Eazy-E filed
suits against Dre at the end of 1991 and late 1992 for racketeering and conspiracy.
A federal judge dismissed the charges on August 9, 1993.
Suge
Knight and Dre founded their own label, called Death Row Records, and searched
for major label distribution. They had Dre's first solo effort, The Chronic,
completed by the time they formed a partnership with Interscope Records in
1992. "People didn't want to take a chance on us, and it pissed me off,"
Dre said in Newsweek. "I mean, I had talent — talent that had already
been proven with huge record sales from N.W.A. — so you had to wonder
what the f--- the problem was."
Dre continued to keep his name in the press and on police records before the
release of his solo album. On June 5, 1992, Dre surrendered to police after
they had issued a warrant for his arrest on charges that he assaulted record
producer Damon Thomas. Then, in October of 1992, Dre pleaded guilty to battery
of a police officer during a May 22 brawl. He served "house arrest"
sentences for each charge, which necessitated his wearing a police-monitoring
ankle bracelet. In 1993, The Chronic arrived in stores — the first release
for Death Row Records. It sold three million copies and spent eight months
in the Top Ten of Billboard's album chart. The first single, "Nuthin'
But a 'G' Thang," sold more than a million copies, and "F--- wit
Dre Day" went gold. The Chronic featured other budding rap artists from
Dre's "posse," including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Rage, RBX, Jewell, Nate
Dogg, Daz, and Kurupt. Dre then went behind the scenes of the music video
business, following the release of the album with his directorial debut, Nuthin'
But a 'G' Thang. Dre went on to produce the debut of his brother's best friend,
Snoop Doggy Dogg. Doggystyle, released on Death Row, sold 800,000 copies in
its first week. In August of 1993, Dre and other Death Row artists headlined
a national tour that included Run-D.M.C., Geto Boys, Onyx, and Boss. The $200,000
stage show included a 14-piece band, a 1964 Impala, a makeshift liquor store,
a garage, a 10-foot skeleton, and a 42-person entourage.
A Grammy Award and a jail sentence
Dre
found himself in serious trouble in 1994. It all began on January 10, when
he led Los Angeles police through the streets on a high-speed chase. When
Dre was finally apprehended, the police found his blood-alcohol level to be
0.16, twice the legal limit in California. Since he had broken his 1993 probation,
he received an eight-month jail sentence, a $1,053 fine, four years summary
probation, and an order to complete a 90-day alcohol education program.
Later that same year, Dre received a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance.
He also produced his younger brother's debut single on Death Row's Above the
Rim compilation. By August of 1994, albums he had rapped on or produced had
sold nearly 28 million copies. On September 27, 1994, Death Row Records released
Murder Was the Case, which featured a song by Dre and Ice Cube called "Natural
Born Killaz." Dre also directed an 18-minute video, starring Snoop Doggy
Dogg, called Murder Was the Case: The Movie.Dre and Ice Cube reunited on their
album Helter Skelter. The first single, "You Don't Want to See Me,"
featured an appearance by funk founder George Clinton. However, Helter Skelter's
release was postponed due to Dre's jail sentence, which started on January
10, 1995. In the meantime, he contributed the single "Keep Their Heads
Ringin'" to the soundtrack for Friday, a comedy film starring Ice Cube.
Meanwhile changes were taking place inside Dre's head. "That was my wake-up
call because all I could do in that cell was think," he told Newsweek's
Allison Samuels and David Gates. "My mom said that going to jail was
the best thing that could have happened to me, and she was right."Dre
realized that the negative influences at Death Row were distracting him from
his number one love — making music. A maturing Dre also felt that Death
Row, constantly involved in one trouble or another, was a scene that was hindering
the positivity he was feeling in his own life as a happily married with children.
As he told Vibe, "The mentality there at Death Row is, you have to be
mad at somebody in order for yourself to feel good, even to be able to make
a record." He added, "I have nothing bad to say about anybody that's
with Death Row. It's just not my vibe."
In
1996, Dre stunned the rap world when he departed from Death Row, citing differences
in philosophy. He had once hoped that the label would expand into other genres,
including jazz, reggae, and "black" rock music. However, the irony
was that gangsta rap — spurred by his own classic, The Chronic —
continued to bring in the bucks, and according to Vibe, "Dre began to
realize that no one else was seeing his larger vision for the label."
Instead, Dre started his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, as a joint venture
with Jimmy Iovine's Interscope. Relishing his new autonomy, Dre asserted in
Vibe, "Now I'ma gonna be able to do whatever I wanna do. If it works,
it's on me. If it fails, it's on me. But I'm an innovator. I like trying things.
I take people that have a talent, mold it, make it presentable to the public,
put 'em out there, and have their back 110 percent." To do so, Dre has
recruited five black women he refers to as "Dre's Angels" because
as he told Vibe, he plans on being "unseen, just heard" like tv's
fictional character from Charlie's Angels. Later he stated in Newsweek, "black
women are the strongest most hardworking people on earth. The sh-t I talk
on records about women is just that: sh-t."
A new image?
Carrying
that tune to Aftermath, Dre's first new release was a compilation of various
hard-core hip hop and r&b artists (but no gangsta rap) entitled Dr. Dre
Presents ... Aftermath. A lot of people were waiting to see what would come
from this first effort after Dre's self-proclaimed reform. Newsweek writers
Allison Samuels and David Gates described the video of Dre's featured single,
"Been There, Done That": "a Busby Berkeleyan balroom full of
sleek couples in evening dress, all of them black, doing the tango in subtly
infernal light..." The reviewers go on to say that "Been There,
Done That" is "a remarkable departure. It's an explicit renunciation
not only of the actual violence but also of the violent language that made
him his multimillions." Although the album went platinum it didn't appeal
to Dr. Dre's fans, as he himself acknowledged: "It didn't live up to
the expectations," he said in People Weekly. "It was like 40- and
50-year-old people coming up to me going 'I really love it.' I wasn't getting
compliments from my fans."
Dr. Dre married in 1996. After spending some time doing various projects,
including learning to play jazz trumpet, he realized he wasn't being himself.
Oddly, the story is that it was his wife who spurred him into returning to
his old misogynist gangsta style. Dre describes his revelation: "Whoa,
I need to go back to the hardcore stuff. That's what I do best. That's what
makes me happy. People want to hear Dr. Dre be Dr. Dre."
The Old Dr. Dre
In
1999 Dr. Dre came back. First he signed Eminem to Aftermath and produced the
hits "My Name Is" and "Guilty Conscience" and the album
called The Slim Shady LP, which sold 3 million copies. Then he came out with
Dr. Dre 2001, his first solo album since The Chronic in 1992. Joining him
on the album are Eminem and Snoop Dogg. "With this album Dre has fashioned
a worthy successor to The Chronic, as musically intricate, lyrically salacious
and full of rolling beats and sing-along choruses as its predecessor,"
raved a People Weekly contributor. Dre says he will stick to producing in
the future, but that he had to have his say with Dr. Dre 2001. "This
is one of those 'Shut the f--- up' albums," Dr. Dre is quoted as saying
in Entertainment Weekly. "It's just a response to everyone who was out
there saying I wasn't going to make it.... The album's just a shot at those
people. Bam! Take that! This record is going to be very successful. I know
it is."
"Dre has vision," Jimmy Iovine, producer and head of Interscope
Records, commented in Dre's biography. "I believe he's one of the great
producers around today because his approach combines a lot of different worlds,
in music and life. He can reach everyone. Because of his creativity and innovation,
pushing the limits like most producers don't anymore these days — whether
in rap or rock — he deserves his own label. He's that gifted." In
Dre's own words, as reported in Vibe, "I just wanna be positive, helping
people help themselves, not saying anything bad about anyone, just being the
real Andre Young.... I'm not trying to be no gangster.... The only thing I
want to do is make records, live a comfortable life, and chill with my family."
Source by Dr.Dre.4t.com written by Abdul Razak Moussalli .