Dr Dre is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and was the president of Death Row Records.
95 Facts About Dr Dre
2.
In 1996, Dr Dre left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment.
3.
Dr Dre produced a compilation album, Dr Dre Presents the Aftermath, in 1996, and released a solo album, 2001, in 1999.
4.
Dr Dre signed Eminem in 1998 and 50 Cent in 2002, and co-produced their albums.
5.
Dr Dre has had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The Wash, and Training Day.
6.
Dr Dre has won seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.
7.
Dr Dre was the second-richest figure in hip hop as of 2018 with an estimated net worth of $800 million.
8.
Lisa Johnson, the mother of three of Dr Dre's children, stated that he beat her many times, including while she was pregnant.
9.
Former labelmate Tairrie B claimed that Dr Dre assaulted her at a party in 1990, in response to her track "Ruthless Bitch".
10.
Dr Dre was born Andre Romelle Young in Compton, California, on February 18,1965, the son of Theodore and Verna Young.
11.
Dr Dre's parents married in 1964, separated in 1968, and divorced in 1972.
12.
In 1976, Dr Dre began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School.
13.
Dr Dre has said that he was mostly raised by his grandmother in the New Wilmington Arms housing project in Compton.
14.
Dr 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.
15.
Dr Dre attempted to enroll in an apprenticeship program at Northrop Aviation Company, but poor grades at school made him ineligible.
16.
Dr Dre subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name "Dr J", based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player.
17.
Dr Dre later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin' Cru, which released its debut album under the Kru-Cut label in 1985.
18.
In October 1996, Dr Dre performed "Been There, Done That" on Saturday Night Live.
19.
In 1997, Dr Dre produced several tracks on the Firm's The Album; it was met with largely negative reviews from critics.
20.
Dr Dre produced three songs and provided vocals for two on Eminem's successful and controversial debut album The Slim Shady LP, released in 1999.
21.
Dr Dre co-produced six tracks on Eminem's landmark Marshall Mathers LP, including the Grammy-winning lead single, "The Real Slim Shady".
22.
Dr Dre later assisted in the production of Bilal's second album, Love for Sale, which Interscope controversially shelved because of its creative direction.
23.
Dr Dre was the executive producer of Eminem's 2002 release, The Eminem Show.
24.
Dr Dre 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".
25.
In 2002, Dr Dre signed rapper 50 Cent to Aftermath in a joint venture between Interscope and Eminem's Shady Records.
26.
Dr Dre served as executive producer for 50 Cent's commercially successful February 2003 debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
27.
Dr Dre produced or co-produced four tracks on the album, including the hit single "In da Club".
28.
Eminem's fourth album since joining Aftermath, Encore, again saw Dr 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.
29.
Dr Dre produced tracks for the rap albums Buck the World by Young Buck, Curtis by 50 Cent, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment by Snoop Dogg, and Kingdom Come by Jay-Z.
30.
Dr Dre appeared on Timbaland's track "Bounce", from his 2007 solo album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value alongside, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake.
31.
On December 15,2008, Dr Dre appeared in the remix of the song "Set It Off" by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall ; the remix debuted on DJ Skee's radio show.
32.
At the beginning of 2009, Dr 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 and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week of February 12,2009.
33.
The song leaked prior to its intended release in an unmixed, unmastered form without a chorus on June 16,2010; 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 Detoxs recording process, would not appear on the final version of the album.
34.
On November 14,2011, Dr Dre announced that he would be taking a break from music after he finished producing for artists Slim the Mobster and Kendrick Lamar.
35.
On January 9,2012, Dr Dre headlined the final nights of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2012.
36.
Several musicians closely affiliated with Dr Dre, including Snoop Dogg, fellow rappers 50 Cent, the Game and producer DJ Quik, had 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.
37.
Dr Dre revealed that he suffers from social anxiety and due to this, remains secluded and out of attention.
38.
Dr Dre was the executive producer on the album, as so its follow-up, 2019's Ventura.
39.
Dr Dre was the executive producer of Eminem's 2020 release, Music To Be Murdered By.
40.
Dr Dre produced two songs on the deluxe edition of the album, Side B, and appeared on the song, "Gunz Blazing".
41.
On September 30,2021, it was revealed that Dre would perform at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
42.
In December 2021, an update for the video game, Grand Theft Auto Online, predominantly featured Dr Dre and added some of his previously unreleased tracks which was released as an EP, The Contract, on February 3,2022.
43.
Around this time, Dre announced he was collaborating with Marsha Ambrosius on Casablanco, and with Mary J Blige on an upcoming album.
44.
Later that year, Snoop Dogg announced that him and Dr Dre are in the process of recording their new album, Missionary.
45.
On February 13,2022, Dr Dre performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J Blige, with surprise appearances from 50 Cent and Anderson.
46.
In September 2022, it was reported that Dr Dre will compose the original score for the upcoming animated series, Death for Hire: The Origin of Tehk City.
47.
Dr Dre made his first on screen appearance as a weapons dealer in the 1996 bank robbery movie Set It Off.
48.
In 2006, Dr Dre co-founded Beats Electronics with his partner, Jimmy Iovine.
49.
HP and Dr Dre announced the deal on October 9,2009, at a press event.
50.
Dr Dre became an Apple employee in an executive role, and worked with Apple for years.
51.
In June 2017, it was announced that Dr Dre has committed $10 million to the construction of a performing arts center for the new Compton High School.
52.
In 2002 and 2003, Dr Dre appeared in TV commercials for Coors Light beer.
53.
In 2010, Dr Dre had a cameo in a commercial for HP laptops that featured a plug for Beats Audio.
54.
An urban legend surfaced in 2011 when a Tumblr blog titled Dr Dre Started Burning Man began promulgating 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, which had not existed before his participation.
55.
Dr Dre is noted for his evolving production style, while always keeping in touch with his early musical sound and re-shaping elements from previous work.
56.
From Straight Outta Compton on, Dr Dre uses live musicians to replay old melodies rather than sampling them.
57.
Dr Dre is receptive of new ideas from other producers, one example being his fruitful collaboration with Above the Law's producer Cold 187um while at Ruthless.
58.
Musical themes included hard-hitting synthesizer solos played by Wolfe, bass-heavy compositions, background female vocals and Dr Dre fully embracing 1970s funk samples.
59.
Dr Dre used a minimoog synth to replay the melody from Leon Haywood's 1972 song "I Wanna Do Somethin' Freaky to You" for the Chronic's first single "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" which became a global hit.
60.
In 1994, starting with the Murder was the Case soundtrack, Dr Dre attempted to push the boundaries of G-funk further into a darker sound.
61.
Dr Dre recruited keyboardist Camara Kambon to play the keys on "Been There, Done That", and through Bud'da and Sam Sneed he was introduced to fellow Pittsburgh native Melvin "Mel-Man" Bradford.
62.
For every song on 2001, Dr Dre had a keyboardist, guitarist and bassist create the basic parts of the beat, while he himself programmed the drums, did the sequencing and overdubbing and added sound effects, and later mixed the songs.
63.
Dr Dre cites 1970s funk musicians such as George Clinton, Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield as his primary musical influences.
64.
Dr Dre stresses the importance of equalizing drums properly, telling Scratch in 2004 that he "used the same drum sounds on a couple of different songs on one album before but you'd never be able to tell the difference because of the EQ".
65.
Dr Dre uses the digital audio workstation Pro Tools and uses the software to combine hardware drum machines and vintage analog keyboards and synthesizers.
66.
Dr Dre 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.
67.
Dr Dre threw me into the mix, and I sort of tapped on a new flavor with my whole piano sound and the strings and orchestration.
68.
Every Dr Dre track begins the same way, with Dr Dre behind a drum machine in a room full of trusted musicians.
69.
Paak praised Dr Dre in a 2016 interview with Music Times, telling the publication that it was a dream come true to work with Dre.
70.
On December 15,1981, when Dr Dre was 16 years old and his then-girlfriend Cassandra Joy Greene was 15 years old, the two had a son named Curtis, who was brought up by Greene and first met Dr Dre 20 years later.
71.
In 1990, Porter sued Dr Dre, seeking $5,000 of child support per month.
72.
From 1987 to 1996, Dr Dre dated singer Michel'le, who frequently contributed vocals to Ruthless Records and Death Row Records albums.
73.
In 1996, Dr Dre married Nicole Threatt, who was previously married to basketball player Sedale Threatt.
74.
In 2014, Dr Dre purchased a $40 million home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles from its previous owners, NFL player Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
75.
Hours after his admission to the hospital, Dr Dre's home was targeted for an attempted burglary.
76.
In December 2021, Dr Dre finalized his divorce from Nicole Threat for a reported sum of $100 million of his estate.
77.
Dr Dre has been accused of multiple incidents of violence against women.
78.
Subsequently, Dr Dre was fined $2,500, given two years' probation, ordered to undergo 240 hours of community service, and given a spot on an anti-violence public service announcement on television.
79.
In March 2015, Michel'le, the mother of one of Dr Dre's children, accused him of subjecting her to domestic violence during their time together as a couple, but did not initiate legal action.
80.
Dr Dre threatened a lawsuit against Lifetime, Sony Pictures and filmmakers of Surviving Compton in a cease and desist, but never ultimately took action.
81.
Former labelmate Tairrie B claimed that Dr Dre assaulted her at a post-Grammy party in 1990, in response to her track "Ruthless Bitch".
82.
The discussion about the film led to Dr Dre addressing his past behavior in the press.
83.
In November 2020, she filed legal claims that Dr Dre engaged in verbal violence and infidelity during their marriage.
84.
Dr Dre stated that he tore up their prenuptial agreement that he wanted her to sign out of anger.
85.
Dr Dre's representative responded, calling her claims of infidelity and violence in their marriage "false".
86.
Between the spring and summer of the year, Dr Dre was ordered by the Los Angeles County judge to pay his ex-wife over $300,000 a month in spousal support.
87.
In July 2021, Dr Dre was ordered by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge to pay an additional $293,306 a month to estranged wife in spousal support starting August 1 until she decides to remarry or "further order of the Court".
88.
That same month, Dr Dre was officially deemed "single" by the judge.
89.
Dr Dre pleaded 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.
90.
Dr Dre was ordered to pay a $1,053 fine and attend an alcohol education program.
91.
Knight immediately went on CBS's The Late Late Show to deny involvement and insisted that he supported Dr Dre and wanted Johnson charged.
92.
On May 8,2018, Dr Dre lost a name trademark filing to a Pennsylvania gynecologist named Draion Burch, who previously filed a trademark petition in 2015 to use his nickname, Dr Drai, which has the similar pronunciation.
93.
Dr Dre is currently working for UberEats and DoorDash, and she works at warehouse jobs.
94.
Dr Dre is living in debt in her SUV while her children are living with friends.
95.
Dr Dre has allegedly stopped supporting LaTanya financially since January 2020 because she has "spoken about him in the press".