NEWS
EVENTS
Hip-Hop Legend: Dr Dre
RnB/Hip Hop | Thursday 26th November 2015 | Tom
Andre Young, more famously known as ‘Dr. Dre’ is one of the biggest names in the music industry. Born to humble beginnings in Compton, Los Angeles, Dre is touted as being both Hip-Hop’s richest man and it’s most successful producer.
During the 1990’s Dr. Dre pioneered the construction of a unique Californian sound, this sound was to become known as ‘Gangsta-funk’, or ‘G-funk’. G-funk gained popularity following Dre’s 1992 album, ‘The Chronic’. The Chronic was hugely successful, selling 5.7 million copies in the United States alone, and it was widely regarded as one of the most-well produced albums of all time.
The success of The Chronic laid the foundation for Dre’s career, although he had tasted previous success alongside Eazy-E and Ice Cube in the group N.W.A, the sounds Dre presented in The Chronic changed the Hip-Hop scene forever.
Following The Chronic Dr. Dre went on to both produce and feature in songs for an exhaustive list of huge artists, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tupac Shakur, 50 Cent, Eminem, Nas and Gwen Stefani.
Dre’s abilities as a producer are undeniable, however, it's also his business acumen that elevates him to the status of ‘Hip-Hop Legend’. In 2008 Dr. Dre released his own line of headphones: ‘Beats by Dr. Dre’, Dre then went on to sell the company to Apple in 2014 for a reported $3 Billion. This deal took Dre to the top of the Hip-Hop rich list, knocking P. Diddy off the top spot.
Dr. Dre’s early career and the time he spent in N.W.A was illustrated in the 2015 film ‘Straight Outta Compton’. The film explains Dre’s teenage years and his time spent in the music industry leading up to his work with Snoop Doggy Dogg, Straight Outta Compton received a positive reaction and was a box office success.
Following an illustrative career making hits Dr. Dre announced that his album ‘Compton’, released alongside the movie would be his last. Instead spending time to work on his business ventures and with other artists.
Facts
In 2014 Dr. Dre earned $20 per second.
Dr. Dre become interested in making a career out of music after listening to Grandmaster Flash.
Dre’s album ‘2001’ was his best selling album ever, going sextuple platinum.
He donated the money made from his final album ‘Compton’ to a performing arts facility in the city.
When he was beefing with Eazy-E, E pried into his past, and dug up some rather embarrassing photos from when Dre was in a rather non-macho group.
