Dr. Dre
Biography
Dr.Dre (born Andre Romel Young in Los Angeles, California February 18, 1965) is a world renowned African American producer and MC and former member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru as well as N.W.A.. Dr. Dre started his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru during the 1980s. In 1986, he and fellow World Class Wreckin' Cru member DJ Yella were founding members of N.W.A., a highly successful and controversial group that created the protoype for much of what was termed Gangsta rap in the 1990s. Dr.Dre enjoyed significant success in N.W.A., but left the group at the peak of its popularity in 1991 to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight. Dr.Dre released his first solo single, "Deep Cover " in the spring of 1992. It was the beginning of his elastic G-Funk sound. It was also the beginning of his collaboration with rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (later simply known as Snoop Dogg), a young man from Long Beach who was a member of the Rollin 20s Long Beach Crips, and who Dre met through Snoop Dogg's work with Warren G., who is Dr.Dre's stepbrother. "The Chronic" became a multi-platinum seller, making it virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn't affected in some way by Dr.Dre and his reinvented G-funk. The following year, Dr. Dre produced Snoop Dogg's debut album "Doggystyle", with similar subject matter and musical style. Doggystyle achieved phenomenal success, being the first debut album for an artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts. In 1996, the song "California Love", a highly successful collaboration with Death Row Records artist 2Pac, helped further establish Death Row Records and Dr. Dre as a major force in the music industry. By the end of the year, however, the success of Death Row Records had taken a reverse turn, following the death of Tupac Shakur and racketeering charges against Suge Knight. Foreseeing the label's collapse, Dr. Dre left Death Row Records to form his own Aftermath Entertainment label. The "Dr. Dre Presents ... The Aftermath" album, released at the end of the year, featured songs by the newly signed artists, and a solo track "Been There, Done That". The track was intended as a symbolic good-bye to gangsta rap, in which Dre suggested that he is moving on to another level of music and lifestyle. In 1997, Dr. Dre signed the aspiring Detroit rapper Eminem to his label, producing his controversial album "The Slim Shady LP" in 1999, followed by the even more successful and controversial "The Marshall Mathers LP" in 2000. The latter featured slightly less involvement by Dr. Dre. By the time "The Eminem Show" was released in 2002, Eminem was producing the bulk of his output himself. In 1999, Dre released his second solo album, "2001" (sometimes called Dr. Dre: 2001 or Chronic 2001: No Seeds and variations thereof). Once again, the album featured about as much of Dre's voice as the voices of numerous collaborators, mainly Hittman, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Eminem. The album was highly successful, thus reaffirming a recurring theme featured in its lyrics, stating that Dre is still a force to be reckoned with, despite the lack of major releases in the previous few years. Dr. Dre has also appeared in the movies Set It Off, The Wash and Training Day, though he later stated that he does not intend to pursue a career in acting. In 2003, Dr. Dre and Eminem produced the major-label debut "Get Rich or Die Tryin" for Queens, New York rapper 50 Cent, featuring the Dre-produced hit single "In Da Club". The release of Detox, which was to be Dre's final solo album, was planned for 2004. The project was declared to be cancelled for a while, as Dre decided to put all his effort into producing the artists on his Aftermath label, including Eminem, 50 Cent, Eve, Stat Quo and Busta Rhymes.
Discography
With NWA:
- N.W.A. and the Posse, Macola, 1987.
- Straight Outta Compton, Ruthless, 1989.
- 100 Miles and Runnin' , Ruthless, 1990.
- Niggaz4life, Ruthless, 1991.
Solo:
- The Chronic, Death Row, 1992.
- Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath, Aftermath, 1996.
- 2001, Aftermath, 1999.
- Detox, tba.
Hit singles
- Deep Cover (1992) (featuring Snoop Dogg)
- Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang (1993) #2 US; #31 UK
- Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') (1993) #8 US
- Let Me Ride (1993) #34 US
- Lil' Ghetto Boy (1994)
- Keep Their Heads Ringin' (1995) #10 US; #25 UK
- California Love (1996) (featuring 2Pac)
- Been There, Done That (1996)
- No Diggity (1996) (with Blackstreet)
- Ghetto Fabulous (1997) (featuring Ras Kass & Mack 10)
- Puppet Master (1997) (featuring DJ Muggs & B-Real)
- Zoom (with L.L. Cool J) (1998) #15 UK
- Just Dippin' (with Snoop Dogg) (1999)
- Still D.R.E. (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) (2000) #6 UK
- Forgot About Dre (featuring Eminem) (2000) #25 US; #7 UK
- The Next Episode (featuring Snoop Dogg) (2000) #23 US; #3 UK
- Bad Intentions (featuring Knoc-Turn'al) (2002) #4 UK
- Put It On Me (2002) (with DJ Quik)
- Crack A Bottle (2009) (with Eminem)
Videos
The Next Episode (ft. Snoop Dogg, Kurupt and Nate Dogg)
Nuttin But a G Thang (ft. Snoop Dogg)
