Dr. Dre is the stage name of Andre Romell Young, an American rapper and record producer born on February 18, 1965. He co-founded, co-owned, and served as president of Death Row Records before becoming the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. In 1985, Dr. Dre joined the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and eventually rose to stardom with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized graphic hip-hop lyrics that described street brutality. Early in the 1990s, West Coast G-funk, a hip-hop style distinguished by a synthesizer basis and sluggish, heavy beats, was created and popularized in large part because of Dre.
Dre became one of the best-selling American musicians of 1993 thanks to the success of his 1992 Death Row Records solo debut studio album The Chronic. He received multiple honors for the single “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for the song “Let Me Ride.” He also mentored producers like his stepbrother Warren G, whose debut album Regulate…G Funk Era in 1994 went multi-platinum, Snoop Dogg’s cousin Daz Dillinger, whose debut album Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound in 1995 went double-platinum, and up-and-coming producers Sam Sneed and Mel-Man. That same year, he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Doggy Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle. Dr. Dre resigned from Death Row Records in 1996 in order to launch his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. In 1996, he created the compilation album Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath, and in 1999, he issued the solo album 2001.
Dre concentrated on producing other musicians in the 2000s while occasionally singing their songs. He co-produced their albums and signed 50 Cent and Eminem in 1998. Numerous other rappers, including the D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Knoc-turn’al, the Game, Kendrick Lamar, and Anderson. Paak has had albums produced for them and their careers managed by him. Dre has appeared in films including Set It Off, The Wash, and Training Day as an actor. He has earned seven Grammys, including Non-Classical Producer of the Year. He came in at number 56 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. With an estimated net worth of $800 million as of 2018, he was the second-richest person in hip-hop.
