Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre’s impact on rap, hip-hop, and pop music in general is nothing short of revolutionary. His production informed the dominant trends for several decades of rap, updating the noisy clamor of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad-produced tracks by bringing in funky rhythms for his breakthrough work with his group N.W.A., single-handedly inventing G-Funk in the ‘90s by reworking George Clinton’s spaced-out party funk into something aggressive yet still commercially viable, and then abandoning the style when it became too ubiquitous by the early 2000s. Dre’s rap skills were never as impressive as his production, but he played to his strengths by giving game-changing proteges the majority of time on the mike, first introducing the world to Snoop Dogg’s laid-back charisma and then to Eminem’s staggering technical abilities. Dre’s multifaceted role in the music industry saw him forming labels Death Row and Aftermath, the latter of which released massively important records by 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, and Anderson .Paak. Along with production duties, label CEO status, and other business ventures like his celebrity headphones-turned-streaming platform Beats by Dre, the good doctor continued to slowly and steadily release music of his own as the years went by, bolstering a discography full of groundbreaking work like his 1992 debut The Chronic with projects like his 2015 full-length Compton, and his six-song EP The Contract, released in conjunction with Grand Theft Auto in 2022. Dre (born Andre Young, February 18, 1965) became involved in hip-hop during the early ’80s, performing at house parties and clubs with the World Class Wreckin' Cru around South Central Los Angeles and making a handful of recordings along the way. In 1986 he met Ice Cube, and the two rappers began writing songs for Ruthless Records, a label started by former drug pusher Eazy-E. Eazy tried to give one of the duo’s songs, “Boyz-n-the Hood,” to HBO, a group signed to Ruthless. When the group refused, Eazy formed N.W.A. — an acronym for N*gg*z With Attitude — with Dre, Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, releasing their first album in 1987. A year later, N.W.A. delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious record that became an underground hit with virtually no support from radio, the press, or MTV. N.W.A. became notorious for their hardcore lyrics, especially those of “Fuck tha Police,” which resulted in the FBI sending a warning letter to Ruthless and its parent company, Priority, suggesting that N.W.A. should watch their step. Most of the group’s political threat left with Cube when he departed in late 1989 amid many financial disagreements. While Eazy appeared to be the undisputed leader following Cube’s departure — and he was certainly responsible for the group approaching near-parodic levels with their final pair of records — the music was in Dre’s hands. On both the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin' and the 1991 album Efil4zaggin (“Niggaz4life” spelled backward), he created dense, funky sonic landscapes that were as responsible for keeping N.W.A. at the top of the charts as Eazy’s comic-book lyrics. While the group was at the peak of its popularity in 1991, Dre began to make efforts to leave the crew, especially after he was charged with assaulting Dee Barnes, the host of a televised rap show, in 1991. The following year, Dre left the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight and N.W.A. affiliate the D.O.C. According to legend, Knight held N.W.A.’s manager at gunpoint and threatened to kill him if he refused to let Dre out of his contract. Dre released his first solo single, “Deep Cover,” in the spring of 1992. Not only was the record the debut of his elastic G-funk sound, it was also the beginning of his collaboration with rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. Dre discovered Snoop through his stepbrother Warren G, and he immediately began working with the rapper — Snoop was on Dre’s 1992 debut, The Chronic as much as Dre himself was. Thanks to the singles “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang,” “Dre Day,” and “Let Me Ride,” The Chronic was a multi-platinum, Top Ten, Grammy-winning smash, and the entire world of hip-hop changed with it. For the next four years, it was virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn’t affected in some way by Dre and his patented G-funk. Not only did he produce Snoop’s 1993 debut Doggystyle, but he orchestrated several soundtracks, including Above the Rim and Murder Was the Case (both in 1994), which functioned as samplers for his new artists and production techniques, and he helmed hit records such as Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” among others, including a hit reunion with Ice Cube, “Natural Born Killaz.” During this entire time, Dre released no new records, but he didn’t need to — all of Death Row was under his control, and most of his peers mimicked his techniques. The Death Row dynasty held strong until the spring of 1996, when Dre grew frustrated with Knight’s strong-arm techniques. At the time, Death Row was devoting itself to 2Pac’s label debut, All Eyez on Me (which featured Dre on the breakthrough hit “California Love”), and Snoop was busy recovering from his draining murder trial. Dre left the label in the summer of 1996 to form Aftermath, declaring gangsta rap dead. While he was subjected to endless taunts from his former Death Row colleagues, their sales had slipped by 1997, and Knight was imprisoned on racketeering charges by the end of the year. Dre’s first album for Aftermath, the various-artists collection Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath, received considerable media attention, but the record didn’t become a hit despite the presence of his hit single “Been There Done That.” Even though the album wasn’t a success, the implosion of Death Row in 1997 proved that Dre’s inclinations were correct at the time. Dre’s de facto sophomore solo album 2001 — which scored him a second Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Forgot About Dre” — followed in 1999. That same year, Dre unveiled his next protégé, a young Detroit rapper named Eminem. Dre’s focus then shifted to work with his label and production for other artists. A third, and final, album titled Detox had been announced, but as the producer devoted time to Aftermath artists like 50 Cent and Eminem, the album suffered numerous delays. Work for the Game, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and others brought Dre to 2006 when he partnered with Jimmy Iovine and launched the celebrity headphones company Beats by Dr. Dre. After sports figures and other celebrities adopted the headphones en masse, Beats’ success skyrocketed. By 2010, the company was valued at just under a billion dollars. Dre dipped back into rapping by dropping two singles: “Kush” featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon and “I Need a Doctor” with Eminem and Skylar Grey. He continued to tease Detox, but ended up returning to the studio to focus on his next big breakout act, Compton’s own Kendrick Lamar. At the start of 2014, Beats launched a streaming music service, Beats Music. Beats was acquired by Apple Inc. later in the year, as Dre announced he was the “first billionaire in hip-hop.” In 2015, the Academy Award-nominated N.W.A. biographical drama Straight Outta Compton was released in theaters and influenced the producer to scrap Detox in favor of an LP inspired by the film. The album Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre landed that same year with Kendrick Lamar, Anderson. Paak, Ice Cube, the Game, Eminem, and many more on the guest list. With N.W.A.’s cultural resurgence and mainstream recognition of their legacy in the history of rap and hip-hop, the group received another honor for their contribution to music with their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. In December of 2021, video game Grand Theft Auto Online used six previously unreleased Dre songs in an updated version of the game. These songs were eventually released in 2022 as EP The Contract. In February of 2022, Dr. Dre performed at the Superbowl LVI half-time show with Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and others. Around this time, Dre gave interviews saying he was working on new music with Blige, as well as with Floetry vocalist Marsha Ambrosius. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine