Andre Romelle, known as Dr. Dre is a fifty-five-year-old rapper, songwriter, and actor from Compton. He was born on February fifteenth, 1965, his family was constantly moving from one part of Compton to another which forced him to change schools. Romelle became a DJ by going to a regular club and watching some DJs perform their craft, and he fell in love with it. He referred to himself as Dr. J while performing in the club, but soon took up te name Dr. Dre. After a short while, he started recording music in a free studio given to him by a club he was performing in.
Andre would then join the rap group, Wrecking crew and together they made their hit song, Surgeries with Romelle as the DJ and producer of the song. While in school, he met a young aspiring rapper named Jackson O’ shea who wrote a lot of rap music. Together, they started writing songs for the local Ruthless Records. While recording there, they met the record boss Eazy. After writing and recording their intro song, they formed the NWA, the famed rap supergroup. The group pioneered Gangster rap and introduced lyrical content in rap. The group’s intro album reached great National recognition and great commercial success. After Ice Cube left the group because of monetary issues, Andre did most of the writing and performing of the NWA.
Arguments with Eazy made Andre leave the group and founded Deathrow’s label with former writer Suge. A bodyguard of Suge intimidated Eazy into releasing from the Ruthless group. Dre did a collaboration with the rap superstar, Snoop Dogg, to produce their hit song, a title cover for the movie The Deepest Covers. Soon, Deathrow’s signed another rap legend, Tupac and Romelle grabbed the opportunity to do a hit song with the legend. The song dominated the hip hop charts. In 1996, Andre left Deathrow’s in a heated dispute which left death rows in a bad place, after their lead act, Tupac died. Some label’s artists tried dissing Dre’s new label, Aftermath, but they were issued a court order restraining them.
The aftermath was facing serious chances of going bankrupt but after Andre brought Eminem in Aftermath, it bounced back on its feet. The label released Slim’s album which was a commercial and critical success, debuting at number two on the charts. He later went on to release another album 2001, which went on to win a Grammy. He produced Eminem’s album Marshal Mathers LP, which became the fastest-selling rap album ever to date. The album brought back the success that Aftermath had. After releasing several successful albums, Dr. Dre was awarded as the producer of the decade by billboard and won a Grammy. In 2008, Andre dropped his first-ever beats by Dre headphones and launched his company beats by Dre. The headphone’s phone became a commercial success being used all over the world. He still is the CEO of beats and much of his wealth comes from there, and the rest of his money comes from royalties from the songs he made while still in NWA and his singles. Andre is stated as one of the most influential rappers and music figures being credited for the success and fame of people like Eminem, 50 cents, and Nate Dogg.
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