Comprehensive information and links about Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre This article is about the Los Angeles rapper and producer Dr. Dre. For the New York radio and television presenter, see Doctor Dre on February 18, 1965, in Compton, Los Angeles, CaliforniaDr. Dre is an African-American record producer, rapper, and record executive, and is one of the wealthiest, most influential, most successful and well-known producers in the field of hip hop music.

Dre became famous as a member of iconic gangsta rap group N.W.A, continuing his success as a best-selling solo rapper, and most famously, the founder of record labels Death Row Records and Aftermath Entertainment. He is notable for having launched the careers of rap superstars Snoop Dogg and Eminem, and is widely regarded as one of hip hop's greatest producers. The artists on his sizeable Aftermath roster today include multi-platinum artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent, and more recently Busta Rhymes, Eve, The Game and of course Dr. Dre himself.

Dr.Dre has made only 2 albums in solo, The Chronic and 2001.

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Biography

Dr. Dre started his producing career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru during the first half of the 1980s. In 1986, he and fellow World Class Wreckin' Cru member DJ Yella were two of the founding members of N.W.A, a highly successful and controversial group which created the prototype for much of what was termed "gangsta rap" in the 1990s. On the other hand, Dre's rapping and image was still very much evolving at the time. Take, for example, his verse on the song "Express Yourself" off the album

(NWA, "Express Yourself")

Dr. Dre enjoyed significant success in N.W.A.. After a dispute with Eazy-E, a founding member of N.W.A. and Ruthless Records, Dre 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,"(AKA 187) in the spring of 1992. This was the beginning of his collaboration with rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (who is now simply known as "Snoop Dogg", following his departure from Death Row Records,) a young man who had recorded some homemade tapes with Dre's stepbrother Warren G. Warren G played Dre some of Snoop's mixtapes and Dre arranged a meeting with the young man, beginning a lifelong association. Snoop's voice appeared on Dre's 1992 debut album as much as Dre's did. Thanks to the single "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang," and hits like "Let Me Ride" and "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Every became a multi-platinum seller, making it virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn't affected in some way by Dr. Dre. Shortly after its release, The Chronic became one of the biggest-selling hip hop albums in history. The song "Let Me Ride" won Dre the 1993 Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance. "The Chronic" was followed shortly by a string of multi-platinum albums from Dre’s protégés, including Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggy 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 artist Tupac Shakur, helped further establish Death Row and Dr. Dre as a major force in the music industry. By the end of the year, however, the success of Death Row 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 to form his own Aftermath Entertainment label. The album, released at the end of the year, featured songs by the newly signed Aftermath 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 life. While going platinum, the album was considered a commercial disappointment by Dre's standards, and was a critical failure as well.

In 1997, Dre produced ; while also going platinum, the album met with similarly negative reviews from critics.

The turning point for Aftermath came in 1998, when Dre signed aspiring Detroit rapper Eminem to his label, producing his controversial album in 2000. Though he was heavily involved in the latter, producing five beats with collaborator Mel-Man, by the time featured substantially increased production involvement from Dre.

He released his second solo album, ), or more often simply '2001' in 1999. Once again, the album featured about as much of Dre's voice as the voices of numerous collaborators, including Devin the Dude, Hittman, Snoop Dogg, 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.

In 2000, Dr. Dre won the Grammy award for Producer Of The Year, for his work on "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "2001". The albums followed a new musical direction, characterised by high-pitched piano and string melodies over a deep and rich bassline. The was also prominent in his following production work for other artists, including hits such as "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve and Gwen Stefani (whom he would produce again on the Stefani and Eve track "Rich Girl"), "Break Ya Neck" by Busta Rhymes, and "Family Affair" by Mary J. Blige.

Dr. Dre has also appeared in the movies , though he later stated that he does not intend to pursue a career in acting. A song of his, "Bad Intentions" (featuring Knoc-Turn'Al) and produced by Mahogany, was featured on the soundtrack to . Dre also appeared on two other songs "On the Blvd." and "The Wash" along with his co-star Snoop Dogg.

In 2003, Dr. Dre and Eminem produced the major-label debut for Queens rapper 50 Cent, featuring the Dre-produced hit single "In Da Club."

The release of , 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, The Game, Stat Quo, and Busta Rhymes; former N.W.A member Ice Cube is currently negotiating a contract with the label. However, in November 2004, Dre and Interscope confirmed that was still in the works and is currently scheduled to be released in late 2006. On the Eminem song "Encore", featuring Dre himself, Eminem mentions that the Eminem crew will "make" him do the album. Dre will also be producing Snoop Dogg's next album, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" (1993) #2 US (Platinum), #31 UK (1994 release, and double A-Side with "Let Me Ride" in the UK)"California Love" (2Pac feat. Dr. Dre) (1996) (also featuring talk box-filtered lyrics by Roger Troutman) #1 US, #6 UK, #4 AUS