André Romell Young, better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, actor and record executive. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records.
Dr Dre is a significant figure in the development of rap music. He was a founding member of the influential rap group N.W.A., which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap detailing the violence of street life (also known as Gangsta rap). He has also produced albums for and overseen the careers of some of the biggest stars in rap music, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, G-Unit, The Game, Nate Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and Eve. With tens of millions of records he has produced sold worldwide (including over 65 million with Eminem alone ), he is widely regarded as one of the most popular and powerful figures in rap music of all time.
Musically, as a producer he is credited as a key figure in the creation and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. G-funk dominated the U.S. rap charts in the period of 1992–1996, and is still considered one of the major living styles of hip hop today.
His stage name "Dr. Dre" was derived from his nickname and that of his favorite basketball athlete, Julius "Dr. J" Erving.

Early life
André Young was born in South Central, Los Angeles in 1965. His parents divorced before he was born and his mother later married Warren Griffin, Jr., father of future West Coast rapper Warren Griffin III, artistically known as Warren G.
Young started his career as a DJ, and it was at a gig at the L.A. nightclub Eve After Dark that he connected with its owner, Alonzo Williams. Williams would bring together local talent and form the World Class Wreckin' Cru and Kru-Cut Records in 1984. It was during this time with Kru-Cut that Young would first work with fellow Wreckin' Cru member (and future creative partner) DJ Yella; singer and girlfriend Michel'le, recording "Turn Off The Lights", which would become a local hit in 1987; and rapper Ice Cube, whose group C.I.A. was signed to Kru-Cut.
In addition to his work with the World Class Wreckin' Cru, Young gained a reputation as a capable mixtape DJ. On one release, "'86 in the Mix", he edited 300 hip hop records into one 60 minute mix. He continued to make and sell mix tapes at a local swap-meet in L.A. until as late as 1989, before finally dropping the practice to fully concentrate on his rap career. It was at at one of these swap-meets that he met Eazy-E.

N.W.A. and Ruthless Records
In 1986, after Young had begun to experiment in music production, he and DJ Yella left the group to join Eazy-E and Jerry Heller's fledgling label, Ruthless Records, bringing with them Michel'le and Ice Cube. After the release of the Ruthless compilation N.W.A. and the Posse (1987), the group would be joined by rapper MC Ren.
Until this point, hip-hop had been considered a relatively benign form of music and free of profanity. N.W.A. however, along with fellow west coast rapper Ice T, debuted with rhymes including profanity and gritty depictions of crime and life on the street. Propelled by the hit "Fuck tha Police", the group's first full album Straight Outta Compton became a major success, selling over 2,000,000 copies despite an almost complete absence of radio-airplay and major concert tours.

Death Row Records
Despite pioneering N.W.A.'s sound as the group's principal producer, Dr. Dre complained of unfair contracts that left him with little compensation for the group's tremendous profits (lead rapper and principal lyricist Ice Cube had left following the release of Straight Outta Compton due to similar complaints). After a dispute with Wright, Young left the group at the peak of its popularity in 1991 under the advice of friend, and N.W.A. lyricist, The D.O.C. and his bodyguard at the time, Suge Knight. Knight, a notorious strongman and intimidator, was somehow able to have Wright release Young from his contract, and using Dr. Dre as his flagship artist, founded Death Row Records after securing a distribution deal with the fledgling Interscope Records, helmed by future head of Universal Music Jimmy Iovine.
"One reason I hadn't been that interested in hip-hop is most hip-hop records sounded cheap, tinny", Iovine said later in a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "But Dre's music sounded better on my speakers than most rock records. I didn't know hip-hop, but I knew my speakers, and this was fantastic".
Young released his first solo single "Deep Cover", (also known as "187") in the spring of 1992. This was the beginning of his collaboration with Calvin Broadus, Jr., or Snoop Doggy Dogg (now known as Snoop Dogg), a promising young rapper introduced to him by his step-brother, Warren G. In 1992, Young released his debut album The Chronic under Death Row Records. Until this point, rap had been primarily party music, or angry and politically charged, and the music had consisted almost entirely of samples and breakbeats. Young ushered in a new style of rap, both in terms of musical style and lyrical content.
Artistically, The Chronic continued to describe gang life much in the same way that Young's former group N.W.A. had, but with more of a focus on women and soft drugs (hence the title of The Chronic, which refers to high-grade marijuana). The beats were slower and mellower, borrowing from late 1970s/early 1980s Funk music by George Clinton and his group Parliament. By mixing these early influences with original live instrumentation, he created a distinctive musical style later to be known as G-funk.
Although the album was initially unheralded, on the strength of singles such as "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang", featuring protege Snoop Doggy Dogg and hits like "Let Me Ride" and "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')", The Chronic became a cultural phenomenon and a multi-platinum seller, and is now widely considered to be one of rap's all-time classic albums.
It soon became virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn't affected in some way by Young. Hip-hop, which had once been a sample and break-beat centered music rising primarily form New York and other East Coast cities, began to see a shift in attention to the West Coast, where the G-funk style created by Dr. Dre was the most influential. Indeed, were it not for the influence of Dr. Dre, it's possible that the infamous "East Coast/West Coast" feud of the mid-1990s might never have even transpired, as the West would have had no competing style of rap or even many visible artists with which to contrast to New York's.
The following year, Young produced Broadus' 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. It went on to sell over 5 million copies. Young was also instrumental in the creation of other hit west coast records, including the Death Row act Tha Dogg Pound's album Dogg Food, and influenced his own step-brother Warren G's album Regulate...G Funk Era.
In 1996, just as Death Row Records was signing rapper 2Pac and positioning him as their major star, Young left Death Row Records amidst a contract dispute and growing concerns that label boss Suge Knight was corrupt, financially dishonest and out of control. In an interview with The Source shortly after his departure, Dr. Dre alluded to incidents such as Knight's beating of an engineer as pivotal in his decision to leave. He formed his own boutique label Aftermath Entertainment directly underneath Death Row's distributor, the Jimmy Iovine-helmed Interscope Records. Not long after Young's departure, the fortunes of Death Row took a dramatic turn, following the death of 2Pac and racketeering charges against Knight. Within the next few months, the label's final major star Snoop Doggy Dogg would also leave and Knight would go to prison. The label entered a steady decline, and now makes profits almost entirely off of old works recorded during its heyday.

Aftermath Entertainment
The Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath 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 Young suggested that he was moving on to another level of music and lifestyle. While initially going gold (500,000 units), the album was considered a critical disappointment by Dre's standards, failing to raise much talk of the label. Today, the compilation album is most notable for the fact that none of the artists introduced on the record went on to successful careers. In 1997, Young produced several tracks on Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album; although the album went platinum, it was met with similarly negative reviews from critics. Rumors began to abound that Aftermath was facing financial difficulties.
The turning point for Aftermath came in 1998, when Jimmy Iovine, the head of Aftermath's parent label Interscope, suggested that Young sign the white Detroit rapper Marshall Mathers, artistically known as Eminem, to Aftermath. Interscope saw promise in Mathers, but feared that the fact he was white would harm his credibility in the overwhelmingly black market of hip hop. It was hoped that pairing him with Young would help establish him as a credible star (since then, Iovine has made similar matches with artists like Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams).
One thing it made clear was that Dre's retirement from "gangsta rap" had been premature, and that rap music that commented on society's darker tendencies still resonated with the public. When Dr. Dre released his second solo album, 2001 (sometimes referred to by fans as '"The Chronic 2001") in the fall of 1999, it was an ostentatious return to his gangsta rap and g-funk roots. To prove the point, the first single "Still D.R.E." re-united Young with Death Row collaborator Snoop Dogg, and made renewed references to good marijuana and expensive cars, declaring "[I] still got love for the streets". 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, Xzibit, Nate Dogg and Eminem. The album was highly successful. It charted at number 2 on the billboard charts and has since been certified six times platinum, thus reaffirming a recurring theme featured in its lyrics, stating that Dr. Dre was still a force to be reckoned with, despite the lack of major releases in the previous few years.
Eminem's Slim Shady LP was followed by the even more successful and controversial second release, The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000. The album eventually went on to sell over 9 million copies in the U.S, and established Eminem as one of the biggest music stars in the world.
In 2000, 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, characterized by high-pitched piano and string melodies over a deep and rich bassline. The style 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 , "Break Ya Neck" by Busta Rhymes, and "Family Affair" by Mary J. Blige.
By the time Eminem's third album The Eminem Show was released in 2002, Mathers was producing the bulk of his output himself. However, Eminem's association with Dr. Dre remained a large part of Eminem's identity in rap. The Eminem Show sold over 20 million copies worldwide and was an unqualified success.
In 2003, Dr. Dre and Eminem produced the major-label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin' for Queens rapper 50 Cent, featuring the Dre-produced hit single "In da Club", as a joint production between Aftermath, Eminem's boutique label Shady Records and Interscope. On the eve of its release Dre declared it to be one of the best rap albums made in the past ten years, an opinion the record-buying public enthusiastically agreed with. The album went on to sell over 11 million albums worldwide, establishing yet another major rap star under Aftermath and the Interscope umbrella.
In early 2005, Aftermath released rapper The Game's debut album The Documentary in conjunction with Interscope and rapper 50 Cent's boutique label G-Unit Records. Propelled by the lead single "How We Do" produced by Dr.Dre and Mike Elizondo and featuring 50 Cent, the album sold 586,000 copies in its first week and eventually sold over 2 million copies in the U.S., and over 5 million worldwide, establishing yet another superstar under the Aftermath label.
Shortly after, Aftermath/Shady released 50 Cent's second album The Massacre, which fared even better, selling over 1 million records in a short week (the album was rushed out to combat bootlegging). It eventually went on to sell over 5 million copies in the U.S alone, and went on to become the second highest-selling album of 2005.
However, a falling-out between The Game and 50 Cent apparently created a rift at Aftermath. After being kicked out of 50 Cent's G-Unit group on-air during a February 2005 interview on Hot 97, the two parties engaged in what is arguably the biggest modern day feud. To date, Dr. Dre has not spoken publicly about this matter, but for whatever reason The Game's second album, released November 14, 2006, and ironically titled Doctor's Advocate, was released on Geffen Records rather than on Dr. Dre's Aftermath label, and does not feature any production from him (in a XXL interview, The Game states that his public attacks and criticisms against Aftermath labelmate 50 Cent went against Dr. Dre's wishes, and is what led to the falling out). On the title track, The Game emotionally apologizes to Dr. Dre for disobeying his word. In a November 2006 interview with the website Allhiphop.com, The Game stated that he recently spoke with Dr.Dre via telephone, and that Dre congratulated him on his new album and wished him the best. He has also vowed that he will work with his mentor Dr. Dre again, although to date there are no quotes available from Dr. Dre himself that confirm either of these claims.
Dr. Dre has also appeared in the movies The Wash and Training Day. He later stated that he does not intend to pursue a career in acting, however he did compose the music for Bad Boys 2. Dre also appeared on two other songs "On the Blvd." and "The Wash" along with his co-star Snoop Dogg.

Recent events
Dr. Dre is considered a perfectionist by many who have worked with him, and while some projects he has worked on have come together relatively quickly, he is often notoriously slow releasing announced albums. Among planned but never released albums are a full length reunion with Snoop Dogg titled Breakup to Makeup, an album with fellow former N.W.A member Ice Cube which was to be titled Heltah Skeltah, an N.W.A reunion album, and a joint album with fellow producer Timbaland to be titled Chairmen of the Board. To date, none of these albums have come to fruition.
Perhaps the best-known of these delayed releases is that of his planned final solo album, Detox, which was first announced around 2000. In 2004, he declared the project cancelled, as he decided to put all his effort into producing the artists on his Aftermath label, including Eminem, 50 Cent, Eve, Stat Quo and Busta Rhymes, and to spread the completed Detox tracks to their albums. However, in November 2004, Dr. Dre and Interscope confirmed that Detox was still in the works and is currently scheduled to be released in the autumn of 2007. On Eminem's song "Encore", which features Dr. Dre, he says "Aftermath... 2006...and don't worry about that Detox-album...we gon' make Dre do it." Also, in The Game's 2005 song "Higher", Dr. Dre makes a brief appearance to announce, "Look out for Detox". In a video on Bishop Lamont's myspace page, a video with Dr. Dre and Lamont in the interview confirmed that Detox will be released in September of 2007.
Currently, Dre is working with Raekwon on his album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. Other albums he has worked on are Young Buck's Buck the World, Bishop Lamont's The Reformation, 50 Cent's Curtis, Chauncey Black's Church Boy, Papoose's The Nacirema Dream and albums for Eve and G.A.G.E.. It is also said that he has produced some tracks on Lil Wayne's new album Tha Carter III.
In February 2007, it was announced that Dr. Dre would produce "Dark Comedies" and Horror films for New Line-owned company Crucial Films, along with longtime video director Phillip Atwell. Dr. Dre announced "This is a natural switch for me, since I've directed a lot of musicvideos, and I eventually want to get into directing".
He has also stated a movie production company called Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films with Eminem, The company has worked on 50 Cent's debut movie Get Rich or Die Tryin' And will work on Eminems next movie Have Gun — Will Travel.

Wealth
Young has been a regular on Rolling Stone magazine's "Annual 50 Richest Rock Stars" list since its first installment in 2001. In 2001, he earned $51.9 million U.S., including $35 million from the sale of 30% of his share of Aftermath records to parent label Interscope.
In Rolling Stone's 2004 list, it was reported that Young charges a "Friends and Family" rate of $75,000 for artists affliated with him. On top of the flat fees, he earns an additional 5% production royalty and label profits for Aftermath artists.
For outside work, his rate is considerably higher. Rolling Stone reported that he earned $2 million for his work on the hit Mary J. Blige song "A Family Affair" in 2001, and that he earns roughly $250,000 per track for co-production on songs such as Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl". His personal wealth is estimated by the website panachereport.com to exceed $150 million, making him number 6 on their "Top Ten Richest People in Hip Hop 2006" list

Work ethic
Dr. Dre has stated that he is a perfectionist, and is known to push the artists he records with to give flawless performances. As he told Scratch magazine in 2004, "You got to come in and go to work, man...you're not going to work harder than me. The harder you work, the harder I'm going to work." In 2006, Dubcnn.com mentioned during an interview with Snoop Dogg that Dre had made new artist Chauncey Black re-record a single bar of vocals 107 times. Snoop replied, "[T]hat's just how he gets down. I went and did a song with the nigga, the nigga made me do each word, word for word, until I got it right".
Dr. Dre has stated that his famous collaborator Eminem is a fellow perfectionist, and attributes his success on Aftemath to his like-minded work ethic. As he told Scratch in the same interview, "[H]e came in, and he works his ass off. Everybody that came in the studio and really put their thing down, and really put it together has been successful with me. Everybody else that I've worked with that's slacking ends up having to go to somewhere else to do their thing". Some speculate that Dre might be OCD
A consequence of this perfectionism is that some artists that initially sign deals with Dre's Aftermath label never release albums. In 2001, Aftermath released the soundtrack to the movie "The Wash". featuring a number of Aftermath acts such as Shaunta, Daks, Joe Beast and Toi. To date, none have released full-length albums on Aftermath and have apparently ended their relationships with the label and Dr. Dre.

Controversies
Ruthless Records
When Dr. Dre started Death Row, he had left Ruthless Records, which was owned by his former N.W.A. group mate Eazy-E and their manager Jerry Heller who had been accused of stealing money from him and the group. As a result, Dr. Dre left, and on his debut album, The Chronic, he insulted them on the tracks "Fuck wit Dre Day" with the assistance of his new protégé Snoop Dogg, "Bitches Ain't Shit", and "Puffin' on Blunts and Drankin' Tanqueray". The next year, Eazy-E responded on his album It's on (Dr. Dre) 187 Um Killa with the songs "Real Muthaphuckkin G's", "Still a Nigga", and "It's on". The feud grew to embroil most artists on both labels.
Luke Campbell
This feud started when Luke antagonised N.W.A. on one of his videos and as a response Dr. Dre, and his new ally Snoop Dogg, attacked him on the track "Dre Day". Campbell responded with "Cowards in Compton". The video was a parody of Dr. Dre's hit "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang". Snoop Dogg responded on the second verse of his song "Tha Shiznit".
Death Row Records
With all the controversy and madness that surrounded Death Row, Dr. Dre left soon after to start Aftermath Entertainment. However, many artists on the Death Row label felt offended when Dr. Dre left Death Row and released several diss songs. 2Pac felt he had not been fair to them and Snoop Dogg when he had not gone to Snoop Dogg's murder case. This led 2Pac to attack him on "Toss It Up", "Fuck Friends" and "Against All Odds". However, dispite this Dre rapped the lines "pussy you're not pac/i knew him/pac was a real nigga/you're just a fucking insult to him" in his song with Obie Trice and Eminem called "Shit Hits The Fan" on Obie Trice's album Cheers, these comments were aimed at Ja Rule. Daz Dillinger believed Dr. Dre had taken credit for productions he had done so Dillinger attacked Dr. Dre on the track "Don't Try To Play Me Homie". J-Flexx, Dr. Dre's former ghostwriter, who believed that Dr. Dre had cheated him out of his money, assailed him on a parody of Dr. Dre's hit "Been There, Done That", called "Who Been There, Who Done That". Later after 2001 Royce Da 5'9, another one of dre's ghostwriters also dissed him

Discography
With N.W.A.
1987: N.W.A. and the Posse
1988: Straight Outta Compton
1990: 100 Miles and Runnin'
1991: Efil4zaggin
Solo albums
1992: The Chronic
1999: 2001
2008: Detox

Filmography
1996 - Set It Off
2000 - Up In Smoke Tour
2001 - Training Day
- The Wash