Dr. Dre - The gangster's doctor

What do Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Anderson .Paak have in common? They all see the same doctor, Andre Romell Young. We're not talking about a physician beloved by music-world celebrities. Born in Compton, south of Los Angeles, in 1965, the man who became famous as Dr. Dre owes his middle name to his father's r'n'b group. That's how the stage name was born: the iconic doctor comes from his passion for basketball and for Julius “Doctor J.” Erving, while Dre is simply short for Andre.

A central figure for gangsta rap, and for all of hip-hop, Dr. Dre played a crucial role between the mid-Eighties and the start of the new millennium, contributing significantly to the careers of many other artists and releasing at least one landmark album under his own name, The Chronic (1992). His musical activity also extends into the music industry at large: from co-founding Death Row to the Beats headphones and speakers brand.

Let's trace the multifaceted career of Compton's most famous doctor, a serious contender for the title of most influential producer in the history of hip-hop.

From the streets of Compton: World Class Wreckin' Cru and N.W.A.

Even back in high school Dr. Dre was forced to defend himself from gang violence, while his family moved frequently. School brought little satisfaction, so he put everything into music and parties. Inspired by the early deejays and in particular by Grandmaster Flash, he started frequenting a club, the Eve After Dark, and met Antoine “Dj Yella” Carraby, with whom he produced some demos.

Concrete Roots (1994) sums up this early period, derivative of the style of pioneers from the aforementioned Grandmaster Flash to Afrika Bambaataa. The fun “No More Lies”, between electric guitars and Michel'le's scat singing, is the most memorable track.

The electro component, dominant in this very early phase, is also central to World Class Wreckin' Cru, born right at the Eve After Dark and the first successful project to feature Dr. Dre. A series of singles, especially “Juice” and “Surgery” (both from 1985), and the debut World Class (1985) cemented an underground success that continued with “House Calls” and above all “Turn Off The Lights” with Michel'le (both from 1987).

The second album, Rapped In Romance (1986), was released by Epic, an extremely powerful label in the Eighties. The aesthetic of World Class Wreckin' Cru, tied to disco music, couldn't be further from the muscular machismo awaiting Dr. Dre in the future: seeing him made up and dressed to the nines on the cover, in the wake of Michael Jackson and Prince, can be disorienting for anyone who only knew him as one of N.W.A..

The tracks, often generously long, lean on danceable rhythms and electronic arrangements that have aged very badly. The melodic naivety, the winking lyrics and the enthusiastic exhortations are at best a curiosity for anyone wanting to understand where Dr. Dre came from, since little or nothing of this experience deserves attention for any other reason.

During this period Dr. Dre also met Eric “Eazy-E” Wright and Ice Cube (who served as ghostwriter for the 1987 single “House Calls/Cabbage Patch”). It was Eazy-E who paid his bail to get him out of jail in exchange for a production for the newly formed Ruthless. “Boyz-N-The-Hood” (1987) wasn't just Eazy-E's debut single but also the start of this collaboration, later extended to the entire debut album “Eazy-Duz-It”, which wouldn't arrive until 1988: Eazy-E's only solo album released in his lifetime before his death in 1995, from AIDS.

By this album, Dr. Dre's ability to build more personal and elaborate beats had already matured significantly, proving essential to the definition of gangsta rap.

The explicit lyrics of "Still Talkin'" ride a skeletal beat crowded with scratches and samples, but the dominant template is an essential funk structure ("2 Hard Mutha's", "Eazy-Duz-It", "No More ?'s").

As much as Eazy-E is one of the godfathers of gangsta rap, neither "Eazy-Duz-It" nor the later "Str8 Off Tha Streetz Of Muthaphukkin Compton" (1996, posthumous) are masterpieces of the genre. Even so, they're commercial successes: combined, they top two and a half million copies in the US alone. There is, however, one track that rightfully enters gangsta-rap history, and it's the response Eazy-E crafts for Dr. Dre with "Real Muthaphuckkin G's", included on his second EP, "It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa" (1993). How the two came to trade such nasty words through songs, though, is a whole other story, which we'll tell in due time.

N.W.A, short for Niggaz Wit Attitudes, is born from an idea of Eazy-E's, initially taking shape as a duo with Dr. Dre. With the addition of producer Arabian Prince and, above all, rapper Ice Cube, the lineup is practically complete, but Dr. Dre also brings in his friend Dj Yella from World Class Wreckin' Cru. The compilation N.W.A. And The Posse is a commercial venture by their first label, Macola, but the masterpiece Straight Outta Compton (1988, by which point Mc Ren and The D.O.C. had also joined) makes N.W.A one of the most influential and controversial hip-hop groups of all time.

If New York is the cradle of the genre, home to its pioneers, N.W.A thrust the new sound of the Pacific Coast into the national spotlight, building on what had begun with Ice-T's epochal single "6 In The Mornin'", which dates back to 1986 and is probably the first gangsta-rap track, the label under which this new style would come to be grouped.

The depiction of life on the streets of Los Angeles, rendered violently intense by a narrative that revels in its most gruesome, immoral and illegal aspects, sits at the heart of this revolution within US hip-hop: between the electro fun of "Planet Rock" (1982) and the direct attacks on authority and common morality of Straight Outta Compton lies a paradigm shift that would also reverberate on the East Coast.

Produced by the trio of Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince, it's an album that uses relatively few elements to achieve a sharp, aggressive sound, in which funk merges with a drum machine, a Roland TR-808, decorated with scratches and samples. Already at this stage, as throughout his career, Dr. Dre would often use live instrumentation instead of sampling for his productions. Ice Cube and Mc Ren write the essential lyrics, even on the tracks rapped by Eazy-E and Dr. Dre.

The exceptional quality of this debut album is well summed up by the opening trio of tracks, a sequence of classics that reinforce one another: the identity anthem "Straight Outta Compton", the frontal assault on authority "Fuck Tha Police", and the aesthetic manifesto "Gangsta Gangsta". While the tracklist does manage to give space to the individual members, with Dr. Dre's "Express Yourself" chosen as the album's third single, the album's power is ultimately a consequence of this blazing, revolutionary opening salvo.

Standing out above everyone else, though, is Ice Cube above all, both as a rapper and as the writer behind an unprecedented criminal realism, never before delivered to listeners with such rage and intensity.

Despite the backlash against its content, and the arrival of a notorious intimidating letter from the FBI (or perhaps partly because of it), Straight Outta Compton proves to be a genuine commercial success, going on to earn triple platinum at home and an additional platinum certification in the UK. It's comedian Chris Rock's favorite rap album, as well as Sinéad O'Connor's, the first five-star rap review in magazine Rolling Stone, and one of the 100 greatest albums according to the hip-hop bible The Source.

In 1988 Dr. Dre, together with Dj Yella and Arabian Prince, produces the debut of electro-hip-hop group J. J. Fad, "Supersonic". It's a featherweight, party-oriented album that, with hindsight, inevitably sounds very Eighties.

In 1989 Dr. Dre also produces the entirety of r'n'b singer Michel'le's self-titled debut, "Michel'le". The two have known each other since she was 16 (and he was 22), and had already collaborated on "Turn Off The Lights" in 1987. They begin a troubled relationship, which produces a son but also serious episodes of domestic violence, with Dr. Dre going as far as shooting at her and frequently beating her. The ordeal will psychologically devastate Michel'le, who will eventually end up in rehab. Dr. Dre will only apologize for these events in 2015, and not all that convincingly.

Musically, "Michel'le" remains an interesting r'n'b album with electro leanings, with a delightful "No More Lies" (already mentioned) opening the show with a synth-funk track featuring phone calls and even an electric guitar solo. Another single, "Nicety", is an enjoyable if fleeting example of that blend of electro, hip-hop and r'n'b known as new-jack-swing, a style very much in vogue at the time.

Alongside this exuberant side sits a far more sentimental, conventional one, well represented by the two-part vocal harmonies of "If?". While the more danceable, lively material crystallizes a trend across a handful of fairly successful singles, the slower, more heartfelt songs blend into the broader r'n'b songbook.

The album is a success regardless, helped along by the commercial muscle of Dr. Dre and executive producer Eazy-E.

Also in 1989, Dr. Dre produces The D.O.C.'s debut, "No One Can Do It Better". Curiously removed from the gangsta world, the album steers clear of violence, explicit sex and drugs, favoring instead a more relaxed, playful approach to its subject matter, as immediately made clear by the opening "It's Funky Enough" and confirmed by the rapid-fire rapping of "Mind Blowin'", as well as by the laid-back atmosphere of "Let The Bass Go", not unlike certain Cypress Hill tracks. A double dose of energy arrives with the Run-Dmc-style rap-rock of "Beautiful But Deadly" and the frenetic "Whirldwind Pyramid", riding a swirling rhythm.

The album, still tied to the festive style of Los Angeles hip-hop before the gangsta revolution, is a curious hybrid between the carefree, playful spirit of the mid-Eighties and the slower, funkier, synth-driven productions that Dr. Dre would develop across the turn of the decade. In particular, "The Formula" is fundamental to the evolution of Dr. Dre as a producer, since it's the first track to have all the hallmarks of a new style, gangsta-funk or g-funk. Clearly inspired by the psychedelic funk of Parliament and Funkadelic, built on slow, hypnotic rhythms and arrangements that set deep basslines against high-pitched synths (which, in g-funk, also often make heavy use of portamento and glissando), this new style is a triumph of relaxation and groove, the ideal musical transposition of a postcard-perfect Californian hedonism. When Dr. Dre gets the absolute most out of this g-funk, the listener is left in a daze by a pervasive sense of wellbeing and serenity, the kind you might feel at sunset on a hot summer day, perhaps under the combined effects of alcohol and marijuana.

The debut album by Above The Law, "Livin' Like Hustlers" (1990), is also produced by Dr. Dre, in this case alongside Cold187um. Marked by a g-funk sound similar to that heard on "The Formula" and close to what would become his future solo debut The Chronic (1992), "Above The Law" is a necessary stop for understanding the birth of this style even before it was clearly codified and recognized. The title track and "Another Execution" hold some hidden gems of Dr. Dre's discography, while the closing "The Last Song" is essentially an N.W.A. track, with the group showing up as guests and stealing the scene with sheer charisma.

By the time N.W.A. released their second album, Niggaz4Life (1991, printed mirror-reversed on the cover), they were no longer the same group as on their debut: Arabian Prince had left back in 1988, but the bigger change was the absence of Ice Cube, who had walked away in 1989 over a dispute about royalty distribution; he would go on to a long and fruitful solo career with the masterpiece "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" (1990), where he showed off his skills as a writer, including politicized lyrics, establishing himself as one of the West Coast's defining rappers.

In terms of explicit lyrics, the second album is remembered for its flaunted misogyny and an obsession with describing sex that drowns in the most trivial vulgarity (one track is called "She Swallowed It", an interlude "To Kill A Hooker"). There's a taste for excess that has something punk about it, a tendency toward exaggeration that alienates those who had loved the more narrative, so to speak social, dimension of the debut.

This incarnation of N.W.A., produced by Dr. Dre and Dj Yella with greater experience and attention to detail than on Straight Outta Compton, are more arrogant and gleeful than ever.

The subtly sinister music-box melody of "Real Niggaz Don't Die" is a new identity manifesto for Black victims of police violence, while the relaxed funk of "Niggaz 4 Life" aims to promote the reclaiming of the word "nigga". While several tracks stay in line with the debut, the g-funk of "Alwayz Into Somethin'" speaks a different, more futuristic language. Among the most offensive and misogynistic tracks, the unlikely country cut "Automobile" stands out, a fanciful reworking of Parliament's "My Automobile".

The album is an immediate success and goes platinum, certified for a million copies sold.

Little else rounds out N.W.A.'s output: a 1990 EP, 100 Miles And Runnin' (with a title track that ranks among their gems), also tacked onto the reissue of Niggaz4Life, and Greatest Hits (1996), which, as the title suggests, collects their hits. Other, much later compilations attempt to map the band's legacy (The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988–1998 from 1999 being better than The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 2 from 2002 and N.W.A And Their Family Tree from 2008). Other hits compilations like The Best Of N.W.A: The Strength Of Street Knowledge from 2006 and Icon from 2014 are recommended only to completists.

Also in 1991, Dr. Dre produced "Muzical Madness" by Jimmy Z, a minor album notable for stepping substantially away from hip-hop in favor of a mix of funk and acid-jazz. Its explicitly sexual lyrics are the more erotic counterpart to what's heard on Niggaz4Life. Only "Funky Flute", a more or less explicit depiction of a blowjob, became a modest hit.

Godfather of g-funk: Death Row, Snoop Dogg and "The Chronic"

In 1991, Dr. Dre became friends with Suge Knight, with whom he co-founded the label Death Row, destined to leave its mark on hip-hop history with albums by some of the genre's biggest names. Dr. Dre's first solo single was "Deep Cover" (1992), paired with a then-debuting Snoop Dogg, for the soundtrack of Bill Duke's film of the same name. Being a double debut, for both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, it's one of the watershed singles of Nineties hip-hop.

The same year also saw the release of his debut album, the masterpiece The Chronic, which made Dr. Dre one of the world's most famous rappers and, above all, producers, with staggering commercial results: it reached triple platinum in the US in 1993 and a total of 5.7 million copies by 2015; it stayed on the Billboard Top 10 for eight months; over time it also went platinum in Canada and the UK.

This album earned Dr. Dre a Grammy. In 2019, the American Library Of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry. In the words of Kanye West (our translation):

Its strength, more than its violent and misogynistic content, monotonous as it may be, lies in an opulent, stylish sound, one that blends a shimmering nostalgia for the past with an innovative take on the concept of hip-hop: it's the total exploration of g-funk, the definitive mapping of these slow, funky beats paired with high-pitched synths and relaxed melodies.

The sixteen tracks on the album unfold as a string of productions swollen with bass and painstaking detail, more or less explicit nods to the George Clinton classics that serve as the canvas on which slowed-down gangsta-rap is painted.

The pairing of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre is crucial to the success of the whole album, because the former's laid-back style is the ideal complement to the g-funk devised by the latter. “Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')” makes that clear right away, reworking the bassline of Funkadelic's “(Not Just) Knee Deep”, one of the singles that sums up the album's aesthetic.

The strength of The Chronic, however, lies in the stellar quality of the first half of the tracklist, which continues with “Let Me Ride” and “Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang”, two more g-funk classics and among the most celebrated and widely heard singles of that era in hip-hop.

Amid the insults hurled at Eazy-E and the torrent of violent declarations, not to mention the various bitch and nigga scattered across the whole tracklist, what shines through is the rounded, full-bodied production of Dr. Dre, bent to the occasion even into hallucinatory Jamaican contaminations (“The Day The Niggaz Took Over”) and soul-blues excursions (“Lil' Ghetto Boy”), when not busy with more aggressive beats (the claustrophobic “A Nigga Witta Gun”, an ideal cross between Public Enemy and Cypress Hill).

Besides the already-mentioned Snoop Dogg, The Chronic draws on the contributions of a group of rappers who add variety to the tracks: Lady Of Rage, Warren G, the already-encountered The D.O.C, RBX, Nate Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt and singer Jewell. Another element that enriches the listen are the irreverent, goofball interludes, which take some of the edge off the album's gangsta posturing.

Following its release and the success it found with both audiences and critics, controversies over the morally questionable lyrics (to put it mildly) notwithstanding, Dr. Dre became one of the go-to producers of the moment: backed by his history with N.W.A., he had street credibility that few others could claim, and thanks to the new rappers he surrounded himself with and the g-funk sound, he also came across as innovative and different without disowning his roots. The West Coast found in Dr. Dre a reference point and a model for finally breaking free from New York's shadow.

This process is ideally completed by Dr. Dre's most important production job for another artist, Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" (1993). The album is an extraordinary commercial success and acts as a twin to The Chronic, forming a double debut album of sorts for Snoop Dogg and a kind of dual rebirth for Dr. Dre.

Crisis from too much success: the long gestation of The Chronic's follow-up

In the years that followed, his activity expanded into film scores, with Dr. Dre also producing “Natural Born Killaz” for Ice Cube and “California Love” for Tupac Shakur (both 1995). His relationship with Suge Knight had, however, soured, to the point of leading him to leave Death Row to found Aftermath amid insults from his former labelmates.

With the compilation Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath (1996) the rapper and producer tried to distance himself from the gangsta-rap he had helped found, with the single “Been There, Done That”.

I'm harder than me tryna park a Dodge

When I'm drunk as fuck

Right next to a humongous truck in a two-car garage

Hoppin’ out with two broken legs tryna walk it off

Fuck you too, bitch, call the cops

I’ma kill you and them loud-ass motherfuckin’ barkin’ dogs

And when the cops came through

Me and Dre stood next to a burnt-down house

With a can full of gas and a hand full of matches

And still weren’t found out (Right here!)

"The Next Episode", on the other hand, is a perfect example of g-funk renewal, with an infectious groove and also a punchy, staccato synth line in place of the old era's soaring, legato one.

Detoxing from success: the production career, waiting for the third album, and the Super Bowl

Having regained his standing in the scene, Dr. Dre turns his focus to his production work. He contributes to Eminem's second, era-defining album, "The Marshall Mathers Lp" (2000, 25 million copies sold), as well as numerous other hits of the period.

In 2002 Dr. Dre signs 50 Cent, in a historic collaboration mirroring that with Eminem and his Shady label. The debut "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'" (2003, nine-times platinum), and the chart-smashing single "In Da Club" (9 platinum certifications in the US, 3 in the UK, 10 in Australia, etc.) is another resounding success for the producer-turned-rapper, following Snoop Dogg and Eminem - but with hindsight, it's also the last true bet he wins as a talent scout.

His career as an artist, on the other hand, gets bogged down in projects that are announced, more or less officially, only to vanish into thin air. The third album, supposedly titled "Detox", never materializes, even though Snoop Dogg confirms to the press in 2008 that production had wrapped. Even the single meant to launch it, "Under Pressure", surfaces - as a leak. Dr. Dre, a perfectionist bordering on obsessive, states that none of the leaked material will make it onto the final version of the album.

It seems that, while unable to finish "Detox", the producer is also planning an instrumental album devoted to the planets of the solar system, "The Planets". In the meantime he produces for other artists, including rising star Kendrick Lamar.

In the end, "Detox" - or rather, the long-suffering third album - is titled Compton and arrives in 2015. It feels like a compilation, and is inspired by and tied to that same year's film "Straight Outta Compton", a biopic of N.W.A. directed by F. Gary Gray.

The album is a reunion of old and new friends (Anderson .Paak, Kendrick Lamar, The Game, Xzibit, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and others), with Dr. Dre giving more room to contributions from other producers (Focus..., Dem Jointz, Trevor Lawrence Jr., Dj Dahi, Cardiak and Theron Feemster).

This latest renewal of the gangsta gospel this time around sounds like a fresh coat of paint on the bodywork of an old Cadillac to spruce up its appeal: beats that absorb southern hip-hop and even trap, balanced out by frequent nods to the classics of the Nineties.

On a production level it's an impressive effort, and Dr. Dre has clearly worked hard on his rapping, but none of these tracks can really be considered relevant in 2015. The album's high point, "Genocide" (feat. Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosius and Candice Pillay), risks being forgotten because it's part of a project that, by its very nature, looks back nostalgically at a glorious past. The response from audiences and critics is affectionate too, though it doesn't replicate the old enthusiasm.

After five more years of reduced activity, while still producing for Eminem and others, Dr. Dre returned to the forefront of popular culture by performing at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022, joined by Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak. The performance immediately entered the annals of American television and felt like a celebration of the legacy of a producer who had essentially hung up his boots after a long, varied and fulfilling career.

Then again, since 2006 Dr. Dre has also been co-founder of "Beats Electronics", a famous headphone brand bought by Apple in 2014 for $3.4 billion; the acquisition made him one of the wealthiest musicians in the world.

Having shaped three decades of hip-hop, restoring the centrality of the producer even in an era that saw rappers take the spotlight, and having become a role model for countless artists after him, from Timbaland to Kanye West all the way to Dj Khaled, Dr. Dre seems to have given everything he had to give. There's just enough room left to throw one more party with his longtime friend Snoop Dogg on Missionary, the 2024 follow-up to the legendary "Doggystyle". A few tracks in, it's clear the two still know how to whip up effective party music, steeped in colorful hedonism and able to balance g-funk roots with livelier, bass-driven beats, pop and rock touches, and latin flourishes. They're both past fifty, yet they manage to hold their own without ever veering into self-parody, which is more than one could have hoped for going in, especially given Snoop Dogg's recent albums. The short film accompanying the release backs this up too, 12 minutes of action that don't skimp on self-deprecating humor. Reunited, somehow, the two have recaptured a bit of their old magic, though obviously without being able to replicate the tsunami-like impact that the masterpiece of 31 years ago had on all of hip-hop.