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Entertainment September 6, 2017
Spoiler alert: he wasn't able to cash in all the money he made from his records.
Andrew Romelle Young, or better known as Dr. Dre, is a rapper and record producer. His net worth is currently at $740 million, making him the third richest rapper, right under JAY-Z and P. Diddy.
Most of Dr. Dre’s fortune comes from his music career and technology, such as his Beats headphones. But where else is his money coming from?
ENTITY breaks it down for you.
In 2014, Apple bought Beats from Dr. Dre for $3 million, reports Forbes. Thanks to this, the rapper had the largest single-year payday by any living musician.
Unfortunately, Dr. Dre didn’t receive the full $3 billion payout. He only owned 25 percent of the company, so he only made 25 percent of the $3 billion, which is $750 million. And after taxes, Dr. Dre was left with around $500 million.
With money from the Apple deal, Dr. Dre bought a mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, which is worth 20 percent more now than it did when he first bought it.
But this isn’t his only property.
A year later, he sold his Hollywood Hills home for $32 million, which is almost double the amount he paid for it. He also owns a $4.8 million beachfront home in Malibu and a $2.4 million home in Woodland Hills.
Dr. Dre started out as a DJ in Compton, California, but he made a name for himself after founding the famous rap group, N.W.A., with Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Their debut album, “Straight Outta Compton” went triple platinum in 1988, selling over three million copies.
Then, Dr. Dre went solo and sold 5.7 million copies with his 1992 album, “The Chronic.” Following this success, his “2001” album sold 7.8 million copies and his “Compton” album sold over 17 million. And as a testament of his talent and success, Dr. Dre’s received 24 Grammy nominations in his career; he took six of those awards home.
After his immense success as a solo artist, he began profiting from the artists he mentored and signed on his own record label, Aftermath Entertainment. Some of the people he’s worked with include Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar.
Later in his career, Dr. Dre decided to sell 35 percent of his Aftermath stock to Interscope for $52 million. This is what put him at the no. 2 spot of Rolling Stone’s list of highest-earning artists in 2001.
The history of N.W.A was chronicled in the movie “Straight Outta Compton.” Dr. Dre grew up poor, and the movie tells the story of N.W.A’s rise to fame. This film made $60.2 million worldwide, which was a major win for Dr. Dre.
He also released his album “Compton” days before the movie came out, which boosted his sales.
Dr. Dre doesn’t keep his money to himself; he’s also known to give back to his community.
In 2013, Dr. Dre and Interscope Records’ co-founder, Jimmy Lovine, donated $70 million to the University of Southern California to create the Jimmy Lovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and Business for Innovation.
This new degree is multidisciplinary and focuses on technology. It aims to nurture the talents of skilled students dedicated to creating new art forms, technologies and business models.
In 1988, N.W.A released their album “Straight Outta Compton,” which redefined direction of hip hop. Its lyrics about the gangster lifestyle drove sales and, to this day, remains as an icon in the hip hop industry. N.W.A released their second album “EFIL4ZAGGIN” in 1991, which is when they reached peak popularity.
But due to an argument with Eazy-E, Dr. Dre left N.W.A. He went on to found Death Row Records with former bodyguard Suge Knight.
He signed major artists to his label such as Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, MC Hammer and more.
But at the time, Dr. Dre wasn’t making a lot of money, despite the fact their albums were generating tens of millions of dollars in sales.
As a producer on Ruthless Records, Eazy-E’s recording label that also released N.W.A’s records, Dr. Dre only made $86,000 in 1992.
“[Eazy] took advantage of me not knowing the record business back in the day,” Dre told Forbes.
Although Dr. Dre was generating millions of dollars, he was far from becoming an actual millionaire due to his own lack of knowledge about the record business.
But thankfully, he’s still pretty well off today.
Dr. Dre was an integral part to the popularity of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music. And coming from a poor neighborhood, Dr. Dre has proven his worth and success.
