Dr. Dre

Eminem Shares His Love For Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Through A Message To Dr. Dre

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Kendrick Lamar’s newly released fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is this weekend’s biggest release. It’s the rapper’s first full-length release since 2017’s Damn., and the wait for a new body of work was undoubtedly seen through the project’s first-day numbers. According to Apple Music, the album earned the most first-day streams for an album released in 2022. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is also set to debut at No. 1 on the albums chart next week. Until then, fans will continue to indulge in the project, and one of those people is Eminem, who took to Twitter to share some love for the album.

In a rare tweet, Eminem praised Kendrick’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers with a message to his longtime friend and collaborator Dr. Dre. “Yo @DrDre this Kendrick album is f*cking ridiculous,” Eminem wrote. “I’m speechless.” Dr. Dre isn’t credited on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but he does own Aftermath, the label that both Kendrick and Eminem are signed to. Despite this, Eminem and Kendrick only have one collaboration together, that being “Love Game” from the former’s 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2.

As for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, it arrives with 18 songs and features from Blxst, Amand Reifer, Sampha, Taylour Paige, Summer Walker, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Sam Dew, Tanna Leone, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Kendrick also recently released a video for “N95” and it featured an appearance from Baby Keem.

You can view Eminem’s tweet in the post above.

em>Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Dr. Dre Drops $10 Million To Get His Name On Another School

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Dr. Dre donated $10 million toward a new $200-million campus for Compton High School. A performing arts center will be named after the producer/rapper and new upgrades will be added as well.  This will be the second educational establishment to carry Andre Young’s name. Hometown Support This past weekend, Dr. Dre donated $10 million toward […]

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Dr. Dre’s Billionaire Boasts Cost Him $200 Million When He Sold Beats To Apple

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Dr. Dre famously said he became hip-hop’s first billionaire (a title actually held by Jay-Z) back in 2014 when he sold Beats Electronics to Apple, but his boasting about it caused an ungodly amount to get cut from the final sale price. According to HipHopDX via The New York Times reporter Tripp Mickle’s new book, After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul, when Dre talked about the deal in a video posted on social media, Apple took the sale down $200 million due to a confidentiality clause in the initial $3.2 billion agreement.

If you don’t remember, the video was posted to Facebook by Tyrese, who was hanging out in the studio with Dre, both apparently drunk. As they shouted out South Central Los Angeles (Tyrese is from Watts, Dre is from neighboring Compton), Tyrese boasted that “the Forbes list just changed,” referring to the publication’s annual lists of top earners in the world of hip-hop. Dre backed up the brag, touting himself as “the first billionaire in hip-hop.” Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine, Dre’s partner in Beats, found out about the video from Diddy, who called him in the middle of the night after the video went up, prompting him to panic as Dre and Jimmy were invited to Apple’s headquarters by CEO Tim Cook.

They worried that the deal would get the ax, but instead, Cook used the opportunity to save Apple some money, adjusting the sale price by $0.2 billion. Ultimately, the deal worked out; Dre got to keep his boast, and Apple got to keep Beats, which is still paying off to this day. And really, what can you buy with $3.2 billion that you can’t get with $3 billion (although I’m sure he’d have loved the extra $100 million to give to his ex-wife)?

This Year’s Super Bowl Football, Signed By The Halftime Performers, Is Going Up For Auction

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Following an iconic half-time performance by Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson .Paak, a signed Wilson leather football used in Super Bowl LVI is going up for auction. The ball will contain the signatures of the lattermost five and will be sold by Heritage Auctions.

The sale will run from May 12-14. At the time of writing, the ball has a bid of $2,600. “This leather Wilson ball is signed by Dre, Em, Mary J, Anderson Paak, and Kendrick in bold black ink,” reads a description of the ball on Heritage Auctions’ website. “The autographs were acquired by our consignor at the Big Game and is one of the finest collectibles we’ve seen from the legendary show.”

Super Bowl LVI took place this past February in Los Angeles, for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg kicked off the halftime performance of “The Next Episode” from Dre’s 1999 album, 2001, before transitioning into a performance of Tupac’s “California Love.” 50 Cent then made a surprise appearance, performing “In Da Club,” recreating the song’s music video. Mary J. Blige then performed the Dre-produced “Family Affair” and the title track from her 2001 album, No More Drama. Joined by Paak on drums, Eminem then performed “Lose Yourself,” before Snoop and Dre closed out the show with a performance of “Still D.R.E.”

Mary J. Blige is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Today In Hip Hop History: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack For ‘Friday’ Dropped 27 Years Ago

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On this day in Hip Hop history, the soundtrack to the cult classic comedy Friday was released by 550 Music and Epic Records. The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart where it stood for two weeks and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop chart where it stood for six weeks. The album was just as commercially successful as the film and was certified double platinum only two months after its release.

During the 90s, it seemed that every soundtrack was a hit and the Friday soundtrack definitely followed suite. With tracks from Ice Cube, Scarface, Dr. Dre, Cypress Hill, and 2 Live Crew, the album stacked up to be an amazing compilation of original tracks and poppin’ radio singles while the addition of a few throwback from The Isley Brothers, Bootsy Collins, and Rick James gave the album theatrical depth and a sense of nostalgia. Dr. Dre’s original single for the film, “Keep Their Head Ringing”, was able to see great success due to this soundtrack. It ranked in at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA in May 1995.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack For ‘Friday’ Dropped 27 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Snoop Dogg Says Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ Is Back at Death Row Records

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After much talk about the future of Death Row Records in the hands of West Coast legend and former label signee Snoop Dogg, the talk of the imprint being the first NFT label continues, but one of the label’s biggest album’s is back home.

According to Snoop, “As far as 2Pac’s masters, 2Pac’s masters came back to him last year. But I got a great relationship with his estate, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to work something out … to continue some Death Row 2Pac business now that Snoop Dogg is in control of Death Row. Same with Dr. Dre and The Chronic. I got The Chronic album. I got Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather, Murder Was the Case, Dogg Food, Above the Rim. I got all those records.” 

Dr .Dre’s attorney released a statement saying that the Hip Hop mogul owns the rights to his biggest album to date. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Dr. Dre owns 100 percent of The Chronic,” said Howard King. 

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Snoop Dogg Has Apparently Secured The Rights To A Death Row Classic: ‘The Chronic Is Bac Home’

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Over the past few weeks, Snoop Dogg, who recently bought back the Death Row Records brand and much of its catalog, has been working to complete the collection, which was missing certain pivotal records including Snoop’s own debut Doggystyle and Dr. Dre’s debut The Chronic. Both albums were removed from streaming as negotiations continued. After some confusion over the ownership of the latter, it now appears that as of this week, The Chronic will once again appear under the Death Row banner, according to an Instagram post Snoop shared.

While no real details were revealed, that didn’t stop fans and peers in the comments from expressing their excitement, with 50 Cent predicting “something good coming from this.” Snoop previously shared plans to have Death Row become the first “major in the metaverse,” with designs on re-releasing the label’s collection of seminal hip-hop hits as NFTs. In the meantime, it looks like he’s still working out publishing profit shares for the label’s Tupac releases.

Meanwhile, Snoop remains pretty busy outside of Death Row; in addition to lending his likeness to the Call Of Duty video game franchise, he’s appearing in an NFT comic book, working with fellow California legends E-40, Ice Cube, and Too Short as Mount Westmore, and even plotting a collaboration with Korean pop band BTS.

Today in Hip-Hop History: Death Row Records’ ‘Above The Rim’ Soundtrack Dropped 28 Years Ago

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On this day in Hip-Hop history, Death Row Records in conglomeration with Interscope Records released the soundtrack to the popular film, Above the Rim. Winning the 1995 Source Award for Soundtrack of the Year, this album featured so many hits that it could have stood alone from the movie as a compilation album.

Acting as executive producers of the project, Suge Knight and Dr. Dre curated one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time. This album featured work from artists 2Pac, Warren G, SWV, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, The Lady of Rage, and more. Due to the popularity of the artists and the success of the movie, the soundtrack sold 2,000,000 copies in the year of its release and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Although it fell short on the mainstream chart, the album was able to grab hold of that #1 spot on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Here are some videos from the famed soundtrack to help jog your memory of its greatness.

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Some Death Row Albums Including ‘Doggystyle’ And ‘The Chronic’ Were Removed From Streaming Services

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Following his purchase of Death Row Records last month, it appears Snoop Dogg has removed several of the label’s albums from digital streaming platforms. Upon purchasing the label, Snoop revealed plans to transform Death Row into an “NFT label” which will operate within the Metaverse.

Among the albums missing from streaming services are Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, Dr. Dre’s debut album The Chronic, and Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food. Still available from streaming are Tupac’s All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, as Death Row no longer owns the rights to Tupac’s master recordings.

While Snoop has not confirmed that he ordered these albums’ removal from streaming services, Dr. Dre’s attorney Howard King issued a statement to Complex earlier this month, following Snoop’s acquisition of Death Row. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic,” King said. “Dr. Dre owns 100% of The Chronic.”

Over the past year, Snoop has built a large collection of NFTs, and even revealed himself as the owner of popular NFT Twitter account @CozomoMedici. Singer and prolific songwriter Sia also revealed herself as Cozomo de’ Medici’s “granddaughter” and the owner of the @BiancaMedici69 NFT Twitter account.

In addition to his venture into the NFT space, Snoop also joined FaZe Clan earlier this month as a member of the esports company’s board of directors and talent. He plans to launch a community outreach program through FaZe Clan.