Dr. Dre, byname of André Romelle Young, (born February 18, 1965, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), American rapper,  hip-hop producer, and entrepreneur who helped popularize the gangsta rap subgenre.

Born to teenage parents who aspired to singing careers, André Young took the stage name Dr. Dre in the early 1980s. He performed as a hip-hop deejay and as part of the group World Class Wreckin’ Cru at clubs and parties in Los Angeles’ south-central district. In 1986 he founded N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) with fellow rappers Eazy-E and Ice Cube. The group’s second album, Straight Outta Compton (1988), was a breakthrough for the nascent gangsta rap movement, featuring explicit descriptions (and often glorifications) of street violence and drug dealing. While Dre appeared prominently as a rapper in N.W.A, his most-lauded role was as a producer, crafting ambitiously noisy, multilayered sonic collages to back the group’s inflammatory lyrics.