Dr. Dre says he's doing 'great' after suffering possible brain aneurysm (2024)

Dr. Dre was undergoing medical treatment Tuesday after being admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with a possible brain aneurysm, two sources familiar with his condition said.

The legendary rap artist and producer turned music mogul was considered to be in stable condition at the Los Angeles hospital after undergoing testing, according to one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to discuss the medical matter.

The rapper, 55, whose real name is Andre Young, rose to fame with N.W.A from the streets of Compton and went on to become a top producer and the cofounder of Beats Electronics, a venture that made him a billionaire. After TMZ.com revealed that Dre was hospitalized, N.W.A cofounder Ice Cube tweeted, “Send your love and prayers.”

Dre, according to a source, had been in the intensive care unit at one point.

On Tuesday evening, he released a statement on his Instagram account, which read in part: “I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team. I will be out of the hospital and back home soon. Shout out to all the great medical professionals at Cedars.”

The medical emergency comes amid an escalating divorce battle with his longtime spouse, Nicole Young, who is seeking $2 million a month in spousal support and $5 million in lawyer fees.

In the 1980s, Dre steered the city’s most incendiary act, N.W.A, and forced the discontent of police-brutalized South L.A. onto radios and televisions nationwide with singles such as “F— tha Police.” The group’s furious and profane lyrics were bolstered by Dre’s ear for the bounce of funk.

On his 1992 solo album, “The Chronic” and on 1993’s “Doggystyle,” his album with the young Long Beach rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, he helped perfect the raw and provocative sound of Los Angeles rap, but with a super-producer’s ear for a hit.

In 1995, he earned his first Hot 100 chart-topper with Tupac Shakur’s “California Love,” one of the defining West Coast hip-hop songs.

After leaving the volatile Death Row Records and founding his Aftermath imprint with Interscope, Dre in 1998 signed a young white rapper from Detroit, Eminem. Eminem’s skill and darkly funny lyrics fit Dre’s sensibilities, and the two cemented hip-hop as the new chart-dominating pop music.

N.W.A in March 1989. Back row, from left: DJ Yella, Dr. Dre and M.C. Ren. Front, from left: Ice Cube and Eazy-E.

(Los Angeles Times staff photo)

With 50 Cent’s smash 2003 LP “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” Dre continued his run as a producer and talent incubator at Aftermath. “Detox,” the long-planned follow-up to his “2001” album, saw years of delays. But an acclaimed return set with Snoop Dogg at Coachella in 2012 reasserted his foundational role in hip-hop. That legacy was explored in the hit 2015 N.W.A biopic, “Straight Outta Compton.”

In the meantime, he’d built a fledgling headphone business, Beats Electronics, into a dominant consumer tech brand for rap fans. In 2013, Dre donated $70 million to USC with fellow music mogul Jimmy Iovine to found the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. In 2014, he sold Beats to Apple for an estimated $3 billion, making him one of the richest men in popular music.

On Tuesday night, rap peer LL Cool J tweeted that the music producer was “recovering nicely.” On Instagram, Snoop Dogg added his well wishes: “GET WELL DR DRE WE NEED U CUZ.”