How did Dr Dre get his rap name?
The man born Andre Romell Young is one of the most famous rappers and producers of all time—but that’s not how we know him. His name is Dr Dre.
But before he landed on that particular stage name, Dre experimented with something else. When he started DJing for the first time as a young person, he actually performed under something slightly different. He was initially Dr J.
Dr J was a name explicitly borrowed from one of Dre’s heroes at the time. Julius Erving was a serious basketball player throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s, playing for the Virginia Squires, New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers at various points. His was a career decorated with many titles.
Erving was a great talent, and Dre was a huge admirer. “He was the best, so I named myself after him,” Dre once said, according to Basketball Network. “He was my favourite player and still is one of my favourites.”
Erving himself picked up the nickname Dr J from a childhood friend of his, who was referencing his surgical style of play. This friend, Leon Saunders, called Erving “the doctor,” while Erving called Saunders “the professor.” Over time “the doctor” became Dr Julius, and, finally, Dr J.
Dre was such a big fan of Dr J that he started using the nickname for himself as a DJ, but, before long, he altered it a bit to make it truly his own. After meeting DJ Yella, he dropped the “J” in favour of the shortened version of his own Christian name. Dr Dre was born.
During these early days of his hip-hop career, Dr Dre also referred to himself as the “Master of Mixology,” which has a very old-school sort of feel. By the time N.W.A. rolled around, with the beats getting much harder, the “Master of Mixology” thing was discarded.
Beyond the reference to a legendary player within his very stage name, Dre’s love of basketball has been apparent at other points during his career. In 2020, after Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash, Dre was among those to lead the tributes.
An NBA All-Star game was held in honour of Bryant following his death, with Dre compiling a highlights reel of some of his great moments as a player for the event. He mixed together some music for the clip, including his famous song with Tupac Shakur, ‘California Love.’