The devastating deaths of Dr Dre’s brothers
It’s one thing to be a major star within any music genre; it’s entirely another to have contributed so much to the landscape that it would be irrevocably different – and assumedly, worse off – without them. For the realm of hip-hop culture, Dr Dre is such a figure.
First on the scene as a member of the rap group NWA, in which the groundbreaking Straight Outta Compton pioneered not just the West Coast hip-hop sound but the rap scene at large, Dre’s 1992 solo debut The Chronic established him as one of the biggest players in the ’90s music scene. The album, which popularised G-Funk to mainstream audiences, went triple platinum.
His headphones company, Beats, was sold to Apple for three billion dollars; his music label has claimed the likes of Eminem, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar; his awards collection, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, is one of the largest in the music industry.
Yet as fans may already know, Dre’s life has been just as punctuated with success as its been punctured by tragedy. The rapper’s half-brother, Jerome, died of pneumonia when Dre was just a year old. And his other half-brother, Tyree, died in an attack in 1989.
Talking to The Times newspaper on the deaths and how they influenced his art, Dre said “there’s this certain pain that I feel — and I don’t know if it’s because of my brother’s death, or [other] deaths in the family — but it’s this thing.”
“I’m not sure if I should get rid of it. I don’t know if that’s where my talent lies, or my passion lies for what I do,” he continued. “I’ve been actually asked to talk about it and go to therapy and what have you, but I’m not sure that’s something I wanna do. Because I don’t think I should change it.”
The impact of the deaths, especially that of Tyree, with whom Dre shared a bedroom growing up, can be heard in his music. On his 2001 album, the song ‘The Message’ starts with the lines “This one is for my brother, Tyree, R.I.P” and includes lyrics “We fought like brothers, something we never should do / We coulda used time spent arguing, telling the truth.” As well as, “he had talent too — I had plans on watching him grow / Don’t know what hurts more — seeing him leave, or watching him go.”
Mary J Blige, who features on the song, concludes it by singing “This is the message to my brother / And I wish you were here.”
Tyree was just 21 when he was killed in 1989, after suffering traumatic injuries to his neck from a fight that was likely to be gang-related. The case remains unresolved to this day.
And tragically, this isn’t the only personal loss that has haunted Dre in his personal life. In 1988, Dr Dre had a son with Jenita Porter, whom they called Andre Young Jr. At the age of 20, Andre died from a heroin and morphine overdose at his mother’s home.