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Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records, also having produced albums for and overseeing the careers of many rappers signed to those record labels, such as Snoop Dogg and Eminem. As a producer he is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats.^[2]

Dr. Dre began his career in music as a member of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and he later found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E and Ice Cube which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life.^[2]His 1992 solo debut, The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, led him to become one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993^[3] and to win a Grammy Award for the single “Let Me Ride.”^[4] In 1996, he left Death Row to found his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, producing a compilation album, Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath, in 1996, and releasing a solo album titled 2001, in 1999, for which he won the Grammy producer’s award the next year.^[2]

During the 2000s, he focused his career on production for other artists, while occasionally contributing vocals to other artists’ songs. Rolling Stone named him among the highest-paid performers of 2001^[5] and 2004.^[6] Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, and the 2001 films The Wash and Training Day.^[7]

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972),^[1] known by his primary stage name Eminem, or by his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer and actor who has sold over 75 million albums worldwide. Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling hip hop album in history.^[2] It brought Eminem increased popularity, including his own record label, Shady Records, and brought his group project D12 into mainstream recognition. The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, and in 2002, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for a song in the film 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004, Relapse, on May 15, 2009.

2005–2008: Hiatus

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral.^[40] The album manifested itself as a greatest hits album under the name Curtain Call: The Hits, and was released on December 6, 2005 under Aftermath Entertainment. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was retiring on Detroit-based WKQI’s “Mojo in the Morning” radio show, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying “I’m at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don’t know where my career is going… This is the reason that we called it ‘Curtain Call,’ because this could be the final thing. We don’t know.”^[41]

That year, Eminem was a subject of criticism in Bernard Goldberg’s book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, being ranked at #58.^[42] Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times claiming, “In Eminem’s world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them.”^[43] The Eminem song “No One’s Iller” from The Slim Shady EP was used by Goldberg as an example of misogyny in his music.^[44]

In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first U.S. concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil’ Jon, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a “dependency on sleep medication”.^[45]