July 27, 2021

Rap legend, Dr. Dre will fund public school for blacks and Latinos

If the term were not so horrifying in modern times, it would be fair to say that Dr. Dre, one of the biggest stars in the world of rap, is a “born entrepreneur”.

The DJ, who started his career DJing in clubs in Los Angeles, was one of the founders of the noisy group N.W.A (abbreviation for Niggaz With Attitudes) alongside other artists who have become seminal for the development of the genre in the United States, such as Ice Cube e Easy E.

Created in an environment that literally approximates the term “wild capitalism” (the competition between rival groups and studios reached threats and violence, as portrayed in the film that captures the origin of N.W.A. , Straight Outta Compton), Dre began a career as a businessman there that took off like a rocket: recording studio, record label, artist agency, culminating even in headphones. THE Beats, a hugely successful headset among football players around the world, was sold to Apple in 2014.

Second to magazine Complex, the city of Los Angeles approved a request to build a public technical school financed by Dr. Dre e Jimmy  Iovine, co-founder of Beats and president of Interscope Records, record company that has names like U2 e Bruce Springsteen in your cast.

The goal of the school located in South Los Angeles is to prepare young blacks and Latinos for the business world. According to Dre himself, the project “consists of an encounter with his younger self”. The poor young black man from the outskirts of the city had to learn how to run his business, again literally, on the basis of a beating, which resulted in several future problems with the law.

The college intends to teach young people both how to present themselves to companies and how to put their own projects into practice. Its founders believe that the initiative “is something new and different that can excite children and make them want to go to school.”

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Reveal Plan to Build Free School

Jimmy Iovine (left) and Dr. Dre – photo: Youtube reproduction

The plans are for the school to be inaugurated as early as 2022. Despite being an obvious exception to the rule, the United States sees emerging in the business world of black music and sports celebrities who use their projection to create (very) successful businesses, case of Beyonce, Jay Z, Diddy (Puff Daddy), Michael Jordan and George Foreman.

If the objective of the “Research School no.1” (provisional name) is reached, this class will increase without necessarily having to go through a previous history of personal success in entertainment.

Jota Wagner

Jota Wagner has been writing, disco, and partying in Brazil and Europe since the early 1990s. He is currently editor in chief of Music Non Stop and cultural producer at Agência 55. He has contributed, using his ears, feet or hands, to the dawn of Brazilian electronic music.