Kelby Stoup Digital Literacy/
Computer Science

Technology Pioneer

The technology pioneer that I chose was Andre Romelle Young, known as Dr. Dre. He was born on February 18, 1965 in Campton, California. His parents were both teenagers at the time of his birth and very early on divorced. Dr. Dre was primarily raised by his grandmother in the Campton project housing, and was surrounded by gang violence. Dr. Dre’s parents were both singers so he grew up around music and ultimately found success with the rap group, NWA. Dr. Dre worked around famous rappers such as Snoop Dog, eazy E and Ice Cube.

Dr. Dre and his co-founder of the Beats, Jimmy Irvine, created the iconic headphones, Beats and launched them on July 6, 2008. The first product they made were called Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Headphones. In 2014 Dr Dre sells the Beats to Apple for 3 billion dollars. Jimmy Irvine earned 700 million through the deal. After Dr. Dre sold the company, he became the first hip-hop billionaire. Through his continued success over the years many people look up to him as a technology pioneer.