On the last day of July of this year, Gawker ran a story that went into great depths on the past domestic abuse (read: women beating) cases of Dr. Dre. While the headline “Remember When Dr. Dre Bashed a Female Journalist’s Face Against a Wall?” was indeed inciderary and used to draw in readers swept up in the upcoming Straight Outta Compton biopic euphoria, but it was also relevant because the movie did not address that area of the legendary producer’s life.
In February 1992, Dre pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation along with a $2400 fine for slamming journalist Dee Barnes’ head into a brick wall and repeatedly stomping her until she was black, blue and bruised. The incident was said to be over Barnes’ decision to include an Ice Cube interview into her FOX rap show Pump it Up following Amerikka Most’s departure from his original group.
His ex-girlfriend and former Death Row artist Michel’le also opened up this year about the alleged physical abuse she was put through during their time together.
In the present day, Andre Young, 50, is a changed man, so-to-speak. His musical empire and net worth is bordering the billion dollar mark and he recently released his first album in sixteen years.
Alongside his equally successful N.W.A partner, Ice Cube, the Hip-Hop legend is gracing the cover of the August 2015 Rolling Stone issue and he’s facing the music on his past life as a serial abuser.
“I made some f*cking horrible mistakes in my life,” Dre admitted to Brian Hiatt. “I was young, f*cking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren’t true. Some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really f*cked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there’s no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again.”
When grilled by Ebony magazine, Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray explained why they chose to leave out the Dee Barnes situation.
“We had to focus on the story that was pertinent to our main characters,” Gray said during an audience Q&A session.“The original editor’s cut was three hours and 30 minutes long, so we couldn’t get everything in the movie. We had to make sure we served the narrative; the narrative was about N.W.A. It wasn’t about side stories.”
Ice Cube also chimed in to dispel the notion that the iconic rap group preached misogyny.
If you’re a b*tch, you’re probably not going to like us,” Cube, a married father of two explains. “If you’re a h*e, you probably don’t like us. If you’re not a h*e or a b*tch, don’t be jumping to the defense of these despicable females. Just like I shouldn’t be jumping to the defense of no punks or no cowards or no slimy son of a b*tches that’s men. I never understood why an upstanding lady would even think we’re talking about her.”
Today, Barnes is a low-key journalist who never graced the spotlight again following the incident.
Peep the strong half of N.W.A’s Rolling Stone cover below and grab it digitally on August 14, the same day as the film’s release. The ill-fated Dee Barnes interview with Ice Cube can be seen on the next page.
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Photo: Mark Seliger/Rolling Stone, La Niece/WENN.com
