“Yo! MTV Raps” Co-Host Doctor Dre Goes Blind; Pitches Reality Show On Battle With Diabetes
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/n...aging-a-public-battle-with-diabetes.html?_r=1
Andre Brown has always been a tastemaker. Better known as Doctor Dré — the Long Island original, not the West Coast producer and gangster rapper — he has been sharing his musical tastes since the 1980s as a D.J. for the Beastie Boys, a member of the hip-hop group Original Concept and a co-host of “Yo! MTV Raps.” He and his co-host, Ed Lover, even beat Ice Cube to the barbershop movie genre when they starred in “Who’s the Man?” in 1993.
Being at the forefront of hip-hop then often meant working in the studio all day and prowling the clubs for talent at night. Never a small man, he ate what he could — and often — on the run. “I had that lifestyle of being out all the time,” Mr. Brown, 52, said. “You had to be, doing what we were doing. You had to be on the pulse. There was no TMZ or Kim Kardashian. This was the raw beginning. We had to be everywhere.”
Ten years ago, that lifestyle caught up with him. He developed Type 2 diabetes and has faced a series of health challenges: losing a toe, injuring his ankles and, three years ago, going blind. Now he is planning to have weight-loss surgery — a move recently endorsed by many in the medical community for helping to reduce the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes. And, like the D.J. that he has remained at heart, he wants to share that experience, this time through a proposed reality television show that would chronicle his surgery and recovery.
“My stubbornness put me where I’m at. Now my energy is going to change that,” Mr. Brown said. “We got young people, grown people, old, all having this. We can prevent this. We can cure this. I have an idea how to do it.”
Among the first people he pitched the idea to was Bill Adler, a former executive at Def Jam Records who is a utility player in the hip-hop game. Mr. Adler knows people who have the money and connections to back such a project, including some who made a dollar or two off Mr. Brown’s efforts over the years. Mr. Adler thought it was a brave move for a man who had remained upbeat despite the many physical challenges of the past decade.
“Dré is an arbiter,” Mr. Adler said. “Now he has turned that skill to something crucial. There’s a reason he has mostly spent his life behind the turntables or introducing other talent to the world. He wants to share his enthusiasm with other folks.”
But first, Mr. Brown and Mr. Adler will have to gain not only the enthusiasm of people who might know something about reality television, but their support. You would think that would not be too hard, since Mr. Brown has been a presence in the culture going back to his days at Adelphi University, where he met members of what would become Public Enemy at the college radio station. Mr. Adler said it was Mr. Brown who told executives at Def Jam about Chuck D, and also the fast-talking hype man Flavor Flav.
His connections with Public Enemy came in handy when he was at “Yo! MTV Raps” and Ice Cube was ready to leave N.W.A. and go solo. Mr. Brown introduced the gangster rapper to the Bomb Squad, the production team behind Public Enemy’s sound that went on to produce much of Ice Cube’s solo debut, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.” Yet when the movie “Straight Outta Compton” came out last year, those moments were barely mentioned.
“It’s funny, you see the movie and you wonder, ‘How did Ice Cube get there?’” Mr. Brown said. “They might as well call it ‘Straight Outta Fiction.’ I’m not bitter, I’m just truthful.”
The truth with which he is more concerned now is the alarming rate of diabetes in black and Latino communities. He thinks his story could offer useful suggestions about how to live and eat healthfully, and challenge parts of the pharmaceutical industry that profit from long-term treatment. He thinks — and recent news supports him — that weight-loss surgery might have better results, including remission, for some people.
“Doctor, heal thyself!” Mr. Adler boomed during a recent meeting with Mr. Brown. The idea excited him, since he thought the whole process could be chronicled in a short-term reality show. Yet his calls to some high-profile hip-hop personalities and entrepreneurs with television experience and a history with Mr. Brown have gone unanswered.
“These are people I’ve known for 30 years, and they haven’t gotten back to me,” Mr. Adler said. “Dré just wants to share his enthusiasm with people. There are plenty of other folks who star in reality shows who are plainly narcissists, who are convinced every absurd thing out of their mouth has to be captured by a television camera. That is not Dré.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/n...aging-a-public-battle-with-diabetes.html?_r=1
Andre Brown has always been a tastemaker. Better known as Doctor Dré — the Long Island original, not the West Coast producer and gangster rapper — he has been sharing his musical tastes since the 1980s as a D.J. for the Beastie Boys, a member of the hip-hop group Original Concept and a co-host of “Yo! MTV Raps.” He and his co-host, Ed Lover, even beat Ice Cube to the barbershop movie genre when they starred in “Who’s the Man?” in 1993.
Being at the forefront of hip-hop then often meant working in the studio all day and prowling the clubs for talent at night. Never a small man, he ate what he could — and often — on the run. “I had that lifestyle of being out all the time,” Mr. Brown, 52, said. “You had to be, doing what we were doing. You had to be on the pulse. There was no TMZ or Kim Kardashian. This was the raw beginning. We had to be everywhere.”
Ten years ago, that lifestyle caught up with him. He developed Type 2 diabetes and has faced a series of health challenges: losing a toe, injuring his ankles and, three years ago, going blind. Now he is planning to have weight-loss surgery — a move recently endorsed by many in the medical community for helping to reduce the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes. And, like the D.J. that he has remained at heart, he wants to share that experience, this time through a proposed reality television show that would chronicle his surgery and recovery.
“My stubbornness put me where I’m at. Now my energy is going to change that,” Mr. Brown said. “We got young people, grown people, old, all having this. We can prevent this. We can cure this. I have an idea how to do it.”
Among the first people he pitched the idea to was Bill Adler, a former executive at Def Jam Records who is a utility player in the hip-hop game. Mr. Adler knows people who have the money and connections to back such a project, including some who made a dollar or two off Mr. Brown’s efforts over the years. Mr. Adler thought it was a brave move for a man who had remained upbeat despite the many physical challenges of the past decade.
“Dré is an arbiter,” Mr. Adler said. “Now he has turned that skill to something crucial. There’s a reason he has mostly spent his life behind the turntables or introducing other talent to the world. He wants to share his enthusiasm with other folks.”
But first, Mr. Brown and Mr. Adler will have to gain not only the enthusiasm of people who might know something about reality television, but their support. You would think that would not be too hard, since Mr. Brown has been a presence in the culture going back to his days at Adelphi University, where he met members of what would become Public Enemy at the college radio station. Mr. Adler said it was Mr. Brown who told executives at Def Jam about Chuck D, and also the fast-talking hype man Flavor Flav.
His connections with Public Enemy came in handy when he was at “Yo! MTV Raps” and Ice Cube was ready to leave N.W.A. and go solo. Mr. Brown introduced the gangster rapper to the Bomb Squad, the production team behind Public Enemy’s sound that went on to produce much of Ice Cube’s solo debut, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.” Yet when the movie “Straight Outta Compton” came out last year, those moments were barely mentioned.
“It’s funny, you see the movie and you wonder, ‘How did Ice Cube get there?’” Mr. Brown said. “They might as well call it ‘Straight Outta Fiction.’ I’m not bitter, I’m just truthful.”
The truth with which he is more concerned now is the alarming rate of diabetes in black and Latino communities. He thinks his story could offer useful suggestions about how to live and eat healthfully, and challenge parts of the pharmaceutical industry that profit from long-term treatment. He thinks — and recent news supports him — that weight-loss surgery might have better results, including remission, for some people.
“Doctor, heal thyself!” Mr. Adler boomed during a recent meeting with Mr. Brown. The idea excited him, since he thought the whole process could be chronicled in a short-term reality show. Yet his calls to some high-profile hip-hop personalities and entrepreneurs with television experience and a history with Mr. Brown have gone unanswered.
“These are people I’ve known for 30 years, and they haven’t gotten back to me,” Mr. Adler said. “Dré just wants to share his enthusiasm with people. There are plenty of other folks who star in reality shows who are plainly narcissists, who are convinced every absurd thing out of their mouth has to be captured by a television camera. That is not Dré.”
