LOS ANGELES – Rapper and legendary producer Dr Dre was in the hospital Tuesday receiving treatment for a possible brain aneurysm, the Los Angeles Times reported citing sources familiar with his condition.
The music mogul was stable, the paper said, reporting echoed by entertainment outlet TMZ, which broke the news.
Dre's representatives did not immediately respond to an AFP query.
The 55-year-old rapper born Andre Young is considered among hip hop's most influential figures, having risen to commercial fame with the groundbreaking gangsta rap pioneers NWA before crafting the quintessentially West Coast G-Funk sound.
The master behind the careers of greats including Snoop Dogg and Eminem became a self-proclaimed billionaire after co-founding Beats Electronics, an audio products company purchased by Apple in 2014.
News of Dre's hospitalization triggered an outpouring of well wishes on social media including from fellow rappers, with NWA co-founder Ice Cube, tweeting: "Send your love and prayers to the homie Dr. Dre."
"GET WELL DR DRE WE NEED U CUZ," wrote Snoop Dogg on Instagram.
The paper said Dre at one point was in intensive care.
His trip to the hospital comes amid a mushrooming Covid-19 crisis in the Los Angeles area as well as Dre's high-profile divorce proceedings with his longtime partner Nicole Young.
LL Cool J, a rapper who came up in the same era as Dre, tweeted that the music magnate was "recovering nicely. – AFP, January 6, 2021
