With the “California Love” game in the background, Dr. Turn to Compton’s school and community leaders this weekend to break ground on a new, $ 200-million campus for Compton High School.
Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, has donated $ 10 million to the school’s new performing arts center, which seats more than 900 people. The facility will be named as “Andre ‘Dr. Dre’ Young Performing Arts Center,” according to the Compton Unified School District.
“I was an artistic kid in school without a drain on it,” he said at Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony. “I knew I had something special to offer the world, but with nothing to support my gift, the schools left me unseen.”
The groundbreaking rapper whose net worth is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars after selling Beats Electronics to Apple Inc. for $ 3 billion, has often talked about what the lack of education has meant to him. He, along with music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine, who co-founded Beats Electronics, is also opening a magnet public school in southern LA this fall. The two also donated $ 70 million to USC to create a new academy.
Dr. Dre went to nearby Centennial High before moving to Fremont High in southern LA, but eventually dropped out of school.
“I have always wondered how much further ahead I could have been if the resources I needed in school were available,” he said at the ceremony. “If I had learned more about business, I would have saved myself [an] extreme amount of time, money and most importantly, [made] many friendships. “
The native Compton has talked a lot about what his hometown means to him, even though he no longer lives there. The city was where Dr. Dre and others started NWA, whose debut album is titled “Straight Outta Compton.” Dr. Dre had promised to donate royalties from his 2015 album, “Compton,” to help fund the performing arts center.
“This city is special, and the young people who live in it are special,” said Dr. Dre at the ceremony.
The new campus for the 126-year-old school will include over a new academic building that can serve up to 1,800 students, with the option of adding 450 more, as well as a new fitness center, a water sports center, football stadium and track. The rest of the project is funded through the district’s bond measure adopted in 2015.
“This new campus that will be built, it will be built on deep roots and excellent results that have been established over decades,” said the school’s principal, Rigoberto Roman, at the ceremony. “Let us embrace this change for the sake of our future and the future of our children. This is a kind of change to be celebrated.”
The opening of the new campus is scheduled for early 2025.