When it comes to contributing to music and technology, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have definitely done that over the years. The duo is now looking to produce more geniuses in the fields with their new high school in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Arts and Technology Academy will be a spot to help prepare students for careers in fields similar to those that rapper and producer Dre and record exec Iovine excelled in.
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine detail new school
The pair gave new details about their Los Angeles Arts and Technology Academy, which officially opened last October, in an interview with GQ Britain.
They originally gave USC a $70 million endowment back in 2013 to create the school. Four years later, they had an official site in Los Angeles for the academy.
The goal of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s new academy is to groom future geniuses in arts, technology, and the business of innovation. These are all areas that the two men behind the amazingly successful Beats company have done well in.
Iovine said that the school, which is situated right outside of USC, is their attempt “to give underrated kids an edge.”
“We want to market our high school, we want to make it appealing for kids to stay in school and learn. Most don’t want to be there,” Iovine added.
Dr. Dre mentioned that he never liked school much and he was able to find a path without it. However, he knows that isn’t the case for everyone.
“Back in my old school, sure there was math and reading and all that, but nothing for me to get my teeth into. I’m an artist. This thing we’re building, it has everything I needed,” Dre told GQ Britain.
Students may follow in Dre and Iovine’s success
For many individuals, the school will give them a free opportunity to launch their own success. For Dr. Dre, that success came as a DJ and rapper who was a starring member in the rap supergroup N.W.A and later his own solo artist. Ultimately, Dre became a popular producer within hip-hop and music in general.
His association with Jimmy Iovine led to the pair creating and founding the popular Beats headphones and Beats Electronics for music streaming back in 2008. That ended up becoming Dre’s biggest success, ultimately putting him in the conversation with other rich entrepreneurs.
Jimmy Iovine talks about creating “Beats By Dre” w/ DR Dre pic.twitter.com/fOsEW2JPHH
— 2Cool2Blog (@2Cool2BIog) May 24, 2020
In 2014, Apple announced they had acquired Beats Electronics. That sale was said to be valued at $3 billion, which instantly boosted both Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s net worths.
In 2017, Forbes listed Dr. Dre’s net worth as $770 million which largely came due to his sale of Beats headphones to Apple. Dre landed on the top 10 list of highest-paid musicians for the decade along with singer Taylor Swift and others just last year.
Jimmy Iovine was a co-founder of Interscope Records which ultimately became Interscope Geffen A&M. He also signed Tupac as one of the Interscope label’s first acts in the early 1990s.
In addition, Iovine has helped co-produce or executive produce projects such as Eminem’s 8 Mile and the Lebron James documentary More than a Game. He’s established himself amongst media moguls and entrepreneurs and also carries a high net worth.
With the new Los Angeles Arts and Technology Academy, it’s quite possible future success stories will arrive in music and technology thanks to two major success stories themselves.