Former Host Of Yo! MTV Raps Doctor Dre Health Issues

There’s a good chance many don’t know that hip hop has two doctors who go by the name of Dre. There’s Dr. Dre, the Aftermath boss, and Doctor Dre, the DJ and former Yo! MTV Raps host. For any fan of the latter and his ground-breaking work with Ed Lover, this is a “good news/bad news” situation. The bad news is that diabetes took his eyesight three years ago. The good news is that he’s finally doing something about his health and wants to share it with the world.

“My stubbornness put me where I’m at. Now my energy is going to change that,” Dre, originally born Andre Brown, told the New York Times. “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.”

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Via uproxx

His idea revolves around a reality show chronicling his weight-loss surgery, his recovery, and share how the lifestyle he lived as a young man caught up to him 10 years ago when he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

“I had that lifestyle of being out all the time,” said Dre, now age 52. “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.”

To help him get his story to the masses, Dre reached out to Bill Adler, a former Def Jam exec who’s name still rings bells in industry circles. Bill’s got the money and the connects to make this dream a reality but more than that, he has the love for his friend.

“Dre is an arbiter,” said Bill. “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.”

Dre is fully aware of how rampant diabetes is in black and brown communities but he also knows that helpful information isn’t always accessible. He hopes that showing a change of lifestyle will inspire the next person to do the same. With that said, the project isn’t coming together the way the two envisioned. Phone calls haven’t been returned and emails haven’t been answered, causing both of them a tad bit of frustration.

“These are people I’ve known for 30 years, and they haven’t gotten back to me,”Bill said. “Dre 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 Dre.”

Regardless if we get to see it or not, here’s hoping the good Doctor’s surgery is a rousing success and he’s able to kick diabetes’ ass.