Dr. Dre may have some explaining to do.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Dre’s eldest daughter LaTanya Young—whom he shares with ex Lisa Johnson—says she is currently homeless and living out of her rental car. The single mother of four noted that she does deliver food via services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats as well as work at a warehouse. However, all of those jobs aren’t enough to secure an apartment to live in—something that definitely adds to the ongoing concern about poor living wages.
LaTanya further claimed that while her father previously assisted her with rent and providing an allowance, she has not received any financial assistance from her father in 18 months. It should be noted here that Dr. Dre—rapper, record producer and entrepreneur born under the name Andre Romelle Young—is reportedly worth $800 million.
“I’m homeless and I’ve been reaching out to my dad for help,” LaTanya revealed. “His lawyer has said that my dad doesn’t want to help me because I’ve spoken about him in the press. I feel like I’m damned if I do, I’m damned if I don’t. I’m just trying to communicate with him and see if he wants to talk to his grandkids. My kids are old enough to know who he is. They are in shock that he doesn’t want anything to do with them.”
The Daily Mail continues:
Additionally, Dre’s eldest daughter says she hasn’t seen her father in 18 years nor does she have his cell phone number, so in order to contact him she has to reach out to his team.
“My kids are staying with friends—they are not living in the car, it’s just me,” LaTanya Young told Daily Mail. “I’m taking odd jobs just to make it now—I got paid $15 an hour as an assembler at the warehouse. I’m trying to keep my head above water. I’ve been in debt for a while.”
She added that she’s been struggling to cover the costs of her rental car, saying, “The car is a pretty penny. It’s an SUV that costs $2,300 for three weeks and I only paid for one week. Sooner or later they are going to take the car.”
As you may know, Dr. Dre has been engrossed in a lengthy divorce battle with his ex-wife Nicole Young, with the latest news being that a judge ordered the music mogul to pay $300,000 a month ($3.5 million a year) in spousal support.
The story has definitely sparked impassioned debate, with some folks—most notably former football player and current sports pundit Shannon Sharpe—arguing that Dr. Dre does not owe his adult daughter any financial assistance.
Then there’s the argument that the very idea of celebrating the concept of “Black Excellence” is that it is also celebrating the possibilities of creating Black generational wealth (of which we have a stark gap in comparison to white wealth). This turn of events—and those arguing that Dre shouldn’t be obligated to assist his daughter financially—seem to be in direct contrast to that overall goal.
In other news, hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash excitedly teased a new music project coming from Dre.
“Here in LA doing the Disco Oasis with Nile Rogers tonite, I get a call from one of my heroes. He invites me to the CRIB, he takes me down to the STUDIO, he played me a project that will change the game!!,” Grandmaster Flash captioned on Instagram earlier this week, including a photo posing with Dre.
Per reports, this “project” is likely a new album, which was reportedly completed in November and will apparently feature frequent collaborator Eminem. Dre’s most recent studio album was 2015’s Compton. Additionally, the new album reports have some speculating that the reason why the already wealthy mogul is releasing an EP is due to his expensive spousal support bill.
The Root has reached out to a representative of Dr. Dre for a comment on this matter and we are awaiting a response.