Later, as Exclaim reports, his mother would remarry, having several other children and step-children (including the rapper Warren G). Among those children from remarriage were Dre's half-brothers, Jerome and Tyree. Sadly, Jerome died after a bout with pneumonia as an infant.
Then, in 1989, just as N.W.A. 's popularity was surging thanks to the success of the album Straight Outta Compton, Dre lost his brother Tyree Crayon in a violent incident. According to Savage Watch, Crayon's death was caused by injuries he sustained when, after a verbal altercation while driving on Crenshaw Boulevard, a man threw Crayon to the ground and broke his neck. The death was ruled a homicide and has never been solved. Dre later dedicated a track called "The Message" off the album 2001 to Jerome.
Hollywood.com shared an excerpt of an interview Dre gave to British publication The Times, in which he spoke candidly about the effect the cumulative grief has had on him. He explained, "There's this certain pain that I feel — and I don't know if it's because of my brother's death, or (other) deaths in the family — but it's this thing."
Despite the serious health scare, countless fans are no doubt hoping the fortitude that Dre's developed as a result of these traumas can help him get through this one, too.
