LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dr. Dre’s powerful rolodex was put to good use for the launch of Beats Music with a concert featuring Eminem, Diddy and Nas.
Nineties hip-hop was the theme for Dre’s party Friday night at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles. Eminem and Dre closed the night, performing the hits “My Name Is,” ’’Forgot About Dre” and “Lose Yourself.”
“Thank you for being here,” Dre told the feverish crowd, who jammed along as classic rap hits played back-to-back.
Paul McCartney, Drake, Selena Gomez and Macklemore were among those who attended the tightly packed event.
Mase reunited onstage with Diddy to perform “Mo Money Mo Problems” and “It’s All About the Benjamins,” while Blackstreet joined Dre for “No Diggity,” which the rapper produced.
Beats Music, a streaming service set to compete with Spotify, iTunes Radio and others, launched Tuesday. It is part of the rapper-producer’s Beats Electronics brand, which he launched with record executive Jimmy Iovine in 2008 and features the ultra-popular Beats by Dre headphones.
Other performers Friday included Busta Rhymes, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Arrested Development, Method Man, Redman and Scarface.
Beats Music was curated with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor.
Eminem’s “Bezerk” is nominated for best rap performance at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, pitting him against Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
___
Online:
https://beatsmusic.com/
https://www.grammy.com
____
Follow Mesfin Fekadu at twitter.com/MusicMesfin
Please read our comment policy before commenting.