Interviews

Published on December 29th, 2018 | by Guest Contributor

0

Andre “Doctor Dre” Brown: “FLESHWOUND” by Eileen Shapiro

Original Yo! MTV Raps host, TV personality, producer, rapper, actor, Doctor Dre, born Andre Brown is re-launching, re-inventing, and re-releasing his already popular radio show, “FLESHwound” in a massive way in early 2019. The show will include a YouTube channel, an interactive website, mobile on sight and live interviews, and perhaps our planet’s salvation.

I caught up with Doctor Dre in between hosting events, “Good Morning America” appearances, supporting his musically accomplished son, and revitalizing “FLESHwounds”. The soft spoken, innovative, talented artist spoke about the new format regarding “FLESHwound”, a refreshing attitude towards our climate, his future endeavors and intimate facets of the pieces of his life….it’s a small peek into the philosophies of a great man. A man that cares……

Let’s first focus on Doctor Dre’s “FLESHwound.”

“Doctor Dre’s FLESHwound”, the Internet show, we are going to take it out to the people, outside the studio. We’re going to interview a wide variety of people, we are going to go to live performances, and see the different changes in the show that we started a year ago. We will be giving people a different look at what’s going on. Being in the media society that we are, everybody with a phone and a social media page is basically their own reporter so I try to bring a different topic, and I try to bring in some entertainment to make people say “WOW! that was interesting, I can remember when we did this then, and look at it now.” That’s the whole focal point of the show. The show is called FLESHwound, for a reason. It’s not a killing stroke, it’s just a little nick to get your attention. That’s what it’s all about.

What made you decide to do it in this new format?

I always wanted to do it as a late night talk show. We decided it was time to move in another direction, like that late night talk show. But when you are on the Internet it doesn’t matter because people are going to look at you at the time they want to see you. So I wanted to get the guests to feel that they could speak a lot more and we could be more free with that. We wanted people to have a conversation but get to the point  they wanted to promote and then viewers could go to the website and get to see the whole interview in its entirety. We will get other special cultures to be a part of what we’re doing, and getting that out to the public and letting them know, and really giving it a push, a PR push to promote the show, and keep the show with the original thought process that it was. So not make it just a late night show, just make it a show that’s going to be interesting, entertaining, informative,  I’m trying to make a difference.

What areas do you hope to make a difference at?

We are a humanitarian show. We believe in the rights of the people. We have been making sure that a regular person, not just a celebrity, or people of grand political stature, are all included. We want to be able to go or eye to eye with them. There are people nationally, all over the country and even internationally that have the same ideology as I do. Trying to get rid of the old stereo type, trying to get rid of the old prejudices, and trying to bring people together for who they are, as people, not just as one faction versus the other. None of this really matters but what does really matter is that we start taking care of each other. And in taking care of each other we better take care of the one most important thing that we have all have to deal with, and that’s called this planet. That’s called making sure that we actually take care of the air, the sea, I mean you name it. We are destroying ourselves based on what you see in our climate changes. When you look at these last fires in Los Angeles, a fire that wiped a town out of existence. In this modern century that is almost unheard of. We are having such weather changes where I just heard today that they were 20 tornadoes in one day. I said to myself I remember growing up, and I heard of two in one year in the Midwest. Now there are 20 in one shot. That means something is really, really, really wrong. We need to retract that. We want this show to reach out not only to the United Stats and American community, we need to reach out internationally. We have to do it on a global stance because everyone, not just the United States uses the water. They are still cleaning up the nuclear waste from Japan. That would’ve ran off into the ocean. Where do you think that water went? It’s here now. The water doesn’t just stay by Japan, the water moves, the currents move, it’s all over the place. There is a group out there that’s trying to clean up the ocean. We are on the crux of a global climate change and as human beings it’s going to be very difficult to survive. It’s going to be very difficult for people to have a food supply or a water supply. United States can become uninhabitable if the climate change happens the way they are thinking. We are looking at another Ice Age and the people in New York will not be able to live there. New York will be under ice. We are not paying attention to that. As the water rises and the heat rises the storms become more intense. When you have great white sharks off the coast of Maine, that was unheard of. I mean we all saw “Jaws”, but that was a book, then became a movie, and now it becomes frequent and REAL.That’s what the show is about. Not just exposing corrupt politicians or even the politicians that I helping, it’s about bringing forth the local community that wish to make a great change. Not just a cosmetic change. We will be discussing the immigration of people who are running away from a desperate situation, when did we become the country that didn’t believe the journey to be free? When did we stop doing that?

When you did the older format with FLESHwound you would pick a topic, will you still be doing that?

We will be doing that consistently. You are going to see the topics. We can do the topic while we’re out somewhere. We might be speaking to a local vendor, for example the man selling pretzels on the street. We might ask him certain questions like, where do you use the bathroom? Where do you wash your hands? We will have lots of funny stuff to talk about. We are deciding whether to be in Time Square for New Year’s Eve. I said let’s go someplace else. You know what’s interesting? You go to someone’s house and two people are watching television, someone else is playing Xbox or PlayStation, another person who will be sitting there looking at their phone. You have everything under the same roof, it’s hysterical. How do we bring people together? So that’s kind of an idea we have been playing around with.

The show sounds like it’s going to be a blast. 

Yeah. We have some great people working with the show. There is Heidy Z the production coordinator, Dawn Michelle who brings me guests, Andy Johnson who is coming to help direct, my son is actually the music director, quite a few cool people. We’ve got quite a bit to work with. We want people to work with us, go back and forth to the website. Eventually, we will have lines set up so people can call in.

What would you like to be known for?

I would like to be known as someone that cared about more than himself. Someone that contributed in bringing forth changes that helped more than just his own people. A person who tried to bring the world to a place, and I use the word world as in just one nation because we are getting to a point that I think we have to start caring about people all over the world. Some people need help. I want to be known as the person who opens that door for all the people that need help, and actually address the real issues and create real solutions. I am best known for hosting Yo! MTV Raps, “Straight From the Basement”, “Original Concept”, and different media genres. In our days exploring technology, and social media, I have the whole idea of putting the show together and getting people to express themselves, all kinds of people.

In my opinion, I think that you’re one of the best speakers that I have ever heard. When you talk about something it’s almost prophetic. How did that happen? How does that happen so naturally?

Well, I have had quite a few years of experience, number one. Number two I was raised by a great set of parents. My mother and father were both activists in their own right. They had strong opinions of things which trickled down to my sister, my brother, and myself. They did things in a selflessness manner. They didn’t do it for gain, they didn’t do it for popularity, they didn’t do it for money, they did it because they understood what the right thing meant. They would stick their neck out and get their head chopped off and although it might hurt them, it was OK as long as they helped people. I used to watch my father do things very subtly, to help a lot of people. One day I was in a local park, and a family came up to me. My father used to rent apartments. They came over to me and gave me a big hug and told me to thank my father so much. They said they were about to be homeless and he opened his doors, and he never asked for anything. I was like “who are you, and what are you talking about?” Then I started to find out more about my father, why he moved the way he did. He was always a quiet person but when he spoke he was deliberate, he was intelligent, and while I didn’t always agree with what he had to say, he always had a vision. He always understood, he could see further than the average person. My mother had that too. She was a school administrator. She wasn’t always the most well liked person, but at the end of the day with her philosophies about getting a good education, people always came back to praise her. I grew up in a community where I had six or seven mothers, my godmother, Mrs. Bailey, Miss Johnson, the Littles, the Smiths, and eventually the Nobles. They may not have all agreed on a point but they all agreed that things had to be taken care of in a proper fashion. So when you say I come up with a quick answer, I studied for a long time. I can’t take all that credit.

Well you studied very hard then.

I’m a voyeur to the world. I like to see what’s going on. Even with my visual impairment, I’m grateful that I can listen to all different types of broadcasts, all different types of people. It’s interesting how you can get four people to listen to the same broadcast and get four different reports or interpretations of what’s going on. I try sometimes to be the voice of reason to some degree. I ask that they think this thing through. See how this really plays out. Don’t just take it for what it appears to be. I have great debates….., especially in the barber shop.

So I heard for your Birthday you did something really cool!

I was a guest on Good Morning America! I got a very nice invitation and I had a wonderful time. After that honestly, I’m going to take some me time. I’m going to have a nice quiet dinner, and meditate a little bit, and thank God for having me here for these 55 years. and say “God what’s next?”

Congrats on your show, on Good Morning America, and everything else you have going on. Is there anything that you’d like to talk about that we haven’t hit on?

The future. The future is very, very bright. The endeavors that we are pursuing well I don’t want to say shock, but will surprise a lot of people. And that’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to have fun. Big shout out to my good friend Aaron Paul, and I thank him for having me as a cameo on his record. Just thinking about next year. You know how people have butterflies in their stomach, well I must have bats in mine. I feel like a pregnant woman….what’s this about….but we are going to have a great year!!!! I’m going announce the name of my foundation, and right now I’m doing a lot of research on wellness and happiness, and trying to heal the human body as holistically as possible. That’s not saying to abandon your doctor, but what we are saying is there are other things out there. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last two years, researching those other things.

Photo Credits: Billy Hess


Tags: , , ,


About the Author


Comments are closed.

Back to Top ↑