A high-tech building named after Andre “Dr. Dre” Young and Jimmy Iovine was unveiled at the University of Southern California campus Wednesday.
Dr. Dre and Iovine attended the dedication ceremony for the Iovine and Young Hall, where Iovine said the pair was also working to build a high school in the same area of South Los Angeles.
“Dre and I are committed to building a high school in the surrounding neighborhood,” Iovine said.
The new building at USC was named after the duo who donated a combined $70 million in 2013 to create an art, technology and business academy at the college. The hall will provide a learning space featuring 3-D printers, electronic labs, a podcast studio and alumni incubator space.
During the ceremony, the two men were presented with a student’s rendition of the building named after them, a colorful image printed onto metal.
Earlier, Iovine said he was inspired to build such an institution after hearing “it’s very hard to find people that come out of schools with both disciplines — the arts and technology.”
Iovine pitched such an idea at USC and officials at the campus went with it. He said the university has managed to put together an “extraordinary” program accomplishing a difficult feat.
“It’s not easy to put these disciplines from all these different areas and have them play in an orchestra together. That’s why no one’s tried — really tried it — before.”
Dr. Dre is best known as a producer, rapper and co-owner of Death Row Records. He later started his own record label, Aftermath Entertainment.
Iovine is a music industry entrepreneur who is known as the co-founder of Interscope Records.
The pair co-owned Beats by Dre before the company was acquired by Apple Inc. for $3 billion in 2014.
