Desperate for help, Dee Barnes’ GoFundMe page has now surpassed its $5,000 goal.
Nineteen years ago, Dee Barnes, a hip-hop reporter and former TV host, portrayed Dr. Dre and N.W.A. in a negative light.
She ran a segment about the popular rap group on Fox’s Pump It Up, a rap video show. The show featured N.W.A. members outright lambasting former partner Ice Cube. It also featured a video interview with Cube bad-mouthing the rap group.
The segment infuriated N.W.A. members, most notably Dr. Dre. So, on January 27th, 1991, Dre – real name Andre Young – decided to take measures into his own hands.
Encountering Barnes at a record release party in Los Angeles, Young reportedly picked her up and repeatedly slammed both her face and the right side of her body against a wall near the stairway. His bodyguard held off anyone who tried to intervene.
Then, after the rapper tried throwing Barnes down a flight of stairs – and kicked her in the ribs and hands – Barnes escaped into the women’s restroom. Young followed her and grabbed her from behind by the hair, punching her in the back of the head.
N.W.A. member Ren later claimed,
“She deserved it – b—h deserved it.”
Eazy-E added,
“Yeah, b—h had it coming.”
Dr. Dre never denied that he committed the heinous crime. Instead, he pled No Contest in a subsequent lawsuit, and proudly boasted of his actions.
Now, while the iconic rapper/entrepreneur enjoys meteoric success, his victim lives on the streets.
Barnes begs the public for help.
Setting up a GoFundMe page, Barnes had admitted she is now homeless.
Explaining she remains in the process of being evicted, she wrote,
“Standing in our own truth not the definitions or the expectations is powerful, and this is my TRUTH.”
Barnes has created the page as an “emergency fund” to stop the eviction process as well as pay her legal fees.
“Even though I am facing extreme financial hardship, I keep my head up. I know who I am, I know my worth, and I know I’m not alone.”
Stating that everyone faces their own struggles, Barnes adds that “some of us [are] less fortunate than others.”
On Twitter, Barnes confirmed the GoFundMe page belonged to her. Asking for $5,000, she has since raised nearly $30,000.
Concluding the post, she writes,
“It may sound cliché, but things will turn around in your favor.
“This is the balance of life’s ups and downs, so stay strong, and count your blessings, not your problems.
“I have the sincerest gratitude for your help and thank everyone for your love and support.”
Featured image by Dr. Dre (YouTube screengrab).
So what the PHUCK exactly does Dre’s actions have ANYTHING to do with her current situation? You are a hack “journalist” and should stick to drawing up bus bench advertisements.
Because of what Dre did no one wanted to work with her so she was basically frozen out of her chosen profession
Ha fuck dat bitch
U serious?
Thank you! Smh. Daniel.
Get a J O B bitc!! Like the rest of us
Don’t be a bitch yoself when someone is going through struggles your mom must have been a sorry bitch if you really feel that way or your dad and yo grandma and grandpa you bum ass bitch
no that’s where you’re wrong. My mother, my grandmother and several other women in my family went through things ten times worse and they still persevered. This bitch just wants attention. And you are just a sucker who goes for that kind of shit. Your mother must have raised a coward. Quit trying to be a damn hero.
Ok DRE
I am glad to see that she continues to fight in the midst of everything that she has going on. Let’s stand and support one another, and have the courage to stand in our own truth.
You all know God dont like ugly, and should something like this happen to one of us, we would think and feel differently about the situation. Therefore, the correct response is one of compassion and forgiveness understanding and love. Yall just made an ugly situations negative energy live on as if it happened yesterday. Let ugly lay, let love live..mess around and let love give back that nasty for you to live out and make due if want. Yall know better. Stay up and God Bless you. Dion. Dre make it right not just for her but for your fans and there kids and for greater good and well being of this world the one which your babies live in. God’s been good…to you. Respectfully Dion.
When you’re good in a profession & some terrible altercation happens to you that causes you to be blacked ball. Nobody wants to work with you & now you can’t make money to support yourself. The struggle is real…jobs not paying what they should pay ppl are always 1 paycheck away from being broke
All the negativity this lady goes through and the “Annoymous” line up to take a cheap shot.
You see that’s where the rubber meets the road .. as a journalist, or anyone in the public’s eye.. sgecwas willing to put her name beside how she saw the artist, and his behaviours.
I applaud Miss Barnes for standing strong.. and being able to ask for help. Those are two attributes I personally respect.. strength of character and humbleness.
I appreciate your ability to be empathetic however did you ever stop to think that maybe this women is at least partially responsible for the “negativity” in her life via the choices she makes. Maybe she is a detestable individual. I mean where are all her good friends to help her out if she is such a great women?
If the “back lash” of honesty is to be black balled, many of the so called friends scatter into the nether and abandon position of claim. However, if she had won a Nobel Piece Prize, which garnered acclaim and cash, you can bet those same abandoning “friends” would be very near for photo ops.
I heard about this story back in the day I thought it was Michele’ not another woman he beat down SMH . How does Jimmy Iovine do business with him? Marc Wahlberg that’s your neighbor, watch your daughter’s. Dre you are an uneducated woman abuser.
This journalist must suffer from PTS please donate.
It’s easy to call people names and insult them when you are posting “anonymously.” I challenge you to provide your full name and I’ll run a background check on you and see if you haven’t done anything “uneducated.” You were not there when this incident occured, you have limited facts, mostly hearsay and you think you have sufficient knowledge to comment and make slanderous comments against people you don’t know. For the record you already sound pretty uneducated.
My mistake “Michelle” did not post anonymously but still sounds like a jack ass in her comments given the aforementioned reasons in my previous reply. Challenge still stands!
That Dre incident occurred nearly 30 years ago. How does this woman’s current situation relate. Well, at least it wasn’t put into the heading as click bait.
You nailed it. It’s completely farcical.
This article is borderline unintelligible and completely disjointed. From the title it seems like it’s a story about someone we’re suppose to know that needs help but you begin to read it and it turns out to be a character assassination against Dr. Dre. The author, unsuccessfully, tries to relate this women’s present day hardships with an incident that happened close to three decades ago. Then author completely fails to state why the Dr. Dre incident is at all relevant and seemingly makes an ill-fated attempt at creating sympathy for this women by creating the delusion that somehow the fact that this women got her ass beat 30 years ago somehow is related to her homelessness today. There are tens of thousands of women who are subject to violence, they are not all homeless or destitute and creating a false narrative via besmirching the name of the the greatest rap/hip hop producer of all time and maybe the greatest producer of modern day popular music besides Quincey Jones is not the smart or the journalistically honest way to do it. Good job, you just angered the very people of which you were attempting to win their hearts and minds. Now this women will get less support as a result of your stupid, reactionary, dishonest article.
Confused! After all the success dre’s had and all the good he’s done though charities, why would he not right this wrong in his life by taking care of her. Seems like a no brainer really!
I feel bad for her. I know all too well about struggles and pray for favor for her. I do wish that DMN would have put an image of her and not JUST Dre. This IS her truth, she’s the victim and she deserves that much.
‘Anonymous’’ seems to be a popular tag ‘round here – is that why they’re all so mouthy?