They reunited for the Super Bowl: what are Eminem, Dr. Dre and other 90s hip hop stars doing now?

For the last couple of years, the Super Bowl halftime show has brought 'back' artists who have been out of the spotlight for a time. Some of the world's biggest names of the 90s performed an electric show in 2022. We look at where those names are now and see their transformations.

The halftime concert 2022 revisited hip-hop at its core with Dr Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J Blige: some of the greatest rap and R&B stars from the 90s who continue to be relevant today. The five musicians together have a combined 44 Grammy Awards. Eminem takes the lead with 15 trophies.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

At age 14, Eminem began rapping in clubs in Detroit, and, then, when he had repeated the ninth grade for the third year, he quit school, determined to make it in hip-hop music. He was rejected by most fellow rappers because of his race, so Marshall Mathers grew an anger that is expressed in his music to this day.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

The penniless young rapper went into the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, looking to win the $1,500 cash prize. Marshall slipped up but made it to second place. It didn’t matter by then: he had already been spotted.

In the crowd, there were a few producers from Interscope, and a demo was handed to them - a copy of the ‘Infinite’ tape. Dr. Dre grabbed hold of it, listened to it and eventually tracked him down. The rest is history.

His most famous tracks were released at the end of the 90s/early 2000s and include ‘My Name Is’, ‘Lose Yourself’, ‘Without Me’ and, no one can forget, ‘The Real Slim Shady’. Despite the huge hits they were at the time, Eminem says he now looks back and considers the tracks ‘cheesy’. We still love them.

Photo: Official music video 'My Name Is' - Eminem

In 2000, it was the peak of Eminems nineties/naughties career. Perhaps one of his most memorable moments was at the MTV VMAs that year where he performed ‘The Real Slim Shady’ and ‘The Way I Am’. He put on a show of his chart-topping hits alongside an army of 100 Slim Shady clones and completely entertained and bewitched the audience at Radio City.

Eminem didn’t have much growing up, but then he made his first big purchase when the money started rolling in: a house. Unfortunately, he had to sell it almost immediately as fans would reportedly jump into his swimming pool and enter his driveway.

We have been blessed with many hits from the star and now lives life away from the media. One of the most successful rappers in history has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Not to mention, he is also one of the richest rappers in the world.

Last year, his net worth rose to an estimated $210 million. He released a new album in August 2022, Curtain Call 2, his second greatest hits album; and also featured on the 'Elvis' original soundtrack for the Baz Luhrmann film.

After struggling at school, Dre started working as a DJ during his teenage years. He became Dr Dre, which is a combination of his previous stage name Dr J and his first name, Andre.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

He was part of the rap group N.W.A. and then co-founded Death Row Records in 1991. A year later, he released his first solo album, 'The Chronic', to great critical acclaim. It included the hits ‘Let Me Ride’ and ‘Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang’.

Dre, after starting up Aftermath Entertainment in 1996, signed Eminem and 50 Cent to his label. He has gone on to become one of the most recognised hip-hop producers of all time.

According to wealthygorilla.com, his net worth is believed to be in the region of $820 million as of 2022. Funnily enough, however, Dr Dre has made more money making Beats headphones than he ever did making music.

Dre was a foundation to the 90s rap scene. Who can forget those lyrics, "Still takin' my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the streets. It's the D-R-E"?

Photo: Official music Video 'Still Dre' - Dr. Dre

Dre had a son at 16 years old but didn’t meet him for 20 years. Curtis is a rapper that goes by the name Hood Surgeon. Another of Dre’s children died at just 20 years old from a drug overdose at his home.

At the beginning of 2021, Dre suffered a brain aneurysm and was hospitalised for a time. That hasn’t stopped him from making music, however. His new album, ‘CasaBlanco’, on which he collaborated with English singer songwriter Marsha Ambrosius, is due to be released soon.

"I'm extremely excited to share the stage with my friends for the #PepsiHalftime Show," Dr Dre shared in a tweet before the event in 2022. "This will introduce the next saga of my career. Bigger and Better than Ever!!!”

Like many artist on the hip-hop scene, Snoop started making music as a way out of his troubles. He recorded demos with his cousin and friend, until one of these was listened to by Dr Dre.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

The big man in music invited Snoop to audition. He was known as Snoop Doggy Dogg: a persona who would become the epitome of West Coast Hip-hop culture. Snoop will indeed be playing to a home crowd at the Super Bowl, held in California.

Despite battling court troubles, Snoop’s public persona made him a popular symbol. His slang and exaggerated verbal embellishments have entered the popular American vocabulary. He is, without a doubt, a cultural icon.

Despite everyone knowing his name, his brilliant changes of style and his ability to smoke; Dogg has only had one number one as a lead: “Drop It Like It's Hot,” featuring Pharrell. It was a huge smash hit in 2004.

According to turtlequote.com, Snoop has a reported IQ of 147 - well over the average of between 85 and 115 for most of the public, according to Scientific American. Therefore, Snoop is down as one of the most intelligent rappers in history.

Snoop has done everything from commentating to online game streaming and even cooking. Martha Stewart and Snoop started “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party” in 2016, and it’s still going today.

Photo: Getty Images / Colour editing Showbizz Daily

Snoop’s Net Worth is estimated at $150 million, according to celebritynetworth.com, and maintains a pretty good car collection. Including his 1974 Cadillac Snoop DeVille Lowrider and custom designed, yellow Pontiac Virizion convertible.

Photo Collage: Getty / Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

The charismatic entertainer released a new album in 2021, entitled ‘Algorithm’ on November 19, 2021. It was released just after he had turned 50 that October.

Blige wanted to pursue music from a young age but it was hard for her to dream big with limited surroundings. Growing up in housing projects, "it’s like a prison inside of a prison inside of a prison,” says Blige.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

Singing was an escape for the singer who said she ‘carried people’s pain’. “Singing made me forget that we were struggling so much.”

Her big break came when a demo of hers got carried all the way to Uptown Records. Diddy, who was with the label, started working with her and together they produces her first record, ‘What’s the 411?’. She was limited no more.

Everyone recalls the hit ‘Family Affair’ from the album ‘No More Drama’ - it topped the charts and Blige was a voice to countless young girls who have come from difficult backgrounds. The same year as this success, in 2001, she performed in the Super Bowl half time show.

Known as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Blige was important in the music scene for women everywhere. Danyel Smith, the former editor of Vibe, says that the style she brought to the world was more than just a fashion statement. “Mary was the first to bring her own R&B, hip-hop swag to the boy-based rap scene,” she says.

Her album, 'What's The 411', got the name from Mary's past occupation. Before hitting the music scene on a big scale, she was a 4-1-1- operator.

With 13 albums, nine Grammy awards, and millions of records sold, Mary J. Blige has gone down in history in the music industry, but has recently been making her mark on the screen, too. She was starring as Monet Tejada in the spin-off of the highly rated TV drama 'Power Book II: Ghost'.

Now, one of the richest rappers in the world with 13 Grammys to his name, Kendrick Lamar grew up in Compton, making a name for himself in the rap world. A 16 year old Lamar released a mixtape in early 00s and it caught the attention of some big names.

Photo: Official Trailer Pepsi halftime show Super Bowl 2022

He used the pseudonym K-Dot and he supported other acts until he was seen in a rap battle against other rappers. After having a rethink on his name, he released his EP ‘The Kendrick Lamar EP’ which led him to be called up to the big guy: Dr Dre.

Lamar has been on tour with Kanye West and featured in Eminem’s album, ‘The Marshall Mathers LP 2’. He has partnered with Reebok and names rapper of the year by GQ magazine in 2013.

His album, ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ was released and went straight to the number one spot in 2015. Since then he has joined Taylor Swift on her track ‘Bad Blood’, and Maroon 5 with their song, ‘Don’t Wanna Know’.

Kendrick Lamar actually developed the soundtrack for the Marvel film ‘Black Panther’. He won the coveted Academy Award for best original song.

Photo: Official video 'Humble' - Kendrick Lamar

It is estimated the rapper is worth in the region of $75million according to celebritynetworth.com.
He released 'Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers' in 2022, but also had an interesting project to work on...

Lamar is entering the movie industry by co-producing an upcoming live-action film. He will do so alongside his former manager and the co-creators of ‘South Park’. According to hiphopdx, the plot is as follows: ‘the untitled movie is about a young Black man interning as a slave reenactor at a living history museum who discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his’.