Dr. Dre Looks Ahead

September 7 -- With his "Up in Smoke" tour inscribed in the history books — to the successful tune of 521,000 tickets sold for a gross of more than $24 million — Dr. Dre is eyeballing his future projects. And there are plenty of them, including the N.W.A. reunion record and albums by protégé rappers Xzibit and Hitman, as well as R&B singer Truth Hurts.

A third Dre solo album could also be in the offing. "Before I came out on the road, I had in my mind I was never going to do another solo album," Dre says. "Now I'm thinking about it. Being [on tour] has motivated me enough to make me want to go back in the studio."

That's certainly dope to the ears of Interscope Records, the home of Dre's Aftermath label. After all, both of his previous albums — 1993's The Chronic and last year's 2001 — have been multiplatinum smashes.

But if he does come out with another album of his own, Dre promises it will be a markedly different joint than its two predecessors. "I can't come back with The Chronic 3 or something like that," he says. "It'll definitely be something totally different. I have an idea what I want to do. It's going to be a concept album. The music will sound like a mixture between Kraftwerk and George Clinton."

There's also the possibility that "Up in Smoke" will be preserved via a live album, Dre says. Some shows were recorded and filmed, but while a home video or film project is likely, an album is not guaranteed. "I'm not really that interested in doing a live album, for the simple fact that we didn't have a live band out there, so it would probably sound too close to the [original] albums," Dre admits. "But we'll see how it comes out and, if I can do something creative to it, if it sounds hot enough to put in the stores."