What to Expect From Dr. Dre’s 'Compton'
Plus: The rapper will donate his royalties to build an arts center in Compton.
— -- Tomorrow Dr. Dre will drop his first album in nearly 16 years.
He of course will premiere the album on Apple Music tonight by playing the album on repeat. At midnight it will appear on iTunes. Dre’s alliance with Apple shouldn’t be surprising when you consider the company's recent acquisition of Beats Electronics, the company Dre co-founded with record industry legend Jimmy Iovine.
If you remember four years ago Dre was set to release his album “Detox” and he even dropped the single, “I Need A Doctor” which featured Eminem and Skyler Gray.
That single is still available for download if you missed it, but in an interview on Beats Radio, Dre has said he made the last minute decision to shelve “Detox” because he didn't like the end product. He didn’t want to be out promoting an album he didn’t think was among his best work.
“Compton,” his new album, came about in a sudden flurry of inspiration surrounding the production of the NWA biopic, “Straight Outta Compton.” By this logic, one can guess that it will more likely be sonically akin to classic NWA material than the retro G-funk of “The Chronic,” but until we hear it, we won’t know for sure.
And surely the album will have a ton of surprises reportedly with guest appearances from everyone from Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and more.
One thing is for certain: Dre plans to give back to his community. He told Beats Radio’s Zane Lowe that he will use the royalties from the sale of the album to build a community arts center in Compton.
"I feel it's the right thing to do," he said, according to Rolling Stone. "I've been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn't quite figure out what it was. [Mayor Aja Brown] actually had this idea and she was already in the process of working on it. I said, 'Boom, this is what we should do.'"
Will this be a win for Dre? Odds are no matter how good the album ends up being, probably yes. It will no doubt be a callback to his roots and business-wise, it will serve as a potentially effective piece of corporate synergy with the release of the film.
After a long break in releases, Dr. Dre definitely has people talking again and he’s got the industry buzzing. Will the sudden inspiration that led to the creation of "Compton" amount to creative gold? We'll know soon enough.
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