Even though Dr. Dre has been building the hype and supposedly working on the Detox album, it remains to be seen if it will ever be released. It has been over a decade since he announced his new album, and aside from releasing three singles between 2010-2011, nothing has been released. Not to mention, he is almost 50 years old, he still has a family to take care of and spend some time with. His dedication to other artist’ careers, his perfectionist values and his tremendous wealth are great but they may be critical factors that may slow down the existence of a new album from him.
I don’t think that Dr. Dre’s supposedly upcoming album Detox will ever be released.
Rapper/Producer/Entrepreneur Andre “Dr. Dre” Young has been in the music industry for over 30 decades. He started out as a member of one of the most influential rap groups “NWA.” When NWA was over, he started out as one of the most powerful Hip Hop artists, producers and record label owners. The 48-year-old music mogul has released only two solo albums, The Chronic in 1992 and 2001 in 1999. For over a decade now, he has been building the hype for his upcoming album Detox. With so much going on for Dr. Dre, I do not think that the Detox album will ever be released.
With so much time spent molding artists into superstars and producing for other artists, there is little room for him to work on his own album. Since Dr. Dre launched his record label Aftermath Records in 1996 he has molded a number of independent artists into the biggest major superstars of their time. He started with Snoop Dogg, then Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game and Kendrick Lamar. Now he has taken a new interest in independent artist Jon Connor. He has pushed his album back multiple times because he had to produce for someone else’s album. According to a blog called Detox Refined Hype, Dr. Dre initially announced the Detox album and after 2 years of nothing, he claimed that he had to put the album on hold because he wanted to focus on The Game’s debut album Documentary. G-Unit music mogul 50 Cent has been asked about the Detox release and he has no idea when it will come out.
West Coast rapper/producer DJ Quick also agrees; he told Nui Te Koha of the Herald Sun his opinions on whetherDetox is ever releasing. “I don’t believe Dr. Dre will release that album. I think he’s over it and rightfully so. He doesn’t have to prove to anybody that he can still make a hot record,” Quick said.
I think the fact that Dr. Dre is a perfectionist, is part of why we may never see a Detox Album. Rapper the Game agrees. In an interview with Vibe magazine, early this year, The Game thinks that the Detox album that has been talked about for so many years may never be released. “Detox, it’s like Jesus,” he says. “Will you ever get to see Jesus? It’s like a Hip Hop Jesus.” The Game also said, “Dre’s a hard guy to please. If he doesn’t become 100 percent happy, then we’ll probably never end up hearing Detox. I’ll say never.”
In an interview Snoop Dogg had with Dub CNN back in 2006, he spoke on how former Aftermath Records rapper Bishop Lamont had to record one bar 107 times until it was good enough for Dr. Dre.
DJ Quick also agrees that Dre is too much a perfectionist. When asked on working with Dr. Dre, he noted “He’s a slave driver in the studio. He’ll make you cry. You have to perfect to work with him. If you not, you won’t be in the studio, period.”
Aside from his music entrepreneurship, Dre has built an empire with his “Beats By Dre” and made so much money from all his business ventures that he may not have time to focus on making music.
Dr. Dre has made the top 5 of Hip Hop’s Wealthiest on the Forbes list for the past number of years. With so much money from his “Beats By Dre” headphones, and his other business ventures and endorsements, he has so much money that in the music industry today he doesn’t need to make any new music unless his heart is still there.
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