Ice Cube Says New Dr. Dre Album Coming Soon, But ‘Detox’ Is Still MIA
A new album by Dr. Dre will be dropping soon, according to his N.W.A. bandmate Ice Cube. Perhaps disappointingly to longtime fans of Dr. Dre, Detox, the long-awaited sequel to his last album, 2001, will not be his third album after all. Instead, Ice Cube said, speaking on Philadelphia radio station Power 99, Dre’s new album will be the soundtrack to the N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, which hits theaters on August 14.
“It’s mega. It’s Dr. Dre, it’s what everybody’s been waiting for” Ice Cube said Wednesday, Rolling Stone report. Cube continued “It’s definitely a dope record, and he’s dropping it all on the same day.”
In a related article from the Inquisitr, check out Dr. Dre and Ice Cube discussing hip hop mogul Suge Knight’s fatal hit-and-run incident.
Although Ice Cube said the album would be released on August 1, Rolling Stone say that this is unlikely according to their sources, instead advising readers to tune into Dr Dre’s Beats 1 radio show, The Pharmacy, where he is expected to reveal more information. The Beats 1 Twitter account also told listeners that they “won’t want to miss this week’s episode,” and included the hashtag #StraightOuttaCompton.
You won’t want to miss this week’s episode of #ThePharmacy w/ @DrDre. Saturday 3PM PT/6PM ET. #StraightOuttaCompton https://t.co/5ZCDP8hqAa
— Beats 1 (@Beats1) July 30, 2015
Despite his legendary status in hip hop, only two solo albums have been released over the 31-year career of Dr. Dre, The Chronic in 1992, widely regarded as one of the most important albums in hip hop history, and 2001, released, somewhat paradoxically, in 1999. In 2008, it was announced by Dre that Detox would be his final studio album, now it seems that, should the album be released, it’ll be his fourth.
The album was finished in 2008, according to a contemporary report by Rolling Stone, with none other than long-time Dre collaborator Snoop Dogg making the claim. Its current status isn’t so clear, with Philly.com reporting the rap maestro has pulled numerous songs from the album after tracks from Detox leaked to the internet back in 2010.
With a list of rumored contributors that looks like a Who’s Who of hip hop, it’d be a crying shame if Detox never saw the light of day. That is, however, a possibility. The Guardian reports that Marsha Ambrosius and Dawaun Parker claim Dr. Dre had stopped working on the record.
Ice Cube also said that the Straight Outta Compton soundtrack would feature new material by N.W.A., the first time the group has released new songs since 1999, when they released the single “Chin Check,” Philly.com report. This follows N.W.A.’s brief reunion last month in L.A., where MC Ren, Ice Cube, and DJ Yella performed, with the noticeable absence of Dr. Dre. You can check out a video of the concert below (the video features NSFW language.)
For fans of The Chronic, Dr. Dre, and N.W.A., this movie looks set to be a banger. But for those who desperately wanted Detox, Dr. Dre seems to be making them wait a while longer, but hey, at least we’re hopefully getting a new album.
[Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images for BET]
