Dr. Dre To Donate Profits From New Album To Fund Compton Arts Center

From Compton-born O.G. to community-minded philanthropist, things have come full circle for Dr. Dre. Rolling Stone reports that the multi-platinum recording artist and pop culture icon told Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe that he will donate all of his royalties from his forthcoming album Compton: A Soundtrack towards the creation of a performing arts center in his hometown.

“I feel it’s the right thing to do and I hope everybody appreciates the work I put into this album… We’ve reached out to [Compton Mayor] Aja Brown quite a few times in the last month or two… I’ve been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn’t quite figure out what it was. She actually had this idea and she was already in the process of working on it. I said, ‘Boom, this is what we should do.'”

According to the Huffington Post, Dr. Dre’s new album — his first in 15 years — will drop via Apple Music and iTunes on Friday. Rolling Stone further notes that the record will stream “uncensored and in its entirety” in a loop for three hours beginning at 6 p.m. PST on August 6.

Prior to the announcement regarding the Compton record, fans were awaiting a release from Dre entitled Detox, but the rapper eventually put that effort on the shelf. Discussing the matter on the radio show The Pharmacy, Dr. Dre said that he just didn’t feel like his work was worthy of release.

“This is something you’re not gonna hear many artists say… The reason Detox didn’t come out was because I didn’t like it. It wasn’t good. I’m gonna keep it all-the-way 1,000 with you, seriously. I worked my ass off on it, I don’t think I did a good enough job, and I couldn’t do that to my fans and I couldn’t do that to myself, to be perfectly honest with you. I just wasn’t feeling it.”

It’s hard to argue with Dr. Dre’s business sense, given the successes he’s enjoyed in his career thus far. He’s firing on all cylinders these days, not only promoting his forthcoming album but also preparing for the release of the film Straight Outta Compton, which details the earlier years of his career with the groundbreaking group N.W.A. Portraying the gritty reality of life in one of the toughest neighborhoods in America, the film is a stark contrast to Dr. Dre’s life today. Indeed, his recent decision to give back to the community that inspired him to a life of greatness is the ultimate expression of gravitated.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella]