Dr. Dre is in my opinion one of the best Hip-Hop producers of all time. He has produced for artists like N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, The D.O.C., 2Pac and many others. He is a former member of the Hip-Hop group N.W.A., making him one of the originators of the Gangsta Rap genre. Besides his legendary production, Dr. Dre has released two classic albums; The Chronic and 2001, the former being regarded as one of the best Hip-Hop albums of all time, bringing widespread fame for both Dre and his protege Snoop Dogg. His productions fees range up to $250,000-500,000 per song and he has introduced the world to Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game and most recently Kendrick Lamar. I will forever be thankful to him for dropping my favorite album of all time: Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP. But let's be honest here, most people now-a-days only know Dr. Dre for his overpriced headphones (Beats by Dr. Dre) and that is unfortunate to see. Modern Hip-Hop fans overlook what made him a legend and instead focus on his headphones. Dr. Dre is a great rapper, producer and entrepreneur.The main topic of this post however is not his legacy, appeal or success. It is focused on the his final album Detox and if it is ever going to be released.
For those of you who are unaware of what Detox is and what the dilemma is, Detox is Dr. Dre's "upcoming" third and final studio album. Dr. Dre has been working on this album since 2001 believe it or not! And year after year, Dr. Dre keeps giving release dates that are never met, which pisses off a lot of his fans. For years, nothing from the album has been leaked and the only thing we know about this album is who is rumored to be working on the album. Slim The Mobster, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, RZA, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Alex Da Kid, DJ Khalil and even Lil Wayne claimed to be in the studio with him and as contributors to the album. It wasn't until 2011 when Kush and I Need A Doctor were released and some songs got leaked that fans got excited again. His fans finally gained faith again and the release of Detox didn't seem so impossible anymore. Well it's 2013 and we're still stuck where we were before! When some of the songs leaked, Dr. Dre found himself removing them from his album and making newer songs. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Dre is a perfectionist, which would explain his actions. He wants to make Detox the best album it could be and its taking him 12 years to do that! For these reasons, many fans seem to wonder if Dr. Dre is ever going to release Detox in this lifetime. So will Detox ever be released? Unfortunately, I have to say Detox will never see the light of day.
To be honest, I haven't cared much about Detox for a long, long time. With so many delays, I kinda lost hope that it will ever drop. Kush was pretty dope (No pun intended) but I Need A Doctor seemed just made for the radio. Kush brought me back to 2001, with the production being far from excellent and the chemistry between Dre and Snoop seemed all natural again. But after all the years of waiting, Dr. Dre seems to be keeping the legend behind Detox alive merely for his own publicity. We have no new material, no stable release date and he has way to many distractions. The 2Pac hologram reportedly cost Dre 10 million dollars and a lot of time to make! With that being said, I believe there are three main reasons why Dre won't drop Detox.
This past year, Dr. Dre has been in the studio helping out his new Aftermath member Kendrick Lamar on his major label debut "good kid, m.A.A.d city". Thankfully the album went Gold (600K + sold), was universally acclaimed and brought Kendrick to stardom and Aftermath back on the map. So Dre has a lot of time left to work on Detox right? Wrong. 2013 will bring 50 Cent back to the game with his new album Street King Immortal and will also feature a new album by Eminem as well. Dr. Dre will probably be very busy bringing these albums on the shelves rather than working on his own album. For this first reason, I don't think Dr. Dre will continue to work on Detox anymore.
2- His involvement in the modern Hip-Hop scene might be overshadowed by a lot of competition:
Hip-Hop now-a-days seems to be dominated by commercial artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Drake and a few other rappers. Other than those few, no other rappers seem to receive the exposure as others because Hip-Hop fans are only focused on a small group of rappers (Cash Money, Maybach Music and G.O.O.D. Music members). 50 Cent and The Game returned but with little success because Hip-Hop fans feel this period of Hip-Hop is way different from what it was 8 to 10 years ago. The only rappers to maintain success over the years are Eminem and Jay-Z and that's for remaining consistent with their fans. To be honest, if Dr. Dre drops Detox now, not a lot of Hip-Hop fans would be interested except Dre's die-hard fans. Let's face it, Kush was a minor hit while I Need A Doctor was only successful because of Eminem's involvement. That being said, not a lot of people would care for Dr. Dre's music in this generation, so delaying the album 12 years was probably Dre's biggest mistake.
3- He's too focused on his line of Beats:
Like you didn't see this one coming! Dr. Dre revolutionized the music industry with the way you listen to your music with his successful line of Beats headphones. No matter where you go and ask what headphones people want, the number one answer will be Beats by Dr. Dre. But how successful are these headphones? Well let's put it this way: According to Forbes, Dr. Dre made 110 million dollars from May 2011 to May 2012 solely based on his sales off Beats. Every rapper wants to make more money in the best possible way and for Dr. Dre, this way is by selling 300 dollar headphones instead of music. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does make the release of Detox seem more and more unlikely as the headphones become more popular. Hell, he even put out "Limited Edition Detox Beats" which to me proved Detox is just a marketing scheme!
With the mentioned three and other countless reasons why Detox continues to be delayed, I believe that Dr. Dre will never drop Detox EXCEPT under one condition. I believe Detox will only be released until after Dr. Dre's death as a compilation. They can use Dre's death to market the album to increase record sales no matter how good, bad, consistent or inconsistent it is. To be honest there is a plus side to Detox taking a damn long time to be released and that is all the memes being made about it. Those are too hilarious! Either way, Dr. Dre will always remain to me as one of the most influential Hip-Hop figures of all time, releasing two classic solo albums as well as producing some of the most commercial and critically acclaimed Hip-Hop albums in the past few years. Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP remains to this day as being the best selling Hip-Hop album of all time, selling an estimated 11 million copies thanks to Dr. Dre! As long as Dr. Dre is around and involved in the music industry, some of the elements of the old-school Hip-Hop can continue to survive.
What do you think? Do you think Detox will ever drop? Why do you think its taking too long for Detox to be released? Let me know by leaving a comment below! Until next time, I leave you with this meme:
Hip-Hop now-a-days seems to be dominated by commercial artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Drake and a few other rappers. Other than those few, no other rappers seem to receive the exposure as others because Hip-Hop fans are only focused on a small group of rappers (Cash Money, Maybach Music and G.O.O.D. Music members). 50 Cent and The Game returned but with little success because Hip-Hop fans feel this period of Hip-Hop is way different from what it was 8 to 10 years ago. The only rappers to maintain success over the years are Eminem and Jay-Z and that's for remaining consistent with their fans. To be honest, if Dr. Dre drops Detox now, not a lot of Hip-Hop fans would be interested except Dre's die-hard fans. Let's face it, Kush was a minor hit while I Need A Doctor was only successful because of Eminem's involvement. That being said, not a lot of people would care for Dr. Dre's music in this generation, so delaying the album 12 years was probably Dre's biggest mistake.
Like you didn't see this one coming! Dr. Dre revolutionized the music industry with the way you listen to your music with his successful line of Beats headphones. No matter where you go and ask what headphones people want, the number one answer will be Beats by Dr. Dre. But how successful are these headphones? Well let's put it this way: According to Forbes, Dr. Dre made 110 million dollars from May 2011 to May 2012 solely based on his sales off Beats. Every rapper wants to make more money in the best possible way and for Dr. Dre, this way is by selling 300 dollar headphones instead of music. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does make the release of Detox seem more and more unlikely as the headphones become more popular. Hell, he even put out "Limited Edition Detox Beats" which to me proved Detox is just a marketing scheme!
What do you think? Do you think Detox will ever drop? Why do you think its taking too long for Detox to be released? Let me know by leaving a comment below! Until next time, I leave you with this meme:
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