Since the 2011 single “I Need a Doctor” featuring Skylar Grey and Eminem, Dr. Dre fans have been patiently waiting for the Doctor to come out of his office and release what many fans believed to be his "Detox" album. What was delivered instead was the musical masterpiece titled "Compton" released Thursday night, a day earlier than expected. The album is now available digitally through iTunes and Apple Music. The album has only been available for a short time, but is already causing hype for the upcoming movie “Straight Outta Compton” which will depict the story of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E and the other original N.W.A members' rise to fame. According to Forbes, Dr. Dre became the richest man in hip-hop in last year when he sold his company Beats Electronics to Apple for $3 billion. The Doctor is also the founder of Aftermath Entertainment whose artists include the much beloved Kendrick Lamar and the legendary Eminem.
Almost every track off "Compton" features a big name artist, including Ice Cube, Snoop Dog, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. The most touching track of the album is the final track titled “Talking To My Diary.” No artists are featured on this track, just Dre rapping solo. He mentions former N.W.A member Eazy-Z who passed away on March 26, 1995 after battling AIDS. Dr. Dre and Eazy-E feuded for a long time after Dr. Dre left N.W.A when he believed that Eazy-E was not handling the group’s finances properly. The two continued their feud in various tracks until they were able to settle their differences only about a month before Eazy’s death.
After listening to the album several times, the tracks that stand out the most are “Talk About It” featuring King Mez and Justus, “Deep Water” featuring Kendrick Lamar, Justus and Anderson Paak. “Satisfaction” featuring Snoop Dogg, Marsha Ambrosius, and King Mez, “Talking to My Diary” and “Medicine Man” featuring Eminem, Candice Pillay and Anderson Paak.
The pairing of Eminem and Dr. Dre seems almost natural since the two greats have appeared on each other’s tracks several times throughout the years. Eminem refers to himself as a “sidekick” to Dr. Dre in Dre’s single “I Need a Doctor.” Doctor Dre’s last album was "2001," which was released in 1999. Eminem was featured on two tracks “Forgot About Dre” and “What’s the Difference.” Snoop Dogg was also featured in both "Compton" and "2001."
"Compton" was not the album that fans were expecting, but I don't think anyone will be disappointed. Dr. Dre announced that "Detox" — the album that everyone in hip-hop has been waiting 16 years for — is officially dead and not going to be released. Instead the Doctor delivered "Compton" and will soon be able to watch his story be told on the big screen. I don’t believe anyone really “Forgot about Dre,” and even if they did, they will certainly not be able to forget ever again.
