Detox will be Dr Dre's final album. As fans await the NWA founder's third solo LP, which he has been working on since 2003, the rapper and producer has revealed he is to hang up his microphone. Once Detox is released – that is, assuming it is ever released – Dre will quit rapping and stick to production.
"As far as me going into the mic booth, that shit is over," he told XXL magazine. "I'm getting older ... I'm always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with. But, yeah, that's it."
Even in his early work with NWA and World Class Wreckin' Cru, Dre was first and foremost a beatmaker. He went on to help define the west coast hip-hop sound through production work for Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent. Although his solo debut, 1992's The Chronic, is regarded as a classic, Dre has rarely dropped verses over the past decade. His last album, 2001, was released in 1999.
Dre said he enjoys working with younger rappers. "New artists ... [can] say some of the things I won't say," he said. "It's been a little tussle in that area also, just because of age and being able to identify with the younger audience." Although Detox is still without a release date, a February 2011 slot is rumoured.
And yet as much as we'd like to see Detox finally released, we're even keener to get Dr Dre's rap career out of the way. Earlier this year, the producer said his next project will be The Planets, an instrumental album he has been working on "for a long time". "I've been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet," he said. "It's just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like." Although this might seems like a joke, Dre insisted he is serious. "I don't even know if I should be saying this," he admitted, "but fuck it."
