The Dr Is In: Dr. Dre Offers Up Kush—Set to Detox in 2011

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After years of reneged release dates and rap-world rumors of its completion, it seems Dr. Dre is finally ready to release his ten-year-in-the-making album, Detox¦maybe.

The first official single, Kush, released on Nov 18th,  features Snoop Dogg and Akon, and debuted at Number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after a partial sales week, making it Dre’s first appearance there since “The Next Episode” in 2000.

As the title suggests, the track is an ode to a particularly popular strain of marijuana, and features the classic, west coast sound he helped cultivate over twenty years ago.

The prolific west coast rapper, turned producer, turned executive, turned actor who burst onto the scene in 1988 with N.W.A. and birthed the gangsta rap era with Straight Outta Compton hasn’t stopped since.  His debut solo album, The Chronic was released on Death Row Records in 1992 and introduced the world to G-Funk style rap. He produced Snoop Dogg‘s debut album, Doggystyle, in 1993; the first-ever rap album to debut at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.

The Aftermath president, (who also launched the careers of Eminem and 50 Cent) began work on Detox in 2004, but stopped to focus on production for other artists, and was re-scheduled for release in 2005.  When that date was canceled, three years passed before Snoop told Rolling Stone magazine the album was done in 2008, sparking industry-wide confusion of the seemingly phantom record. Another year passed before Interscope Records announced they would release the album in 2010,  with an unauthorized version of Under Pressure, the rumored first single hitting the internet in June.  Now, that the real single has officially dropped,  Detox is slated for an early 2011 release date.  It’s likely that this release will actually materialize an album, but Dre says it will definitely be his last. If Kush is any indication of what fans can expect, it may well have been worth the wait.


By Cortney Wills

Cortney Wills is a pop culture journalist born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She has lived in LA, Chicago and NYC and enjoys all things entertainment.