Dr. Dre pushes “Detox” back until 2011?

Almost immediately after the release of his 1999 album, 2001, Dr. Dre was rumored to be working on a new album to be titled Detox. While Dre had begun his career as a rapper, he had always produced. After the release of his classic The Chronic, Dre had almost become a full-time producer. He took a break from his production work to create 2001 and he wanted to get back in to complete Detox.

While his intentions were set on completing this album, Eminem rose to unexpected heights and it became Dr. Dre’s responsibility to have him release as much music as possible. Later in 1999, the opportunity presented itself for Dre to sign the legendary Rakim to Aftermath. What was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Dr. Dre quickly pounced on the opportunity and added him to the roster of Aftermath Entertainment.

By the early 2000s, Dr. Dre was swamped with work on music from Eminem and Rakim. In 2002, he also chose to develop the R&B act, Truth Hurts. She scored a hit during the summer of 2002 with her hit “Addictive,” which featured Rakim. The song, produced by Dre, became one of the top hits of the summer. Because of this, Dr. Dre was soon in demand from the likes of Eve and other rappers with their albums. It was during this time that he signed The Game to his label.

Busy with the work of Eminem, then the addition of 50 Cent, while trying to hold The Game and Rakim over until he had some spare time, Detox was placed on the backburner. He had promised the album to be released in 2004, but first came 50 Cent’s takeover in 2003. What came with the dominance of 50 Cent was a feud with Ja Rule, Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. Records. Soon, Dr. Dre found himself in the middle of this battle.

With all of this going on, Detox was completely forgotten. After the feud with Murder Inc. ended, Dr. Dre returned to work on the album. Eminem promised the album for a 2006 release, but Dre took some time off after the feud between 50 Cent and The Game broke out. By the time he returned to work on the album, the anticipation for the new release had almost died. The people were tired of waiting on Dr. Dre, so they moved on.

Finally, after the hip hop world has made numerous transitions, Dr. Dre re-emerged late in 2009 with a promise of delivering Detox in early 2010. With early 2010 here, Dre made the decision to wait on working on the album. Currently, he has his hands tied with work on new albums from his artists. He is working on Eminem’s Relapse 2 and Game’s The R.E.D. Album and Diary of Compton.

With Eminem expected to release his album during the summer and Game to release one album in the first half of the year and another album in the second, Dre’s schedule will not be clear until sometime next year. Because of the creativity surrounding him, Dr. Dre is in no rush to put his own album out there. This is his reasoning for waiting to release Detox until sometime in 2011.