Dr. Dre Talks The Detox Wait,"Under Pressure" Frustration And Instrumental Album

Fiending for a check-up with the Doc? Peep a few excerpts from VIBE's August/September cover story on Dre. Dre to hold you down till August 13. Interview by: Jerry Barrow

ON THE DETOX HOLD-UP:
When you first announced Detox did you think it would take this long?
Absolutely not. I thought it would take at worst case a couple of years. For example, actual work time on The Chronic was nine months and actual work time on my last album, 2001, was about 10 months. The actual work time on this album is about half of that, where I’m seriously focusing on it. There is always something coming up. Like signing talent, old and new.

ON DEALING WITH MUSIC LEAKS:
So “Under Pressure” leaking was killer.
It was a little bit more frustrating because at least “Crack a Bottle” had a hook on it. I wouldn’t be as mad at a leak if the song was done.

Can you blame the fans for wanting to hear something after all this time?
Absolutely not. I’m not mad at the fans. I’m mad at the person that leaked the shit. I have no idea how it got out. It’s not even worth looking to see who did it. It happens. The most painful part about it is that I’m passionate about what I do so people should hear it in the right form.

There were some other reference tracks that leaked with T.I. and Ludacris lyrics. Were those legit?
Two of them were. Somebody actually hacked into our emails, so that made our red flags go up. We’re in a new age and that’s a sign: Wake up motherfucker. You have to be more careful with your shit. That’s all there is to it. I know what’s up now.

ON A COMING INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM:
You mentioned a hip-hop album without rapping. Will we ever hear a Dr. Dre instrumental album?
Oh yeah, that’s in the works. An instrumental album is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I have the ideas for it. I want to call it The Planets. I don’t even know if I should be saying this, but fuck it. [Laughs.] It’s just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like. I’m gonna go off on that. Just all instrumental. I’ve been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet. I’ve been doing this for about two years now just in my spare time so to speak. I wanna do it in surround sound. It’ll have to be in surround sound for Saturn to work.

Pick up VIBE’s August/September JUICE issue on August 16 for the full interview.

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