2016 Is Going To Be Busy For Dr. Dre. He Announces Another Musical Project.
In August of 2015, Dr. Dre shocked the music industry by releasing his third solo album, Compton. From announcement to release, it was approximately two weeks for an iconic producer/MC who had not dropped an album since 1999. That same summer, a biopic on Dre’s early career (and his N.W.A. band-mates), Straight Outta Compton was topping film box offices. The artist was deeply involved in the Universal-backed film, credited as one of its executive producers. Compton has since been certified gold, and reached #2 on the charts, while Straight Outta Compton has been prominently included in various award shows since.
After that busy 2015, the Aftermath Entertainment founder and CEO is showing no signs of braking. Already in 2016, Dr. Dre has announced that he will act in and produce an Apple-backed series, Vital Signs, partially inspired by his life. This is Dre’s first return to film acting in more than 15 years. The artist known for mentoring The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar also signed Anderson .Paak to Aftermath, the Interscope-backed label’s highest profile signing since Lamar. Dre continues to host his The Pharmacy Radio radio show on Beats 1, inviting guests such as Pharoahe Monch and Kurupt to the same medium of radio that was instrumental to Dre’s career in the mid-1980s.
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According to HipHopDX, Dr. Dre has another project on the horizon. Dre is set to provide the music for upcoming graphic novel LOADED. Planned for the final quarter of the year, Dre and longtime production partner Mark Batson are going to put original music as an accompaniment to the novel. “I’m excited to work with Mark [Batson] on the music for LOADED,” Dr. Dre said in a statement. “When he gave me the book, I immediately fell in love with the story, so I’m honored that he asked me to be a part of the process.”
“Imagine if James Bond or Jason Bourne came from the streets of The Wire,” Robert Patla, General Manager of OUM, publisher of LOADED said in a press statement. “Typically with these kinds of stories, you only get a glimpse of these hardened assassins as adults…but at one point, they were normal…they were kids. The uniqueness here lies in the detailed depiction of the transition …the evolution from Brooklyn teenager to loyal soldier. Now imagine that story, set to the music of Mark Batson and Dr. Dre.”
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DX reports that LOADED, although not published to the public, was given as a gift to presenters and performers at the 2014 GRAMMY Awards as well as presenters and winners of the 2014 Academy Awards.
Batson has been a longtime Aftermath producer and writer. He worked extensively on Eminem’s “Crack A Bottle,” Jay Z’s “Lost Ones,” and Game’s “Higher.” Beyond Hip-Hop, the Brooklyn, New York native has produced for Dave Matthews Band, Gwen Stefani, and Anthony Hamilton.
LOADED marks Dr. Dre’s first time working with books or graphic novels. His life and career have been the subject of several unauthorized biographies.
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