Dr. Dre Confronts Abusive Past. Explains Why Compton Ended The Detox.
The same day Straight Outta Compton hits theaters (August 14), Rolling Stone magazine will release their interview with N.W.A. co-founders Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. For now, the heralded music pub only released tidbits from their rare audience with D-R-E, alongside his “Natural Born Killaz” rhyme-partner Cube.
For Dre, this is the first time he has been publicly asked about reports of past abuse with his child’s mother and former collaborator, singer Michel’le. The “Nicety” singer spoke to The Breakfast Club in March, regarding her romantic relationships with Dre, who was also her producer, and label boss Suge Knight—Dre’s former partner-turned-foes, who Michel’le later married in the late 1990s. In the conversation, she revealed that Dre broke her nose in one particularly violent episode.
Asked about Michel’le’s statements, as well as his violent attack and subsequent settlement with “Pump It Up” host Dee Barnes, Dre owned his transgressions. “I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life,” said the Aftermath Entertainment founder. “I was young, fucking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren’t true – some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really fucked up.” Dre, who has been married for nearly 20 years, added that he would not take those actions again.
Additionally, Dre is asked about Detox, an album that’s mythos began in January of 2002. As speculated, the album would promptly follow 2001, released in 1999. Despite formal singles, lyrics from Dre and others, and a host of confirmed guests to various iterations of an album, it never materialized. Notably, Compton was first alluded to in late March, releasing less than five months later. Of the shelved LP, he admits, “Usually I can hear the sequence of an album as I’m going, but I wasn’t able to do that. I wasn’t feeling it in my gut.” Adding that the sessions yielded nearly 40 songs, Dre said that shelving the work initially made him feel as though he would not have another release under his name.
In the same set of excerpts from the interview, Cube weighs in on some of N.W.A.’s misogynistic lyrics. Now a leading man in Disney Films, the famed MC-turned-actor presumably reacts to songs such as Straight Outta Compton’s (the album) “A Bitch Is A Bitch.” Read Rolling Stone’s online excerpts for more.
In related news, LA Weekly broke down a comprehensive timeline of Detox—including various morsels leaked to media, and exactly which tracks were later re-purposed by Aftermath artists.
Related: Michel’le Says Suge Knight Protected Her, After Dr. Dre Broke Her Nose (Video)