Why Detox will never be released...

...or at least not as the massively anticipated LP that was set to feature the likes of Beyonce, Snoop Dogg and of course Dr Dre's original protege, Eminem. Dr Dre proved he hasn't lost his music-making and performing talents performing at the world-renowned Coachella Festival 2012, alongside the infamous Tupac Shakur hologram as well releasing his 2010's single's 'Kush' and 'I need a doctor', which featured Snoop Dogg and Akon, as well as Eminem and Skylar Grey respectively.

But according to n interview with 50 Cent, a close friend of Dre's who was originally signed to his record label in 2003, 50 made  it clear it's unlikely the full-album that was originally planned will go through. Interviewed in Paris 50 said, Dre has returned to his home in the studio producing for other artists, commenting, "He's successful with Jimmy with Beats (headphones) … I'm not sure if he's going to actually release a full CD or if he wants to just release the music that he's comfortable with. He might do an EP or something like that – five or six songs."

Now I'm a great defendant of hip-hop today, the recurrent phrase that is sometimes banded around of how, "hip-hop is dead", is to me completely inaccurate. But the increased commercialisation of modern-day music is something you cannot deny or hide from. Product placement has without doubt gone too far. Roll back ten or so years and something like this would have never been considered by such an artist as Eminem, but the most blatent example of it appeared in his 2010, Not Afraid video, with a close up on Nike trainers that seemed to last a lifetime. Music videos are now packed with advertising, in Lady Gaga's Telephone video featuring Beyonce, there were 9, yes 9! Separate examples of it with the likes of Diet Coke, Virgin Mobile and Wonderbread (if you can believe that) being advertised. 

In a recent interview with Ice Cube he observed, "What would you rather sell somebody: $300 headphones or a $10 tape?" Sadly, a small proportion of music today is controlled by PR, music videos represent a fantastic opportunity for big corporations. It seems to me as though Dre has fallen into this trap.

Whether Dr Dre releases Detox as a full LP or not remains to be seen, the stage of building hype has gone, fans have lost interest and to me the whole concept of Detox was a publicity stunt thought up in a plush Californian office to reignite interest to Dr Dre's name, and ultimately his brand, sad really.