Dr. Dre Returns To The Studio With A 'Detox' Album Update Following Brain Aneurysm
Los Angeles, CA – Dr. Dre was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday (January 15) after suffering a reported brain aneurysm. Now back at home, the legendary producer is reportedly on around-the-clock medical supervision until doctors can determine what caused the brain bleed. But evidently, that’s not stopping him from working.
On Saturday (January 16), producer Dem Jointz shared an Instagram photo of Dre, The D.O.C. and several others posted up in front of a mixing board. While that’s not necessarily anything too out of the ordinary, it’s the caption that caught fans’ attention.
“And we back!” Dem wrote in the caption. “#Detox21.”
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Detox, of course, is the long awaited, nearly mythical studio album Dre announced in 2002 that was reportedly delayed so he could work on projects for 50 Cent, Eminem and The Game.. In 2015, the Hip Hop mogul claimed he’d officially scrapped the project after working on the album for over a decade and instead, gave Dre fans Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre.
In an August 2020 interview with VladTV, Akon spoke about the Detox sessions and insinuated Dre’s perfectionism is what’s keeping the project from seeing the light of day.
“I don’t think [Dre] understands his power sometimes,” he said at the time. “I don’t think that — I think he’s gonna win no matter what because he’s Dre! Just drop that bitch! Like he got bangers though. I know for a fact I did a couple of bangers that the world probably will never hear. But man, from what I did hear when we were working together and I was submitting records for ’em, man, they got so much heat. But he’s just a perfectionist — too perfect.”
But Dem’s caption suggests Detox still has a future. This wouldn’t be the first time the Aftermath Records affiliate blew the lid off something that was likely under wraps. Last month, he posted an Instagram photo featuring all of the albums he worked on in 2020, which included the cover art for Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By: Side B, inadvertently confirming a deluxe album did exist. Up to that point, it had all been based on speculation.
Dre is in the middle of a contentious divorce with his wife of 24 years Nicole Young. He recently agreed to pay her a one-time amount of $2 million in temporary spousal support from his hospital bed.