Dr. Dre’s first album in 16 years will not, after all, be Detox. But it will be an exclusive Apple joint.
Compton, which is inspired by the new movie Straight Outta Compton, comes out on Friday. And when it does, it will only be available through iTunes and Apple Music, USA Today reports — at least at first.
The move is a big deal for Apple’s new streaming service. But it isn’t a surprise, coming one year after Apple finalized its purchase of Beats Music, the company Dre built with Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, took an official “senior role” at Apple as part of the deal, and now has a radio show on Apple Music’s Beats One station.
Apple is taking advantage of the exclusive by streaming the album for free beginning on Thursday at 9 p.m. eastern time until midnight, when Compton is officially released. The movie comes out one week later.
BREAKING: Exclusive stream of @DrDre's #Compton – this Thursday (6PM – 9PM PT) on #AppleMusic. pic.twitter.com/L9fxCOyiTo
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) August 4, 2015
Meanwhile, Detox is dead. Dre took to his show to reveal the news last week after fans waited for years for the album. “I didn’t like it,” he said. “It wasn’t good. It just wasn’t good . . . I don’t think I did a good enough job.”
His peer in the music business and the headphone business, 50 Cent, may be disappointed by that news. 50 said in a Fortune interview earlier this year that whenever he runs into Dre, “I’ll hear his stuff and say, ‘This sh*t is good, put it out. Put it out!'” Dr. Dre disagreed.