A day before the official release of his long-waited new album, Dr. Dre announced that he will donate his royalties earned from the sale of "Compton" to help fund a new performance arts center in the city the record is named after.
"I’ve been working on something to make this album really special," the American record producer told Beats 1 Radio DJ Zane Lowe on Thursday. Dre revealed that he had reached out to Compton Mayor Aja Brown in recent months to ask how he could give back to his hometown.
"I've been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn't quite figure out what it was," Dre said. [Brown] actually had this idea, and she was already in the process of working on it. I said, 'Boom, this is what we should do.'"
"Compton" is Dre’s first studio album in 16 years and is inspired by the new N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton."
Dre has produced some of the biggest names in hip hop, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, The Game and Kendrick Lamar, and co-founded Beats Electronics, a leading audio brand acquired by Apple and valued at more than $1 billion.”
"Our community should be proud and honored for Compton's son Dr. Dre to come back to Compton and lift our community in a huge way," Brown wrote in a Facebook post Thursday.
"Compton" can be streamed exclusively on Apple Music starting Friday. Dre called the album his "grand finale.”
