Compton (album)

Following 11 years of unsuccessful work on his infamous Detox album, Dre officially canceled the project on August 1, 2015, during an episode of his Beats 1 radio show, The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre. He stated that the album did not meet his standards and had decided to scrap the project as a result. During the same episode, Dre announced that he would be releasing a brand-new album, entitled Compton, on August 7 on iTunes and Apple Music, with a physical release following on August 21. Earlier the same day in an interview with Power 99FM, Ice Cube had preemptively announced the album. The album was inspired by the N.W.A biographical film Straight Outta Compton and features a number of collaborators from various points in his career, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, and The Game, among others. "During principal photography of Straight Outta Compton, I felt myself going to the studio and being so inspired by the movie that I started recording an album," Dre said on his radio show. "I kept it under wraps, and now the album is finished. It's bananas. It's an 'inspired by' album. It's inspired by Straight Outta Compton. We're gonna call the album Compton: The Soundtrack. I'm really proud of this." Dre also described the upcoming release as being his 'grand finale.' This claim has turned out to be false and Dr. Dre hinted at a release of his upcoming fourth album. == Release and reception ==

Compton was released by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records on August 7, 2015, to widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews. Rolling Stone critic Jonah Weiner deemed the album "by turns confounding and enthralling" while writing that it "contains some of his most ambitious, idea-stuffed production ever" and that "Dre's rhyming (aided as always by co-writers) is impressive". At the end of the year, Compton was named the 32nd best album of 2015 by Pitchfork, while The Guardian ranked it 35th. ==Commercial performance==

Prior to its release, there was heavy anticipation on whether Compton or Luke Bryan's Kill the Lights would debut at the top of the US Billboard 200 chart. Ultimately, Compton debuted at number 2 with 295,000 equivalent album units; it sold 278,558 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales. Compton is Dr. Dre's third solo album to debut at number one on the Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. and, as of June 2016, the album has sold over 600,000 copies in the United States. Compton has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Compton debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart after selling 45,721 copies (including 2,079 streaming sales), becoming Dr. Dre's first number-one album in the UK. It outsold its nearest competitor, Frank Turner's Positive Songs for Negative People, by over 28,000 combined chart sales. Dr. Dre became the first artist in history to top the UK Albums Chart with a non-physical release. ==Track listing==

The album was mastered by Brian 'Big Bass' Gardner at the Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles, California. Notes • "Intro" contains narration from the television program, Compton Black City, provided by T3 Media and CBS News. • "Genocide" contains a sample of "Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)", written by Charlie Wilson, Lonnie Simmons, and Rudy Taylor, as performed by The Gap Band. • "It's All on Me" contains a sample of "The Lord Will Make a Way" as performed by the S.C.I. Youth Choir. • "Darkside" contains excerpts of Eazy E from Julio G's Westside Radio. • "Gone" contains a sample of "Spirits of Ancient Egypt", written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Joe English, and Geoff Britton, as performed by Wings. • "Loose Cannons" contains a sample of "Underground Session" arranged and performed by Janko Nilovic. • "Issues" contains a sample of "İnce İnce Bir Kar Yağar", originally written by Aşık Mahzuni Şerif, as performed by Selda Bağcan. • "One Shot One Kill" contains elements of "Ogni Riferimento A Fatti Accaduti E' Puramente Casuale", written by Luca Cavina, Tommaso Colliva, Enrico Gabrielli, Massimo Martellotta, and Fabio Rondanini, as performed by Calibro 35 • "Just Another Day" contains a sample of "Fang Jai Viangjan", written and performed by Thepporn Petchubon. • "For the Love of Money" contains a sample of "Foe tha Love of $", written by Anthony Henderson, Bryon McCane, Charles Scruggs, Stanley Howse, Steven Howse, and Eric Wright, as performed by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony featuring Eazy-E; as well as elements of "Vendesi Saggezza E Cervello Di Seconda Mano" (Alberto Gaviglio-Michele Conta) arranged and performed by La Locanda delle Fate, taken from the album, "Forse le lucciole non si amano più" (1977 Polydor). ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==