Dr. Dre Donates All Album Royalties to City Art Center

Hip hop royalty Dr. Dre drops his latest album "Compton", for Compton. The mogul has committed to donate all of his royalty shares to help fund a new arts center in the California city.

In a radio interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, Dr. Dre discussed his new album as well as his plans to donate the proceeds to the city it was named after. The 50-year-old shared how he originally wasn't sure how to go about his plans of giving the money to the city of Compton. The partnership came to life when he consulted Mayor Aja Brown before finally deciding to fund the new arts and entertainment center of the city.

"I feel like it's the right thing to do and I just hope everybody appreciates all the hard work I've put into this album," Dre told Lowe. "I've been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn't quite figure out what it was."

It's the hip hop icon's first solo album in almost 16 long years and fans are hyped up to sample his new tunes. Dr. Dre's hiatus from recording and producing his own music only makes the mystique surrounding his latest project greater. Years ago, he began working on an album called "Detox", but decided not to finish it as he was not pleased with the results, said New York Daily News.  

The third album in his repertoire is dubbed "Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre", and was inspired by the upcoming "Straight Outta Compton" biopic, according to Entertainment Weekly. It's also the official soundtrack to the film.

According to the New York Daily News, the highly-anticipated album will feature key collaborations for the successful mogul, who tapped his friends who are also big names in the music industry: Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Eminem, Xzibit and Kendrick Lamar. In his conversation with Lowe, he also mentioned the integral role new artists like King Mez and Justus played in the creation of the album.

The film "Straight Outta Compton" is a biopic that documents the rise and fall of the famed Compton hip-hop group N.W.A. The iconic West Coast group consisted of Ice Cupe, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and of course, Dr. Dre. He counts as one of the producers.

Both album and film hit the public this month, with Dr. Dre's project already out exclusively on iTunes and Apple Music. "Straight Outta Compton" is set to be released in theaters on August 14, 2015.