Back in 2015, Dr. Dre’s long-anticipated third album, Compton, was released alongside the N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” and it appears that his next project will yet again be linked to another blockbuster media franchise. It’s only fitting that longtime Dre collaborator Snoop Dogg should deliver some of the most important news of the day. Dr. Dre reportedly is working on new music for a future Grand Theft Auto game, according to Snoop.
Snoop Dogg announced the news on the Rolling Stone Music Now Podcast as a guest. Snoop Dogg said in an episode set to air on Friday, “I do know [Dr. Dre] is in the studio… I do know he’s making great f***ing music. And some of his music is connected to the GTA game that’s coming out. So I think that that will be the way that his music will be released, through the GTA video game.”
Snoop did not specify which Grand Theft Auto game Dr. Dre is composing music for, but Rockstar Games is currently working on two new installments in the storied franchise. On November 11, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy (which includes remastered versions of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas) will be released, followed by an “expanded and enhanced” next-gen edition of GTA V (which already has an appearance by Dre) in March 2022. In 2005’s ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’, Dr. Dre was featured on the radio stations, however, those were previously released tracks.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
Coming November 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and the Rockstar Games Launcher. Pre-Order Now: https://t.co/sVYRq0sqVe pic.twitter.com/rVGIXjOXfW
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 22, 2021
The Aftermath Takeover is Imminent
Both albums are set to be released in February, just in time for Dr. Dre’s appearance at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. There are plenty of other reasons to anticipate Dr. Dre’s comeback. Flavor Flav of Public Enemy claimed in August that Dre’s next album is “getting ready to come out” featuring a guest appearance from him, while DJ Battlecat of the West Coast hinted at new Dre music arriving in December.
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg is preparing to release The Algorithm, his new album, on November 12. The collection CD will feature Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Mary J. Blige, Method Man, Redman, Benny The Butcher, Fabolous, Dave East, and others, and will mark Snoop’s debut on Def Jam, where he was named an executive earlier this year. Aftermath’s anticipated “takeover” appears to begin with The Algorithm, with new albums from Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, and Mt. Rushmore — the West Coast supergroup made up of Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too $hort, and E-40 — to follow.
By John Galietta
Twitter: @jgalietta17