Paul Zimmerman/Getty ImagesDr. Dre's Detox is like the Loch Ness Monster of hip-hop: Plenty of people have claimed to see it -- or in this case, hear it -- yet there's no firm evidence that it actually exists. Once in a while, a new single will leak -- like a grainy photograph of the sea dragon -- but then the album again disappears into obscurity. In September, rapper Kendrick Lamar talked about his Detox sighting by telling the world that Dre's decade-in-the-works album was "getting mixed," but like any good myth, "I can say anything I want about Detox, nobody would believe it," Lamar added. However, new evidence courtesy of Dre, helps prove the theory that his final LP, like that giant Scottish serpent, does not exist.
At the opening of a Beats By Dre headphones store in New York, Fader TV caught up with the Doctor and asked him for a progress report on the delayed disc. (Remember, it was supposed come out on April 20th.) Dre is currently working in the studio… working with rappers like Lamar and Slim the Mobster, but after that, he's going on vacation. "I'm gonna just wrap it up for a minute because I've been working on music for 27 years now and the longest I've ever been out of the studio in 27 years has been two weeks. I'm gonna take a little bit of a break," Dre said. "I'm never gonna stop music. It's like air to me. I'm gonna take a little bit of a break, enjoy some time with the family, until I get that itch to get back in."
What this means is, don't expect Detox to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2011, just like it didn't reveal itself on promised release dates in the winter of 2008, the fall of 2009, Christmas 2010, and April of this year.
Watch Dre's (slightly NSFW for language) interview with Fader below: