Over at Cuepoint today, writer Donnell Alexander delves into the early days of Dr. Dre, attempting to pinpoint when he felt it was time to abandon the sound of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and move on to pioneering L.A. gangsta rap.

Dr. Dre’s Secret (Sequined) History

From HNHH: “Motor-mouthed MC Jon Connor has been a fan favorite on HNHH for a few years, and this Spring he was rewarded for his hustle with a spot on the XXL Freshman Class. Our very own Damon Campbell had the chance to catch up with the Flint, MI rapper, and interviewed him about a variety of topics.Things begin with Connor talking about the various minimum wage jobs he used to hold while trying get big as a rapper, and discussed quitting his day job with relish. Discussion then moved to how Xzibit introduced Dr. Dre to Connor’s music, and was basically responsible for his eventual signing to Aftermath Records.”

Former Aftermath producer Dawaun Parker hits the Cosmic Zoo and discusses Dre’s much romanticized forthcoming album, Detox. Speaking on the archives of songs and beats waiting to be unearthed, he also goes into the actual title of the album, which may or may not be what you’re thinking.

Hey Dr. Dre, nice to have you back. Rapping over a cover of Sade’s “Love Is Stronger Than Pride” that uses the “Come Clean” beat, no less. We’ll take it.

Down below, Marsha speaks on the status of Detox. Hint: “never”.

Universal has released the first photo of the cast of F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton, featuring the film’s Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube. It was news broke earlier in the week that Dr. Dre would be played by Marcus Callender, however this has turned out to be incorrect, as the role will go to Corey Hawkins (Iron Man 3, Non Stop). Ice Cube’s son, OMG, will still portray him, and Eazy-E will be played by Jason Mitchell, as reported earlier. The film is set for an 8/14/15 release date. Check out the photo of the core cast below.

It was revealed last week that Ice Cube cast his son, OMG, to play him in the upcoming N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray.

Today, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Dr. Dre will be played by Marcus Callender (Dinner At 40), while Eazy-E will be helmed by Jason Mitchell (Contraband, Broken City). Mitchell’s audition moved Eazy’s widow, Tomica Wright, to sign off on the performance, despite him not being one of Eazy’s heirs.

Ice Cube's son, OMG, will play him in the N.W.A. film.

Marcus Callender will play Dr. Dre

Jason Mitchell will play Eazy-E. Imagine him with a jheri curl and some gangsta locs.

Apple showed off both IOS 8 and OSX 10.10 (Yosemite) at their WWDC event yesterday, which featured a live call in from new Apple employee Dr. Dre, demonstrating use of the new iPhone calling feature within OSX Yosemite. Watch the slightly awkward exchange below.

As we reported a few weeks ago, Apple has released a statement confirming the purchase Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats Electronics – makers of the popular Beats By Dre line of headphones and speakers – for $3 billion dollars, marking the largest acquisition in the company’s history. The merger is expected to be completed by September, and Dre and Jimmy are expected to join Apple in as-of-yet unnamed positions.

After the due diligence process, Beats was sold to Apple at $3 billion, down from the original $3.2 billion price tag that was first announced. The acquisition includes both Beats Electronics and Beats Music streaming service, the latter which is given precedence in the press release, curiously.

“UMG’s singular relationship with Jimmy permitted his innovation to flourish,” said UMG CEO Lucian Grainge in a statement. “Together we created a once-in-a-generation opportunity that allowed Jimmy to maximize the use of his many talents.”

The full statement is below:

CUPERTINO, California—May 28, 2014—Apple® today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of $3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Jimmy Iovine. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”

Iovine has been at the forefront of innovation in the music industry for decades, and he has been an instrumental partner for Apple and iTunes® for more than a decade. He has produced or collaborated with some of the most successful artists in the history of the iTunes Store®, helping make it the world’s number one music retailer. Iovine and Dr. Dre are sound pioneers, artists and entrepreneurs.

Beats Electronics has brought the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio back to the listening experience and has introduced an entirely new generation to premium sound entertainment. Beats Music was developed by a team of people who have each spent their entire career in music and provides music fans with an incredible curated listening experience.

“Music is such an important part of Apple’s DNA and always will be,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats, and of course buying music from the iTunes Store as customers have loved to do for years.”

In just five years since launch, the Beats “b” has become the brand of choice in the music and sports worlds, and is the market leader in the premium headphone market. Music superstars including Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj have designed their own customized Beats headphones and speakers. Fashion designers and street artists such as Alexander Wang, Futura and Snarkitecture have collaborated on special limited products, while renowned athletes including LeBron James, Serena Williams and Neymar use Beats as a critical part of their training and game day process. Beats has quickly become part of pop culture in the US and with the acquisition the Beats product lineup will be offered in many more countries through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Subject to regulatory approvals, Apple expects the transaction to close in fiscal Q4.

Formally established in 2008 as the brainchild of legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine, Beats Electronics (Beats) comprises the Beats by Dr. Dre family of premium consumer headphones, earphones, and speakers as well as patented Beats Audio software technology and streaming music subscription service Beats Music. Through these offerings, Beats has effectively brought the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio to the listening experience and has introduced an entirely new generation to the possibilities of premium sound entertainment.

Beats Music is a subscription streaming music service that focuses on providing a personalized music experience for each user through a unique blend of digital innovation and musical passion. Programmed by a trusted team of well-respected music experts with over 300 years of experience across all genres, Beats Music delivers the right music for any situation, any time, and any preference, personalized to your tastes. The result is an artist-friendly digital music service that does more than simply offer access to music, but one that establishes an emotional connection to it as well.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Maybe with Dr. Dre’s sale of Beats Electronics to Apple, we may finally see a release date for his final album, Detox. Fans have been waiting for it for so long, that they’ve taken matters into their own hands. Yes, the innanet has decided that if Dre won’t finish Detox, then they will finish it for him! Here are 10, terribly Photoshopped fake Detox album covers from the deepest corners of the internet. Viewer Discretion Advised: you will not be able to unsee some of these images.

10. Detox: What Could Have Been: Ah yes, if only. Feast your eyes upon this beautifully rendered, imaginary cover by Trid Tha Kid, giving only a fleeting glimpse of what could have been the album cover for Detox. Can’t you see, Dr. Dre? Can’t you see what could have been!?! THIS!

9. “The Walking Detox” – What will happen first, the undead apocalypse, or Detox? Be it the former, Zombie Dr. Dre will attempt to market and release Detox to the hordes of Z-Day, without worry of anyone leaking it to the now offline internet. Dre’s looking a little long in the tooth here.

8. Generic Detox – This one follows the post-millennial tradition of the “photo-of-artist-plus-fonts” album cover, used on best-selling magnum opuses like Mase’s  Welcome Back and Ja Rule’s Pain Is Love. Oh look, they used the 2001 font. Surely this is real.

7. “Xerox Detox” – Washed out photo of Dr. Dre, with slightly arched, crackling “Detox” text in red, and photocopied image of Southern California restaurant for the background. Platinum, bitch.

6. D.E.T.O.X.: The Acronym - How huge is Dr. Dre now? Everything black in this photo is his T-shirt.

5. Impact Detox – Whoa, Dre looks like he needs a detox for real here. Lay off the sticky-icky, greeny green. Doc’s orders.

4. SJoynson Presents…. Detox – We have to say, it’s a good thing that SJoynson watermarked the shit out of this potential Detox album cover. This way, Interscope can’t use it without his permission. Great thinking buddy.

3. Detox: Gateway Drug Edition – Ah that makes sense. The natural progression from Dre’s past weed smoking days would be to move on to heroin. Explains the delay, too.

2. Detox Is Eminem’s Album Now: Yo, what the hell is going on here? Seriously, look at this shit. Drug dealing goblins with backwards baseball caps. This is the internet clearly not giving a fuck at all.

1. Detox: Art Director Versus Artist – Imagine, if you will, that this were the real cover for Detox. The job-description handed down to the graphic artist might have read something like this: “We want a huge picture of the Dre’s face. HUGE. We want it so close, that the top of his head is cropped off. And really dark. So you can’t really see it, in a way. Then really big, we want the title of the album, which is DETOX: 2011: The Mixtape. But we want it in separate corners. Maybe the “Detox” part goes over his forehead, then the “2011″ part goes on his face, a little. Don’t even put Dr. Dre’s name on there. He’s a fucking icon, you peon. He doesn’t need his name on the cover. People know who the fuck he is! Jesus. Okay, then we want A LOT of marijuana leaves. A ton. I want a fucking Gucci Bag pattern of marijuana leaves on this thing. Just put them all over the place. Everywhere! Brilliant…. Oh, also, checks will be delayed 3 weeks. Sorry.”

Dr. Dre, Tyrese and crew celebrate the just-about-finished Beats By Dre / Apple $3.2 Billion acquisition. Yes, alcohol is involved. No detox.

Apple is in talks to buy Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics, manufactures of the popular Beats By Dre headphones and devices, according to Financial Times. At a price of $3.2 billion (with a “B”), the deal is expected to be announced next week, however sources say that there are still a few details to iron out, and it is possible things could still “fall apart”.

In other, possibly related news, TMZ reports that Dr. Dre is purchasing football star, Tom Brady’s $50 million dollar mansion. The mansion had “multiple interested parties ready to put offers on the house”, but Dr. Dre closed in on it and will reportedly purchase the home. Irrelevantly, the home was being solid pre-furnished, but TMZ reports that Dr. Dre was not interested in taking Tom Brady’s furniture.

In other, Detox news, nothing. Because why would there be?

He also hashtags his long overdue LP, #TheLast Zulu, along with #hideyodrummachines #beatsnrhymes. Make of this what you will.

Another video from Fifty’s Animal Ambition LP, set for a June 3rd release.

Akon speaks on his work on Dr. Dre’s Detox, how it sounds, and the forecast on when it may come out.

Fif delivers another one from his June album release, Animal Ambition.