Charity Caught in the Crossfire: DR. DRE’s “Compton” Album Sales Slip A Full 84% In One Week’s Time

Dr Dre Compton

The good: All proceeds from [Dr. Dre’s greatly anticipated 1st album in over 16 years-“Compton”] are going to a Compton charity. First week sales of the album (which came out the same week the movie Straight Outta Compton came out) sold 286,000 units the first week.

  1. “Intro”
    2. “Talk About It” (Feat. King Mez & Justus)
    3. “Genocide” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosius & Candice Pillay)
    4. “It’s All on Me” (Feat. Justus & BJ the Chicago Kid)
    5. “All in a Day’s Work” (Feat. Anderson Paak & Marsha Ambrosius)
    6. “Darkside/Gone” (Feat. King Mez, Marsha Ambrosius & Kendrick Lamar)
    7. “Loose Cannons” (Feat. Xzibit & COLD 187um)
    8. “Issues” (Feat. Ice Cube & Anderson Paak)
    9. “Deep Water” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar & Justus)
    10. Jon Connor, “One Shot One Kill” (Feat. Snoop Dogg)
    11. The Game, “Just Another Day” (Feat. Asia Bryant)
    12. “For the Love of Money” (Feat. Jill Scott & Jon Connor)
    13. “Satisfiction” (Feat. Snoop Dogg, Marsha Ambrosius & King Mez)
    14. “Animals” (Feat. AndersonPaak)
    15. “Medicine Man” (Feat. Eminem, Candice Pillay & AndersonPaak)
    16. “Talking to My Diary”

The bad:  Reportedly, as per Hits Daily Double, the 16-track album sold only  42, 732 this past/2nd week— an 84% drop from first week’s sales.

The ugly: While there’s no rhyme or reason given as to just why the sale of the album slipped a full 84%, it wouldn’t be too far fetched a guess to assume that the slippage may be due to the recent revelation and full-detail reveal that in Dr. Dre’s past; a woman by the name of Dee Barnes was in receipt of a savage beat-down by the Beats By Dre founder.

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 12: Dr. Dre at Madison Square Garden on February 12, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 12: Dr. Dre at Madison Square Garden on February 12, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage)

Last week, after the weekend numbers for the [Straight Outta Compton] movie were in and it was all the rave as, it superseded all expectations; on Gawker, Barnes gave a full-page, detailed account about the incident that ultimately ruined her career and rendered her blacklisted in the industry for the next 24 years [through to as recent as 2014/2015].

Dr. Dre has since sought atonement for his past trangressions and bad, knee-jerk (slash) quick and literal back handed decisions by giving an interview to the New York Times in which he did indeed apologize to the women he’s hurt.

The unfortunate: (It should be duly noted that the intent to give all proceeds from the album was announced as early as beginning of the month-weeks before the movie and album even came out. It’s unfortunate that such a noble act and intention is apparently caught in the cross-fire).

The charitable oxymoron: As well, Dr. Dre gave money to a charity/organization last year after the sell of his “Beats By Dre” headphones to Apple. That charitable act too, was met with a bit of controversy and peppered with a dash of disdain considering Dr. Dre’s choice of charity was criticized for not needing “charity” whereas, the communities that over the span of his career that made “Dr. Dre” who he is, was in much more dire straights and position of ‘need’ than Dre’s choice: USC.

Down to brass taxes: As per one critic (by his calculations); the lump sum that Dre gave to USC could’ve benefit all HBCU’s in the U.S with money left over to spare, easily. (You can read our write up on that along with the open letter written to Dre regarding-here)

The irony: When Dr. Dre does make a way to donate to the communities that “made ‘Dr Dre’  who he is,” his prescription of a bad and admittedly sickening past killed it for all, unfortunately.

StraightOuttaSomewhere

Author: OSFMagWriter

Spitfire . Media Maestro . Writing Rhinoceros .