One of the most famous rap albums of all time -- Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" -- will reportedly make its premiere on streaming services with this week's launch of Apple Music.
The album will be available with tomorrow's launch of the service, a source told Rolling Stone. Currently The Chronic is not available to stream on any platform -- Spotify, for instance, only offers the follow-up album 2001, in original and instrumental versions.
Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, was one of the co-founders of Beats, which Apple acquired in May 2014. Despite this Beats Music -- the service on which Apple Music is based -- has also lacked The Chronic, and the album is not available for sale through iTunes.
The widespread absence may be attributable in part to Dre's legal dispute with Death Row Records, which only allowed the rapper to reclaim digital rights to the album in 2011. Dre was awarded all proceeds of The Chronic's digital sales, while Death Row kept the rights for physical sales.
Apple may be hoping to use the album as another exclusive to lure people away from services like Spotify and Rdio. The company has already managed to secure Taylor Swift's 1989, as well as Pharrell Williams' new single "Freedom."
Dr. Dre has been working on a new album for many years, and given his employment at Apple, it could conceivably become another Apple Music exclusive. The album, once known as Detox, was originally expected back in 2003.