Dr. Dre lands Promotional Deal with Zynga's 'Mafia Wars'

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

As 2010 comes to a close, Dr. Dre has been working hard on his comeback. Since the release of his last album, almost everything in the game has changed. The only thing that has remained the same is that artists have to make music. Dr. Dre knows how to do that and very well, but the promotion has drastically changed.

Before returning to the spotlight, Dr. Dre made several business moves. He created Beats by Dre in 2008 and they have become very popular in the time since. Dre was also able to bring his former artist, Game, back to Aftermath Entertainment. The one thing Dr. Dre did not do was finish Detox.

Times have changed and Dr. Dre wants to focus solely on producing tracks for the remainder of his career. In an effort to make way, Detox will be his final album. Throughout his career, Dr. Dre has often dealt with highly publicized albums that did not sell well. This has not only had an effect on him, but also the artists he has endorsed over the years.

During Dr. Dre's absence, the internet had an incredible influence over the music industry. A few years ago, the music industry was controlled by MySpace, along with social networking. Zynga, Inc. took advantage of this and created several games to keep people interested in down time. In 2008, a shift took place that ended up making Facebook the most-popular social networking site. Zynga's 'Mafia Wars' game rose to popularity through Facebook and Dr. Dre plans to use this to his advantage.

In the months leading up to the release of Detox, portions of Dr. Dre's songs will be played on the browser-based game. Not only will exclusive music be played, but the game will also feature Dr. Dre-inspired cars and other gifts. The promotion is set to begin before the end of the month.