Although this week saw some renewed word that the album would indeed see the light of day this summer, we’ve all been wondering what’s been keeping hip hop legend Dr. Dre from finishing his endlessly-delayed Detox after nearly a decade in the studio tinkering with it. It looks as though we might finally have the answer to that question now with ‘Dre admitting he’s hit hurdles on the album as a rap artist and not as its producer.

As reported by Data Transmission, one of the main issues for Dr. Dre on Detox has been the struggle to stay relevant as a rapper on the hip hop landscape that’s more focused on ringtones than G-Funk.

“It’s been a little tussle in that area, just because of age and being able to identify with the younger audience,” Dre told XXL. “New artists … [can] say some of the things I won’t say.”

According to the good doctor, Detox – if it does actually get released – will be his last album as a rapper, with Dr. Dre stepping down from the mic afterwards.

“As far as me going into the mic booth, that shit is over,” he explained. “I’m getting older…I’m always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with. But, yeah, that’s it.”

Despite a kinda soft first shot in lead single Kush (hear it below if you missed it), that this will be the final Dr. Dre album actually makes it pretty exciting and gives us enough blind hope to believe it’ll come out in February as promised. For the other big summer album’s we’re anticipating just check out our big list of the Summer Album Forecast below.