Early-2000s hip-hop lovers will fondly-remember the Up In Smoke Tour – confined to North America and Canada, the multi-stint shows saw the ‘who’s who’ of the genre delivering one of the most-breathtaking pieces of live entertainment since, well, ever. Headlined by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, and including the likes of Eminem, D-12, Ice Cube and more, Up In Smoke has yet to be equalled…. until potentially now that is.
On his Beats 1 The Pharmacy radio show over the weekend, Dr. Dre announced his desire to hit the road again for a joint European tour, once again hooking up with Eminem and Snoop Dogg, as well as one of rap’s biggest recent success-stories, Kendrick Lamar. Whilst still a pipe-dream, back in 2009, Aftermath Entertainment did toy with the idea for an ‘Up In Smoke’ sequel, in support of Dre’s anticipated third album Detox (which as we now know, was released as Compton).
Here’s what Dre had to say over the weekend:
“One of my dreams right now is to be able to take my ideas and take a show over to Europe. I’m 30 years in the game right now and I’ve never been able to take my full production over to Europe. Me and Snoop — we’ve been over there. Me and Eminem have been over there, but it’s just been spot dates and taking a microphone over there with a DJ. I’ve never had the opportunity to take the full production over there, and take my full body of ideas over there and present it to all the people over there in Europe that’s been representing and showing me love throughout my entire 30-year career.
This is one of the things that I’ve dreamed about doing. I want to call it ‘Beats & Rhymes’. I want it to be me and Snoop. I want it to be Eminem. I want it to be Kendrick Lamar. (Kendrick, holla at us!) Do a tour over in Europe and call it Beats & Rhymes and take our full production over there and take our full stage over there and show Europe the same amount of love that they been showing me throughout my entire career. So, that’s my dream. Hopefully we can make that happen.”
We’re not gonna lie – if this happens, we’re gonna be right there going wild! Whilst we ponder the beauty of ‘Beats & Rhymes’, take your chance to relive the Up In Smoke tour, below:
