Dr. Dre is funding a new arts centre in 'Compton' with royalties from his new album.

The 50-year-old rapper and producer feels it is the ''right thing'' to use the money he earns from long-awaited new LP 'Compton' to help his Californian home town.

Speaking to Beats 1 radio DJ Zane Lowe, he said: ''I feel it's the right thing to do and I hope everybody appreciates the work I put into this album.''

Dre - who is worth a reported $700 million - will be working closely with Compton Mayor Aja Brown on the arts and entertainment facility.

He added: ''We've reached out to Aja Brown quite a few times in the last month or two.

''I've been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn't quite figure out what it was. She actually had this idea and she was already in the process of working on it. I said, 'Boom, this is what we should do.' ''

Dre is excited by his new record, especially as he worked closely with some up-and-coming artists.

He said: ''The new artists I got like King Mez and Justus, these two guys actually came in and just grinded with me throughout the entire project.

''As a matter of fact, most of the lyrics are written by us three. We would just go into the studio, put up the track and for some reason, the stars aligned and we killed it, man.''