Compton features guest appearances from Anderson .Paak, Marsha Ambrosius, Craig Owens, King Mez, Justus, Kendrick Lamar, Candice Pillay, Jon Connor, Sly Pyper, Dem Jointz, The Game, Xzibit, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and others.

The album was inspired by the N.W.A biographical film Straight Outta Compton and features a number of collaborators from various points in his career, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, and The Game, among others.

"During principal photography of Straight Outta Compton, I felt myself going to the studio and being so inspired by the movie that I started recording an album," Dre said on his radio show.

[17] Rolling Stone critic Jonah Weiner deemed the album "by turns confounding and enthralling" while writing that it "contains some of his most ambitious, idea-stuffed production ever" and that "Dre's rhyming (aided as always by co-writers) is impressive".

[14] Robert Christgau from Vice was somewhat less enthusiastic, naming "Genocide" and "Animals" as highlights while writing that the record benefitted significantly from Dre's absence from half the songs because of so many guest artists.

[20] Prior to its release, there was heavy anticipation on whether Compton or Luke Bryan's Kill the Lights would debut at the top of the US Billboard 200 chart.

[28] It outsold its nearest competitor, Frank Turner's Positive Songs for Negative People, by over 28,000 combined chart sales.