The Chronic

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The Chronic
The Chronic cover
Studio album by Dr. Dre
Released December 15, 1992
Recorded June 1992 at Death Row Studios; Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering; Mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios
Genre West Coast hip hop G-funk
Gangsta rap
Length 62:52
Label Death Row
Producer(s) Dr. Dre
Professional reviews
Dr. Dre chronology
The Chronic
(1992)		 Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath
(1996)


The Chronic is the highly influential debut album from American rap producer Dr. Dre. It came out in 1992. It was a very important album in popularizing gangsta rap. Its peak position was #6 on the Billboard Charts and went on to sell 4 million copies with chart breaking hits. It was named after the slang term for expensive, high-quality cannabis sold on the streets. The album cover itself is a homage to Zig-Zag rolling papers.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Having split from N.W.A., Dre's first solo album established him as one of the biggest rap stars of his era. The Chronic brought the genre now known as G-funk to the mainstream — a genre defined by slow bass beats and melodic synthesizers, topped by P-Funk samples, female vocals, and a laconic, laid-back lyrical delivery referred to as a "lazy drawl." The Chronic featured both subliminal and direct disses to Ruthless Records and its owner, Dre's former N.W.A. bandmate Eazy-E.

The album is also credited with launching the careers of several prominent West Coast hip hop artists, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G — all of whom went on to pursue successful commercial careers. The Chronic is widely regarded as the album that redefined West Coast rap [1], demonstrated gangsta rap's commercial potential as a multi-platinum commodity, and established G-funk as the most popular sound in hip hop music for several years after its release, with Dre himself producing several major albums that drew heavily on his production style.[2][3] Furthermore, the album's success established Death Row Records as a dominant force in 1990s hip-hop.[2]

The album has been rereleased twice, first as a remastered CD, then as a remastered Dualdisc. The remastered CD was released in an "edited" version which scrambles most profanity and the most explicit drug content backwards. Most drug references are left uncensored and all violence is completely uncensored. An alternate edited version of "F**k Wit Dre Day [And Everybody's Celebratin']" can be found on Dr. Dre's "The Chronicles: Greatest Hits" album. This album fixes some of the slippage of the original remastered edit. On the remastered disc, the editing will commonly leave in some profanity and then censor it other times. "Ass" and "bitch" are commonly censored sometimes, but not others.

The Chronic was included in Vibe's "100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century Vibe", ranked #137 in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and was also listed in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Furthermore, the album ranked #8 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s, and in 2005 it was ranked 35 in the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005" by the same magazine. and was even ranked #6 in Vibe's "Top 10 rap albums of all time". The album was also given a score of 5 mics from The Source magazine, making it a classic album. On the Billboard Music Charts (North America) album lists, The Chronic hit #1 R&B/Hip hop and #3 Pop. Also, some critics claim that The Chronic is the best produced hip hop album of all time.

[edit] Track listing

# Title Length Featuring Samples/Other notes
1 "The Chronic (Intro)" 1:57 Snoop Doggy Dogg
2 "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')" 4:52 Snoop Doggy Dogg, Jewell, RBX
3 "Let Me Ride" 4:21 Jewell, Ruben, Snoop Doggy Dogg
4 "The Day the Niggaz Took Over" 4:33 Dat Nigga Daz, RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg
5 "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" 3:58 Snoop Doggy Dogg
  • Samples "I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood
6 "Deeez Nuuuts" 5:06 Dat Nigga Daz, Nate Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Warren G
7 "Lil' Ghetto Boy" 5:29 Dat Nigga Daz, Snoop Doggy Dogg
8 "A Nigga Witta Gun" 3:52
  • Samples "Master Plan" by Kool G Rap
  • Samples "Big Sir Sweet" by J. Hammond
  • Samples "Who's the Man (With the Master Plan)" by the Kay Gees
  • Samples "Friends" by Whodini
  • "Fuck Wit Dre Day" can be heard playing in the background at the beginning of the track
9 "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat" 3:48 RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg
10 "The $20 Sack Pyramid" (Skit) 2:53 Big Tittie Nickie, The D.O.C., Samara, Snoop Doggy Dogg
  • A Compton-themed parody of the gameshow Pyramid.
  • Samples "Papa Was Too" (Live) by Joe Tex
11 "Lyrical Gangbang" 4:04 Kurupt, Lady of Rage, RBX
  • Samples "Valdez in the Country" by The Nite Lighters
  • Samples "Hole in the Head" by Cypress Hill
  • Samples "When The Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin
12 "High Powered" 2:44 Dat Nigga Daz, Lady of Rage, RBX
  • Samples "Big Sir Sweet" by J. Hammond
13 "The Doctor's Office" (Skit) 1:04 Jewell, Lady of Rage
14 "Stranded on Death Row" 4:47 Bushwick Bill, Kurupt, Lady of Rage, RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg
  • Samples "Do Your Thing (Live)" by Isaac Hayes
  • Samples "If it Don't Turn You On (You Outta Leave it Alone)" by B.T. Express.
15 "The Roach (Outro)" 4:36 Dat Nigga Daz, Emmage, Jewell, Lady of Rage, RBX
  • Samples "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" by Parliament.
16 "Bitches Ain't Shit" 4:48 Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Jewell

[edit] Credits

[edit] Chart and singles history

Chart positions from Billboard magazine (North America).

[edit] Album

Year Chart Peak
position
( # )
1993 Billboard 200 8
1993 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1
1993 UK album chart 43

[edit] Singles

Single cover Single information
"Dre Day"
"Nuthin' But A "G" Thang"
  • Released: January 19, 1993
  • B-side: "A Nigga Witta Gun"
  • Billboard Hot 100: #2
  • Hot Rap Tracks: #1
  • Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #1
  • Rhythmic Top 40: #2
  • Hot Dance Club Play: #22
  • Hot Dance Singles Sales: #3

"Let Me Ride" was also released as a 12" promotional single.

Name Chart (1993) Peak
position
( # )
"Let Me Ride"
Enlarge
"Let Me Ride"
 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 34
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 34
U.S. Rhythmic Top 40 21
U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play 45
U.S. Hot Rap Singles 3

[edit] Music sample

[edit] References

  1. ^ All Music Guide
  2. ^ a b CNET MP3.com
  3. ^ Digital Dream Door
Dr. Dre
Discography
Albums with N.W.A.: N.W.A. and the Posse – Straight Outta Compton – 100 Miles and Runnin' – Efil4zaggin
Solo Albums: The Chronic – 2001 – Detox
Compilation Albums: Dr. Dre Presents…The Aftermath – Concrete Roots– Greatest Hits – First Round Knockout– Back ‘N The Day – Maximum Dr. Dre – Chronicle: Best of the Work – Greatest Hits V.2
Mixtapes: Detox: Millennium Of Aftermath – Dretox - Look Out For Detox – Pretox – Dr. Dre 2006 – The Chronicle 3000 – Dr. Dre’s Mixture Remix
Singles: "Dre Day" - "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" - "Let Me Ride" – "East Coast/West Coast" – "Been There, Done That" -"Lil Ghetto Boy"- "Still D.R.E." – "Forgot About Dre" - "The Next Episode" - "Put It on Me" - "Bad Intentions" – "The Wash"
Featured Singles: "We're All In the Same Gang" -"Funky Flute" - "Deep Cover" - "Natural Born Killaz" – "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" – "California Love" -"No Diggity" - "Puppet Master" - "Zoom" - "Ghetto Fabulous" - "Guilty Conscience" - "U Know" - "Chin Check" - "Just be A Man About It" - "Fast Lane"- "Put It On Me" - "Knoc" - "Symphony in X Major" - "Imagine"
Related articles
Aftermath – Interscope – Polydor – Epic – Priority – Ruthless – Death Row – N.W.A. - World Class Wreckin' Cru – Eminem
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