“The Chronic” is the solo studio debut of legendary Hip Hop producer Dr. Dre. Released in 1992 on Death Row Records, “The Chronic” triple platinum and made it all the way up #3 on the Billboard Top 200. Dr. Dre relied heavily on samples from Parliament and Funkadelic. “The Chronic” was the genesis of the Hip Hop sub-genre G-Funk which was unique to West Coast recording artists. Probably Dr. Dre’s greatest talent as a producer is assembling an array of other talent individuals for a common goal. Dr. Dre received songwriting and/or production help from Snoop Dogg, RBX, D.O.C., Colin Wolfe, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt and The Lady of Rage. The same cast went on to record another Hip Hop classic with Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” a year later. “The Chronic” was seminal in establishing Gangster Rap as a part of popular culture while also spawning multiple successful careers.
Guest Request Mike T’s (@mike_t_bvnm) first appearance on the blog
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Chris: What are some of your went earliest memories of listening to Hip Hop music? What do you remember from listening to “The Chronic” when you were younger?
Mike T.: My earliest memory of listening to Hip Hop was probably in Middle School. Seventh grade I want to say. I remember hearing your typical Rap around that time Lil Jon, Ludacris, and other artists of that caliber, but I had a classmate who was all about Tupac. He loved the West Coast Gangster Rap and he would bring his Walkman and we would listen to mix CDs of Snoop, Tupac, and Dre. Now when it came to “The Chronic” we had a family friend’s house that me and my sister would go to a lot with our Mom. The husband had his “Man cave” with a huge cd collection. Which he had “The Chronic” so I would put the cd on his stereo and basically play “Nuthin' But A "G" Thang” over and over.
Chris: I actually had the single of “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang” and I used to play it on this like old school Fisher Price cassette player. Man, I was listening to some hard stuff when I was 8 year old. I had this friend named Chris Lucero that lived on my street who was quite a bit older than me, and he introduced me to King T, Tim Dog, NWA, Dre, Snoop, Eazy-E and Bloods & Crips “Bangin on Wax”
Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg – “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang”
Chris: Dr. Dre was killing the game production-wise at this time. He already had a few platinum records under his belt, what did you think about the beats on “The Chronic”?
Mike T.: I personally love the beats that the album has. It thrives off that West Coast feel. It has those hints of Jazz, blues, and Funk. The synth with a more full band feel rather than just a generic bass line.
Chris: I agree and after re-listening to the album I really enjoy the production. They did a great job of enhancing the samples they used with live instrumentation.
Dr. Dre feat. Jewell – “Let Me Ride”
Chris: Looking at the credits, D.O.C. wrote a good portion of the lyrics on “The Chronic”? Does it change your opinion of Dre knowing he didn’t write a lot of his lyrics on “The Chronic”? Why do people care so much whether or not a rapper wrote his own lyrics? Why in your opinion is this something that only exists in Hip Hop music?
Mike T.: Personally I don’t care if Dre wrote all of his lyrics or not. Eazy didn’t write all of his stuff, but fans loved him. Look at politicians most of them don’t write their own speeches. The fact that people get upset when someone has another person write lyrics for them in my opinion is stupid. Music is about expression. Some people are better at projecting that expression than others. Just like there’s people who are better writers, and others who are better talkers. Now I don’t feel this is the only genre this happens in. It just might be that whole image thing that is associated with a rapper. Personally being someone who is into Metal music I feel this is just like the sell out aspect in metal. It comes off as that artist is fake to fans.
Chris: You might be right. I just kind of feel like in other genres it’s much less taboo when the actual singer is not the one who wrote the song, plus covers are much more prevalent in other genres and I like covers because to me it’s a sign of respect. I think people are so much more critical of Rappers for not writing their own lyrics because one of the tenets of Hip Hop is originality. Personally, it does not bother me if Dre or anybody else doesn’t write their own lyrics, I’m all about the quality of the song. Dre knew that, got some help and his album is far better for it.
Have you noticed that Hip Hop is no longer geographical? It used to be that if you heard a song on the radio, you could tell exactly where they from based on the sound of the music.
Mike T: I have noticed that you can’t just hear an artist and know where they are from just from hearing the beat. I think possibly it’s just something that died with Pac and Biggie. But honestly I don’t know why that has changed. Maybe because there is so many styles of Rap now and especially with the boom in mumble, and “Emo” rappers.
Chris: I think it’s because of Youtube and these other streaming services. Music is just so much easier to come by nowadays so people making music now are influenced by music they wouldn’t have necessarily heard back in the day. I feel like growing up in New Mexico we more inundated with West Coast Hip Hop just by the sheer fact that we were closer geographically to LA than we were to New York.
In recent news, “The Chronic” was added National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. The National Recording Registry was established to preserve audio recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.” In your opinion, does “The Chronic” warrant this honor?
Mike T: I mean I guess I could see them adding “The Chronic” but in my opinion they should have put N.W.A. “The Chronic” hits on some aspects of the early 90’s but I feel like it was more of an album that highlighted the duo that Dre, and Snoop brought to the rap game. Not a whole lot of a reflection of the time. So I would have to say I don’t think it should be there but good on Dre for getting there.
Chris: I don’t know but “Straight Out of Compton” has to be in there, right? “The Chronic” was a pretty big part of my growing up, so it would probably go into my personal Recording Registry but I hear what you’re saying.
What are your favorite tracks on the album?
Mike T: Favorite tracks off the album. “Let me ride”, “Nuthin’ But a G Thang”, “Deeez Nuuuts”, “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat”, “Stranded on Death Row”, and “Bitches Ain’t Shit”. I like all the tracks on the album. This is one of those albums you can just put on hit play and let the whole album go. Perfect just kick back in the car and go for a cruise album. That’s what I loved about this album. It has this vibe to it. Lean the driver seat back a bit. Throw on some sunglasses, and just drive. Just missing the convertible Impala lol.
Chris: All great tracks! The album definitely has a Summer vibe to it. I really like bassline on the Quincy Jones sample they used on “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat”
Dr. Dre feat. RBX and Snoop Dogg – “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat”
Donny Hathaway – “Vegetable Wagon”
Chris: How do you feel about “The Chronic” now versus how you felt about it when you first heard it?
Mike T: I think listening to the album now compared to when I first heard it is now you definitely understand references more for one and two it’s not just random words. You understand the story that is being told by each track.
Chris: Oh you definitely have better understanding of the references! I’m glad you picked “The Chronic”. I have a lot of nostalgia attached to that album and I still enjoy it.
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