From the archives: Hip Hop Hump Days #5: Dr Dre – The Chronic (1992)

Originally published on It Is Happening Again on June 4, 2014

Some of you may be too young to remember this but before he made garishly coloured headphones for imbeciles to wear on the bus, Dr Dre used to make music. And he was pretty damn good at it too.

Released at the tail end of 1992, long before he became hip hop’s first billionaire, ‘The Chronic’ still stands up today as his best work. Recorded at a time when he was embroiled in various financial and legal disputes (not to mention the obligatory ‘beefs’ with former NWA bandmates), this was the album that would reverse his fortunes in the most spectacular way.

While the lyrics are unmistakably ‘gangsta’ (I hate that term, but I’ve got nothing else), the music is something else entirely, taking the warm ‘G-funk’ sound pioneered by EPMD a few years earlier and shifting it up a gear. Musically, ‘The Chronic’ may have taken its inspiration from two decades earlier, but it still sounded way ahead of its time.

And that, to me, is what makes ‘The Chronic’ such an important album in the hip hop cannon. The Dre of today may feel like little more than a brand, but the Dre who made this album was taking a huge gamble on a career which could easily have gone the way of fellow NWA members DJ Yella and MC Ren (Google them – they do exist, I promise you).

This is the sound of someone with BIG aspirations; someone who understood the meaning of the term ‘next level’. Dre’s rapping can sometimes be a little perfunctory and his flow stilted, but ‘The Chronic’ is all about the BIG sound. A masterpiece? That goes without saying. A game-changer? Pay attention, damn it.

‘The Chronic’ is also significant for introducing the world to a then largely unknown Snoop (Doggy) Dogg. Okay, the first that many people in the UK had heard of Snoop was a year later when he was accused of murder (“Kick this evil bastard out!” screamed The Daily Star’s laughably hysterical front page at the time), but ‘The Chronic’ can take the credit for giving Mr Broadus his big break – the guy crops up on this album so frequently that it may as well have been marketed as a collection of duets. Snoop’s lyrical prowess leaves Dre’s in the shade, but then Dre’s real strengths have always been his production skills and business acumen – surrounding himself with promising young talent like Snoop was all part of the masterplan.

So, forget the headphones. This is 1992. They won’t exist for another 14 years. For now, the only beats by Dr Dre you need are right here.