#37 Dr. Dre, 'The Chronic' (1992)
Previously #138
Following his acrimonious split from N.W.A. and its label, Ruthless Records, Dr. Dre released his debut album, ‘The Chronic.’ And with it, he pioneered a new subgenre within Gangsta Rap, G-Funk. Essentially it’s a sound that heavily samples George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic; slow hypnotic grooves, heavy bass, melodic synths and female backing vox. It’s a sound that would come to dominate early to mid-‘90s Hip Hop. Kanye West wrote of this record, “The Chronic is still the hip-hop equivalent to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. It's the benchmark you measure your album against if you're serious.” The record is notable for being the first appearance of 21-year-old emerging rapper, Snoop Dogg, making his entrance with the iconic lyrics on ‘Fuck With Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’,’ “Bow wow wow yippy yo yippy yay/Doggy Dogg's in the motherfuckin' house,” as well as launching the careers of Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and Warren G.
With this album, Dr. Dre redefined the West Coast Hip Hop sound. His production was groundbreaking and would push the boundaries of Hip Hop, challenging his contemporaries to build on his way ahead of time production. Dre throws a lot of shade on previous N.W.A. bandmate, Eazy-E and his label, Ruthless Records; “Yeah, Eazy-E, Eazy-E, Eazy-E can eat a big fat dick.” ‘Nuthin But A “G” Thang’ is such a great track and is not only the best track on this record, it’s one of the best track to emerge from ‘90s Hip Hop. Other than the P-Funk samples, the record is littered with the sounds of Donny Hathaway, Bill Withers, James Brown (of course ‘Funky Drummer’ got a run), Isaac Hayes and even the familiar sounds of John Bonham’s iconic drums from Led Zeppelin’s ‘When The Levee Breaks’ on ‘Lyrical Gangbang.’ The record is filthy, it’s stereotypically Gangsta Rap and it’s an album that so many following albums would be based on. For the casual Hip Hop listener, it’s a difficult record to get into. In terms of “hardness,” probably Hip Hop’s equivalent of Metal, but a rewarding album if given time. A jump of more than 100 for Dre thanks to the influence this album has on Hip Hop. Another one that was missing from streaming for so many years, glad to have it available finally.
#rs500albums