DR DRE "THE CHRONIC" ALBUM REVIEW

 

ALBUM TITLE: The Chronic

LABEL: Death Row Records

RELEASED: Dec 15th, 1992

TOP TRACKS:  2. Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’), 5. Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang, 7. Lil Ghetto Boy, 8. A Nigga Witta Gun

RAPCENTRAL RATING:

  The year’s 1992. After Dr. Dre left N.W.A and Ruthless Records (effectively shutting N.W.A down, as Ice Cube already left) over a financial dispute with Eazy-E and N.W.A’s manager Jerry Heller, the waiting was on his first album as a solo artist rather than as a member of Niggaz With Attitude. It came, and had “multi-platinum material” written all over it. Starting the careers of other West Coast rappers featured on his album (most notably Snoop Dogg, Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and Warren G), Dre marked the beginning of a new era in hip hop, G-funk, with his debut album.

Following his leaving N.W.A, he and Eazy-E were less than seeing eye-to-eye with each other, recording a series of disses to each other, some of them being on The Chronic’s track listing. With an intro being mostly sung by Snoop Dogg, they already start dissing Eazy and N.W.A, with lyrics such as: "I don't love Eazy, I don't love Jerry, I don't love Ruthless Records", the tone is being set early on, and continued with the second track, probably Dre’s most known diss song to Eazy-E, “Fuck Wit Dre Day”.

“Let Me Ride” is a laid-back song featuring, again, heavy involvement from Snoop Dogg. The next song is largely based on the 1992 riots in LA, following the acquittal of the (Caucasian) cops who unmercifully beat an innocent African-American, Rodney King. The title says it already, "The Day The Niggaz Took Over" kind of making fun of the situation, with the LAPD heavily outnumbered by the rioters. "Nuthin But A “G” Thang" is probably the most well-known song of the album, showing Snoop Dogg’s songwriting ability. The next song, "Deez Nuuuts" can be perfectly fitted in the category, “you either hate it or love it”. I’d prefer the former one, this is one of the, if not the only one, songs of this album I didn’t really like. "Lil’ Ghetto Boy", however, quickly repairs what Deez Nuuuts broke, with it’s laid-back beat, with Snoop & Dre rapping over it, this is G-funk at its best people!

The overall sound of the album gets a bit darker, starting with "A Nigga Witta Gun", with the most vocals being done by Dre. After this one, Snoop Dogg’s involvement with the album becomes less apparent. The next song, "Rat-tat-tat-tat", continues the dark sound, with again much of the vocals done by Dre, featuring Snoop and RBX on the chorus. A break is taken on the following track, "The $20 Sack Pyramid (skit)", a parody of the game show “Pyramid”, with a Compton theme, prices to be won: a $20 sack of indo and a $35 gift certificate to the Compton Swap Meet. "Lyrical Gangbang", the next song, marked The Lady of Rage’s first appearance on the album, as well as that of Kurupt, whose careers got going after being featured on this album.

"High Powered" takes the album back to a more radio-friendly sounding type of music, with more guest appearances than contributions from Dre. Hey, every man has to take a break every now and then. The last trio of tracks, after another skit, close off the album with a more than positive impact on me and, as we all know by now, about the entire hip hop community aswell!

Review By: Eazy-ED