“Make My Sh*t The Chronic…”

…Y’all had to know it was comin’. I’ve been mentioning it all week, as it was the album the put Death Row on the map and started careers for a whole roster full of artists. It’s kinda tough to cover the story of the label or any of its artists without bringin’ it up. I was thinking about waiting until its original release date (December 15) to cover it, but I can’t realistically do a Death Row Week and not drop an entry on Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic, so here we go…

In late-’92, I didn’t know what to expect from this. Yeah, “Deep Cover” was crazy, and Dre was cool as a member of N.W.A., but I never listened to any of that stuff and thought to myself “damn, Dre should drop his own album”. Still, I figured if the previous music wasn’t bad by any means, this joint would prob’ly at least be decent. Actually, it took me a hot minute to get around to giving it a listen. I was more stuck on Redman‘s Whut? Thee Album and my 93.9 tapes than anything. It wasn’t until early-’93 when I saw the video for “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” that I really had an interest in picking it up.

My brother brought it home one afternoon and told me I had to hear this shit. He told me about some track where Dre was dissin’ Eazy-E, and how that dude Snoop was on most of the album, and how the beats went hard as all hell. So we listened to it, and from there… well shit, the rest of that story writes itself. I was 13 and didn’t even know what the fukk a “chronic” was, but that aside, I wasn’t mad at that album in any way, shape, or form. I coulda done without that long-ass outro, but that’s about it.

Everybody at my school was up on it too. Every day, I’d hear somebody in the hall talkin’ about “bow wow wow yippie yo, yippie yay, Death Row in the muthafukkin’ hooouuuuse”, “ain’t nuthin’ but a G thang baaaaaaabay“, and other little parts from different tracks on the album. I wasn’t as rap-nerdy as I later became, so I didn’t get in many hip-hop conversations at the time, but I’d always hear about something relating to The Chronic whenever music was mentioned. Whether it was Snoop, the “Dre Day” video with the Eazy lookalike, or whatever it was- it was unavoidable that whole year.

Even listening to it now, it’s plain to see that Dre was focused and had a point to prove. He probably knew himself that although he was a beast of a producer, he was now on his own and had to make some crucial shit. He brought all of his new artists (Snoop, Rage, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, RBX, Jewell) in the studio and gave them their shot to make something great happen along with him. Due to their importance to the project, this unknown cast even got to share some of the bill, having their names included on the cover. Another name that played a big part in The Chronic was The D.O.C. By that point, his vocal cords were Fukked Up Beyond All Recognition after a car accident in ’89. His main contribution was not only writing a great deal of Dre’s lyrics, but giving creative input to Snoop and the others.

Everybody always throws the word “influential” around when writing about this album, and I totally agree, but it goes a lil’ further than that. I’d go as far as to say The Chronic basically made and created a lot of muhfukkas in the aftermath (no pun) of its arrival. It definitely made the careers of the “Inmates”, but it was also part of the sound and direction of a lotta shit that followed (by artists on the West and East, and also the South). The heavy P-Funk element in Dre’s production became an element in some of everyone’s production from there. Not that Dre was the first to use those sounds (Erick Sermon, DJ Quik, etc.), but everybody started fuckin’ with the funk and making laid-back “G Thang”-ish singles after that. A lot of established artists- most noticeably Ice Cube– made dramatic changes in their music damn near overnight, with a lotta Dre and/or Snoop-isms included.

I saw it with my own two eyes- from kids to teenagers to adults to old niggas, The Chronic was bumpin’ all over the place. Even in New York, notorious (especially then) for not rockin’ with much outside of there, it got love. It was by definition a “gangsta rap” album, but it also had a party feel with melody and catchy hooks that allowed it to hit a wider audience. The singles were all hits, the album tracks went hard, the videos were classic, and new stars were created. Of course, the acclaim it gets is also why Dre has become a nigga that can’t get an album done in less than ten years… but it is what it is. I guess his perfectionist nature will pay off for us listeners someday. Until then, there’s still The Chronic.

“Fuck Wit’ Dre Day”

“Nuthin’ But A G Thang”

“Lil’ Ghetto Boy”

“Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat”

“Stranded On Death Row”

“Bitches Ain’t Shit”

-D!