THE CHRONIC

'''The Chronic''' is the highly influential debut album from American rap producer Dr. Dre, released in 1992. It is noted for popularizing gangster rap and West Coast hip hop. Its peak position was #3 on the Billboard Charts and went on to sell 4 million copies with chart-breaking hits. The album was named after a slang term for premium grade cannabis. The album cover itself is a homage to Zig-Zag rolling papers. It is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s.

Contents

History

Track listing

Credits

Chart and singles history

Album

Singles

References

History

Having split from N.W.A., Dr. Dre's first solo album established him as one of the biggest rap stars of his era. ''The Chronic'' brought the genre now known as G-funk to the mainstream — a genre defined by slow bass beats and melodic synthesizers, topped by P-Funk samples, female vocals, and a laconic, laid-back lyrical delivery referred to as a "lazy drawl". ''The Chronic'' featured both subliminal and direct insults to Ruthless Records and its owner, Dr. Dre's former N.W.A. group mate Eazy-E.
The album is also credited with launching the careers of several prominent West Coast hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G, Dr. Dre's half-brother, — all of whom went on to pursue successful commercial careers. ''The Chronic'' is widely regarded as the album that re-defined West Coast rap ^[1], demonstrated gangsta rap's commercial potential as a multi-platinum commodity, and established G-funk as the most popular sound in hip hop music for several years after its release, with Dr. Dre himself producing several major albums that drew heavily on his production style.^[2][3] Furthermore, the album's success established Death Row Records as a dominant force in 1990s hip-hop.^[4]
The album has been re-released twice, first as a remastered CD, then as a remastered DualDisc. The remastered CD was released in an "edited" version which scrambles most profanity and the most explicit drug content backwards. On the original version, most drug references are left uncensored and all violence is completely uncensored. An alternate edited version of "Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')" can be found on Dr. Dre's ''The Chronicles: Greatest Hits'' album. This album fixes some of the slippage of the original remastered edit. On the remastered disc, the editing will commonly leave in some profanity and then censor it other times. "Ass" and "bitch" are commonly censored sometimes, but not others.
''The Chronic'' was included in VIBE's "100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century Vibe", ranked #137 in Rolling Stone's list of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and was also listed in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the '90s". Furthermore, the album ranked #8 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s", and in 2005 it was ranked #35 in the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005" list by the same magazine. It was even ranked #6 in VIBE's "Top 10 Rap Albums of All Time". The album was also retroactively given a score of 5 mics from The Source magazine, making it a classic album (it received 4.5 mics in its original review). In 1998, the album was selected as one of "The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums". On the Billboard Music Charts (North America) album lists, ''The Chronic'' hit #1 R&B/Hip-hop and #3 Pop. Also, some critics claim that ''The Chronic'' is the best produced hip-hop album of all time.
The singles "Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')" and "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang" are in best-selling video game '', on the fictional radio station Radio Los Santos. All songs are produced by Dr. Dre

Track listing

#	Title	Length	Featuring	Samples/Other notes
1	"The Chronic (Intro)"	1:57	Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Impeach the President" by The Honeydrippers. ★ Samples "Get Out of My Life, Woman" by Solomon Burke. ★ Samples "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players. ★ Samples "Country Cooking" by Jim Dandy
2	"Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')"	4:52	Snoop Doggy Dogg, Jewell, RBX	★ Samples "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton. ★ Samples "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic. ★ Samples "Funkentelechy", "The Big Bang Theory" & "Aquaboogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" by Parliament. ★ This song is a diss to Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, Luther "Luke" Campbell of the 2 Live Crew, & Timothy "Tim Dog" Blair.
3	"Let Me Ride"	4:21	Jewell, Ruben, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" and "Swing Down, Sweet Chariot (Live)" by Parliament. ★ Samples "Kissin' My Love" by Bill Withers. ★ Samples "Funky Drummer" by James Brown.
4	"The Day the Niggaz Took Over"	4:33	Dat Nigga Daz, RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples live news reports and other soundbites of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. ★ Samples "Love's Gonna Get'Cha (Material Love)" by Boogie Down Productions. ★ Featured in the Oliver Stone-directed film Natural Born Killers.
5	"Nuthin' but a "G" Thang"	3:58	Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood. ★ Samples "Uphill (Peace of mind)" by Frederick Knight.
6	"Deeez Nuuuts"	5:06	Dat Nigga Daz, Nate Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Warren G
7	"Lil Ghetto Boy"	5:29	Dat Nigga Daz, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Little Ghetto Boy" by Donny Hathaway.
8	"A Nigga Witta Gun"	3:52	Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Master Plan" by Kool G Rap. ★ Samples "Big Sir Sweet" by J. Hammond. ★ Samples "Who's the Man (With the Master Plan)" by the Kay Gees. ★ Samples "Friends" by Whodini. ★ "Fuck Wit Dre Day" can be heard playing in the background at the beginning of the track.
9	"Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat"	3:48	RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Vegetable Wagon" by Donny Hathaway. ★ Samples "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" by Willie Hutch. ★ Samples "Pot Belly" by Lou Donaldson.
10	"The $20 Sack Pyramid" (Skit)	2:53	Big Tittie Nickie, The D.O.C., Samara, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ A Compton-themed parody of the gameshow ''Pyramid''. ★ Samples "Papa Was Too" (live) by Joe Tex.
11	"Lyrical Gangbang"	4:04	Kurupt, Lady of Rage, RBX	★ Samples "Damn" by The Nite-Liters. ★ Samples "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin ★ Samples "Hole in the Head" by Cypress Hill
12	"High Powered"	2:44	Dat Nigga Daz, Lady of Rage, RBX	★ Samples "Big Sir Sweet" by J. Hammond.
13	"The Doctor's Office" (Skit)	1:04	Jewell, Lady of Rage
14	"Stranded on Death Row"	4:47	Bushwick Bill, Kurupt, Lady of Rage, RBX, Snoop Doggy Dogg	★ Samples "Do Your Thing (Live)" by Isaac Hayes. ★ Samples "If it Don't Turn You On (You Outta Leave it Alone)" by B.T. Express.
15	"The Roach (Outro)"	4:36	Dat Nigga Daz, Emmage, Jewell, Lady of Rage, RBX	★ A cover version of "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" by Parliament that heavily references marijuana, "Make my bud the chronic, I wants to get fucked up."
16	"Bitches Ain't Shit"	4:48	Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Jewell, Lady of Rage	★ Samples "Adolescent Funk" by Funkadelic.

Credits

★ Dr. Dre - Vocals, Keyboards, Producer, Drum Programming, Mixing

★ Lady of Rage - Vocals

★ Bushwick Bill (credited as "Dr. Wolfgang Von Bushwickin the Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir") - Vocals

★ Snoop Doggy Dogg - Performer

★ Warren G - Vocals

★ The D.O.C. - Cowriter

★ RBX - Vocals

★ Nate Dogg - Vocals

★ Dat Nigga Daz - Performer, Drum Programming

★ Kurupt - Vocals

★ GM Grimm - Ghostwriter

★ Katisse Buckingham - Flute, Saxophone

★ Emmage - Vocals

★ Bernie Grundman - Mastering

★ Greg Royal - Mixing

★ Colin Wolfe - Guitar (Bass), Keyboards, Keyboard Bass

★ Daniel Jordan - Photography

★ Cheron Moore - Drums

★ Eric Borders - Guitar

★ Chris Clairmont - Guitar

★ Justin Reinhardt - Keyboards

★ Chris "The Glove" Taylor - Mixing, Mixing Assistant

★ Suge Knight - Executive Producer

★ Willie Will - Mixing, Mixing Assistant

★ Kimberly Holt - Artwork, Art Direction, Design

★ Kimberly Brown - Project Coordinator

★ BJ "Tha Mocking Bird" - Performer

★ Matthew McDaniels - Provided L.A Riot scenes

★ John McClain - A&R Director

★ Noor - Vocals

Chart and singles history

Chart positions from ''Billboard'' magazine (North America).

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position ( # )
1993	US Top 200	3
1993	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	1
1993	UK album chart	43

Singles

Single information
'"Nuthin' but a "G" Thang"' ★ Released: January 19, 1993 ★ B-side: "A Nigga Witta Gun" ★ Billboard Hot 100: #2 ★ Hot Rap Tracks: #1 ★ Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #1 ★ Rhythmic Top 40: #2 ★ Hot Dance Club Play: #22 ★ Hot Dance Singles Sales: #3
'"Dre Day"' ★ Released: 1992 ★ B-side: "Puffin' On Blunts And Drankin' Tanqueray" & "187" ★ Billboard Hot 100: #8 ★ Hot Rap Tracks: #13 ★ Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: #6 ★ Rhythmic Top 40: #6 ★ Hot Dance Club Play: #29 ★ Hot Dance Singles Sales: #1

"Let Me Ride" was also released as a 12" promotional single.

Name	Chart (1993)	Peak position ( # )
"Let Me Ride"	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	34
	U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	34
	U.S. Rhythmic Top 40	21
	U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play	45
	U.S. Hot Rap Singles	3

References

1. All Music Guide
2. CNET MP3.com
3. Digital Dream Door
4. [1]