Dr. Dre – The Chronic (1992)

February 26, 2021

Make my shit The Chronic! I love this album. I hadn’t listened to it in so many years, so went back to it for the purposes of this entry. In hindsight, its weird how so close together in time The Chronic and its follow-up, 2001 (released in 1999 lol) are. When I was younger, these two eras of rap felt like worlds apart, with The Chronic in particular sounding absolutely ancient in comparison.

I wouldn’t be the first critic to say that Dre’s production is far stronger than his rap flows. However, on The Chronic, any bars he offers are actually pretty decent, delivered in his signature cocky snarl, but without that treacle-like consistency that would come on the later records. Of course, there is a large cast of collaborators, an entire audio pallete of tracks and skits, and all in all, The Chronic is a classic gansgta rap / G-funk record that whilst over-rated, delivers on pretty much every level you would expect from something like this.