In the classroom of Hip-Hop 101: The Chronic would be given its own section, likely filed under “The Rise of West Coast Hip-Hop.” Almost twenty years ago on December 15th, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic was released and since has quickly become one of those “must-have” hip-hop albums for any rap primer.
I was only 9 when it dropped and wouldn’t hear the album’s lead single “Nuthin’ but a G Thang” until two years later when I saw the video on MTV after my Dad decided to splurge on cable TV. I was living in Orange County in a satellite city just 40 minutes south of central Los Angeles where, as the music video depicted, parties full of 40oz’s, tricked out cars, BBQs and the all-too regular drive-bys seemed to be happening on a daily occurrence.
Of course, this was the semi-idealized world Dr. Dre so colorfully painted on his debut and part of the appeal of The Chronic. When I actually heard the full album a few years later, it remained on repeat for an entire summer and made me a life-long rap fan. I did all the dumb things a 14-year-old white kid from Southern California did when he first hears hip-hop, I appropriated the shit out of it. I bought an LA Kings hat, wore baggy jeans, stole 40 oz. from the corner store and dreamed of driving a black ’64 Chevy Impala SS drop-top as I rapped along to every single word of not only The Chronic, but Doggystyle and Regulate…the G Era as well.
Since then I’ve smartened up a bit. But every time I hear the deep, buzzing bass of “Fuck Wit Dre Day,” I’m 15 again in sunny Southern California, itching for a way to score some bud and a girl to smoke it with. As New York Times columnist Jon Pareles so aptly wrote in 1999, The Chronic “decisively expanded the hip-hop audience into the suburbs.” I’m living proof.
But why is that? How the hell did an album like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic crossover to such a larger audience? Peeping a list of hip-hop albums released prior to The Chronic that have sold 3 million copies or more, you get four albums.
- MC Hammer – Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em
- Vanilla Ice – To the Extreme
- Run DMC – Raising Hell
- Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill
That’s it. MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice and their cornball, pop-rap bullshit along side the Beastie Boys’ classically fun party album and the breakbeat heavy, Aerosmith-featuring LP from Run-DMC. The last two are classics but miles away from just how sonically, thematically and lyrically different the The Chronic is, making the crossover popularity of Dr. Dre’s solo debut even more surprising for the time.
Pop it in. Give it a spin. Remember this is the album that starts with a two minute spoken-word, shit-talking and scary as fuck monologue from Snoop Dogg . This is the album with track titles like “The Day the N***az Took Over” and “N***az witta Gun” that dropped just months after the L.A. riots. It’s an LP with songs that channels Zapp and Rodger while constructing beats over George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” instead of Joe Perry’s crunching guitar. This is an album that is partially dedicated to solely dissing on Eazy-E and Ruthless Records (which as diss tracks go, the one’s featured here might be the best ever).
You are talking about Dr.Dre album bringing Hip-Hop to
the suburbs of US, but I am a living proof of how this album
(together with Warren G and Snoop) brought gangsta Hip-Hop to post-USSR Eastern
Europe. At that time we had no clue what Dr.Dre was “singing” about or that was
the environment and experience that was driving Dr.Dre (I am talking about geto
and african-american history of US). Nevertheless, these songs were pure dope
for the ears. They were different. They had raw tough beats. The rap’ing itself
no matter in what language it was performed was simply hardcore (I repeat myself – most of the guys had no
clue that west coast artists were rap’ing about J). It was perfect for that post-USSR era. Times were
tough and these beats were accordingly rough. I hope my short comment gave an extra
dimension explaining how massive this album was and how big it’s influence is
in the whole world.