Dr. Dre - The Chronic

The Chronic is the record that rewrote what rap could sound like. Released at the end of 1992, it took the raw aggression Dre had built with N.W.A and rebuilt it out of Parliament basslines, live keyboards and a rolling, sun-bleached groove that came to be called G-funk. Nothing on radio sounded like it, and within a year everything did.

"Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang" is the pivot point, four minutes that introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world and made a whole coast's worth of producers rethink their drums. "Let Me Ride" and "Fuck Wit Dre Day" carry the same swagger, while "Lil' Ghetto Boy" and "The Day The Niggaz Took Over" pull the record toward something darker and more specific, written in the immediate aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.

The cast is extraordinary: Snoop across nearly every track, plus Kurupt, Daz, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Jewell and The D.O.C. Colin Wolfe played bass and keys, Chris "The Glove" Taylor co-mixed, and Bernie Grundman mastered. Dre's own verses are almost beside the point next to the arranging, which remains the most influential production work of the decade.

This double LP reissue carries the full album across four sides. A foundational American record.