So, it was a lot that went into that record. During that process, my house burned down, I was shot in the legs, and I was in the studio on crutches for a couple of weeks. “I was in survival mode.” And with “all the things that were happening in the studio during the making, it was crazy. It was a tense time.ĭre doesn’t have such fond memories of that era: That’s “the toughest record that I’ve recorded in my career,” he told BigBoyTV. Dre took aim at Eazy on the tracks “F-k Wit’ Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” and “B-tches Ain’t Sh-t,” among others. He wanted to join up with Death Row Records, the notorious label owned by former football player/rap don Suge Knight.
But by the early ‘90s-following public insults from N.W.A member Ice Cube on his brutal diss track “No Vaseline”-Dre wanted out. Dre got his start by co-producing N.W.A’s 1988 album, Straight Outta Compton. Then there was Dre’s beef (over a financial dispute) with his N.W.A collaborator Eazy-E, Ruthless Records and its co-founder Jerry Heller. Dre has since apologized for his actions). riots in April 1992-vocal samples from people on the streets were used on tracks like “The Day the N–gaz Took Over” and “Lil’ Ghetto Boy.” And its lyrics captured the world that then surrounded Dre and his crew – drugs, guns, gangs and overt misogyny (which can make The Chronic uncomfortable to revisit given the rapper’s public admission of beating women as a young man, including his attack on TV host Dee Barnes in 1991. The Chronic was recorded in the aftermath of the L.A. The context in which it was created, however, was far rockier. It crowned Dre atop the industry as its preeminent artist-producer. It lifted hip-hop to a new echelon of cultural relevancy and set the stage for the next generation of rappers and producers. Its funky, silky-smooth live instrumentation with slick guitar and deep bass, inspired by Parliament/Funkadelic and George Clinton, broke down cultural walls everyone loves The Chronic. That’s three decades of house parties, backyard BBQs, collegiate ragers, beach/lakeside hangouts and slow drives in the sunshine soundtracked by The Chronic and its innovative G-funk sound. 15, 2022, we’ve had 30 years of The Chronic, hip-hop legend Dr.