The Chronic | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Dr. Dre | ||||
Released | December 15, 1992 | |||
Recorded | June 1992 | |||
Studio | Death Row Studios and Bernie Grundman Mastering (Los Angeles, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 62:52 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
|
|||
Dr. Dre chronology | ||||
|
||||
Singles from The Chronic | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Blender | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Entertainment Weekly | A+ |
Los Angeles Times | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
The Source | 4.5/5 |
USA Today | |
The Village Voice | C+ |
The Chronic is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist Dr. Dre. It was released on December 15, 1992, by his own record label Death Row Records and distributed by Priority Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in June 1992 at Death Row Studios in Los Angeles and at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood. The album is named after a slang term for high-grade cannabis, and its cover is a homage to Zig-Zag rolling papers. It was Dr. Dre's first solo album after he had departed from hip hop group N.W.A and its label Ruthless Records over a financial dispute. On The Chronic, he included both subtle and direct insults at Ruthless and its owner, former N.W.A member Eazy-E. Although a solo album, it features many appearances by Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launch pad for his own solo career.
The Chronic peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and had been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America with sales of 5.7 million copies in the United States, which led to Dr. Dre becoming one of the top ten best-selling American performing artists of 1993. Dr. Dre's production has been noted for popularizing the G-funk subgenre within gangsta rap. The Chronic has been widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s and regarded by many fans and peers to be one of the most well-produced hip hop albums of all time.The Chronic was ranked at #138 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.