The Making of The Chronic
By Ben Westhoff
Dr. Dre’s seminal 1992 album, The Chronic, turns 20 next month. Though a sensation upon its release, the raw-but-melodic work’s legend has only grown in the ensuing decades, and today seemingly every MC-producer duo fancies itself the next Dre and Snoop Dogg. It has become the most influential rap work ever made, and perhaps even the greatest, as Jeff Weiss argues.
See also: *Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums
*The Chronic: The Greatest Album In Rap History
But it almost never happened. Despite the success Dre had experienced with N.W.A, he was entangled in contractual problems with his former crewmate Eazy-E’s label. For that reason, as well as Death Row’s dodgy reputation, The Chronic had a hard time finding release. It took the shepherding of renegade upstart Interscope Records, the financing of convicted drug kingpin Michael Harris and the steady hand of Suge Knight, an intimidating former defensive end, to give it life.
Xenon Pictures,Welcome to Death Row: The Rise and Fall of Death Row Records, tells the story of Knight’s infamous imprint, as well as the rise of Snoop and Tupac Shakur. Its producers — Jeff Scheftel, Leigh Savidge and Steve Housden — gained unprecedented access to Harris while he was behind bars. They also spoke with some 100 other figures associated with the label, from publicists and drug dealers to Chronic performers.