The Chronic certified 3x Platinum

Why it matters

September 17, 1993. The RIAA certified The Chronic three-times platinum, which meant Dr. Dre's debut LP had sold three million units in the United States in nine months. The Chronic had come out in December 1992. By September 1993 it had moved the kind of numbers that confirmed Death Row was not a side project and that Interscope had not made a mistake distributing it. The specific milestone matters because it settled the West Coast's commercial position. Up until late 1992 the geographic argument in rap was still partially open. New York had the lyrical clout. The West Coast had the Eazy and Cube records but had not yet had a record do this kind of crossover business. The Chronic going triple platinum in nine months ended the argument. The Death Row roster, with Snoop on his way and Pac arriving in 1995, was about to dominate the genre commercially for most of the next three years. You can trace the entire pre-Tupac-shooting Death Row peak back to this RIAA certification date. The certificate is the receipt.