The Chronic is released

Why it matters

The Chronic came out December 15, 1992, on Death Row Records. It is Dr. Dre's solo debut after leaving Ruthless, and it is the album that defined a sound, a label, and a region for the next decade. Dre produced everything. Snoop Doggy Dogg was on most of it. The Lady of Rage, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Warren G, RBX, and Nate Dogg are all on it. What The Chronic invented is G-funk: slow tempos, deep bass, P-Funk-derived synth lines, harmonized backing vocals, a sample palette that leaned on funk records more than on jazz. The album is also the first major commercial product to come out of the Death Row machine, and it sold three million copies on what was technically still a startup independent label. The Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2020. "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," "Let Me Ride," "Fuck wit Dre Day," "Lil' Ghetto Boy." After The Chronic, every aspiring rapper on the West Coast had to figure out their relationship to this album. Most of them just sounded like it. You can put The Chronic on right now and you will not need to skip a track.