Daz Dillinger is looking for his royalties for his work on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Hitting Instagram, Daz asked when he could expect his royalties to come in.
“HAPPY 31st C DAY TO THE CHRONIC @drdre BUT WHEN CAN WE RECEIVE OUR ROYALITIES,” Daz wrote.” ARE YOU OR @interscope GONE ROBB US LIKE @deathrowrecords 2024 & THE N-GGAS FROM THE PAST WHO RAN IT. Str8 Bitchez FUCEM.”
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic is back on streaming services. With the relaunch across Spotify, Apple Music, and more, Dr. Dre launched new inspiration merch including hoodies, shirts, and more.
“I am thrilled to bring The Chronic home to its original distribution partner, Interscope Records,” Dre said. “Working alongside my longtime colleagues, Steve Berman and John Janick, to re-release the album and make it available to fans all over the world is a full circle moment for me.”
“Dre’s solo career all started with the ‘The Chronic,’ one of the most celebrated recordings of all time,” said Steve Berman, vice chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M.
“From my first day at Interscope the significance of Dr. Dre as a foundational artist at this label was incredibly important to me,” John Janick, a chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M said. “We take our responsibility to Dre and his amazing body of work very seriously and we are honored to work closely with him on this re-release of one of the most important albums of all time.”
After much talk about the future of Death Row Records in the hands of West Coast legend and former label signee Snoop Dogg, the talk of the imprint being the first NFT label continues, but one of the label’s biggest album’s is back home.
According to Snoop, “As far as 2Pac’s masters, 2Pac’s masters came back to him last year. But I got a great relationship with his estate, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to work something out … to continue some Death Row 2Pac business now that Snoop Dogg is in control of Death Row. Same with Dr. Dre and The Chronic. I got The Chronic album. I got Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather, Murder Was the Case, Dogg Food, Above the Rim. I got all those records.”
Dr .Dre’s attorney released a statement saying that the Hip Hop mogul owns the rights to his biggest album to date. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Dr. Dre owns 100 percent of The Chronic,” said Howard King.
Music mogul Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic is going to finally reach the masses. The hip-hop veteran’s iconic and classic album is set to stream on all digital platforms this month.
Big Facts
According to record label eOne, the wait for Chronic to hit every streaming platform is almost over. Plans have the LP set to premiere everywhere on national smoke day, April 20.
Chris Taylor, eOne’s Global President, Music & Live, says, “Fans now have another reason to celebrate on what has become a national holiday, celebrating all things cannabis-related – where legally allowed and in moderation of course. Working with the Death Row catalogue is like working with the legendary recordings of Elvis, Chuck Berry and the Beatles. These historic artifacts should be heard by all music lovers and we are so happy Dr. Dre has opened this door so everyone can experience the brilliance of this seminal work.”
High-Key Details
Dr Dre’s The Chronic album is considered one of the all-time best hip-hop albums ever released. Its already nearing its 30-year-anniversary since coming out.
The Chronic was released 28 years ago, in December 1992, on Death Row Records and is widely considered by both critics and fans to be one of the greatest albums of all time. The album redefined West Coast rap, and introduced the world to Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, Warren G, Lady of Rage, D.O.C, RBX, and others. The Chronic was also recently selected as one of only 25 recordings to be inducted into the National Recording Registry this year. The inductees were selected by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and showcase the cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the U.S.’ recorded sound heritage.
Wait, There’s More
Recently, rap veteran Snoop Doggshared a super vintage Doc pic. The West Coast legend released a vintage pic of himself hanging out in the 90’s with Dre.
Earlier this year, Dr. Dre called into radio personality Big Boy‘s show to dish on his recent birthday celebration plans. Despite his massive wealth, Dre admitted he didn’t have lavish born day events lined up.
“I was in the studio last night – I decided to just keep it low-key this time – I’m going to have a few friends over and my wife is going to do a crab boil for me. I love crab. We’re just going to kick it, kick it in my backyard.” (Real 92.3)
As one of the most noted curator’s the 1980’s and 1990’s west coast Hip-Hop sound Dr. Dre’s touch is timeless. One his most critically acclaimed efforts will be formally preserved by the government.
As spotted on Complexthe Compton beatsmith is being awarded one of the top honors any musician can receive in the world. According to the report the National Recording Registry has announced that The Chronic will be inducted into the National Recording Registry because it is being recognized as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden explained the decision via formal press release. “The National Recording Registry is the evolving playlist of the American soundscape” she said. “It reflects moments in history captured through the voices and sounds of the time. We received over 800 nominations this year for culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings to add to the registry. As genres and formats continue to expand, the Library of Congress is committed to working with our many partners to preserve the sounds that have touched our hearts and shaped our culture.”
The Chronic joins Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” single, Selena’s Ven Conmigo album and Tina Turner’s classic Private Dancer. The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg is getting a major jump on Throwback Thursday. The hip-hop veteran went to Instagram Wednesday with a vintage pic of himself and music icon Dr. Dre during The Chronic album production in 1991.
It was a monumental year when Dr. Dre released The Chronic on his Death Row Records imprint in 1992. The multi-platinum album was a street sensation that marked a new era of Rap. It delivered G-Funk to the mainstream, with videos that displayed the laid back vibes, set against menacing lyricism, and cautionary tales of life in Compton, Long Beach, and South Central Los Angeles. Like Marley Marl with his “Symphony,” Dre’s solo debut introduced an ensemble of stars on the mic, behind the boards, and helping supply the smoked-out party. Snoop Doggy Dogg, RBX, Warren G, and Kurupt were some those names. But most notably, The Chronic also showcased a fierce female MC who matched the grit and toughness of her Compton and Long Beach counterparts, although she was raised in Farmville, Virginia.
The track “Lyrical Gangbang” wouldn’t be as hard-hitting if The Lady Of Rage didn’t set the stage with her memorable, hardcore delivery of the lines: “Now I’ma kick up dust, as I begin to bust, On the wick-wack, f*cked up suckers you can’t trust.”
The former Chubb Rock protege known as “Rockin’ Robin” showed up again on The Chronic rapping from the spot of cellblock H on “Stranded On Death Row.” Cellblock H, as she would explain to XXL, is a reference to a women’s prison cell. She explained to the magazine as apart of their 20th-anniversary piece on The Chronic: “I ended my verse with ‘cellblock H’ ’cause I remember running across a television show called Prisoner: Cellblock H, and I think it was about a women’s prison. Me being the female in the crew, I just referenced a female’s prison, cellblock H.”
Snoop Doggy Dogg got his solo album shot less than a year after The Chronic with Doggystyle. Rage is actually the first rapper to set off Snoop’s debut with “G Funk (Intro).” It was there that she rapped the lyrics, “I rock ruff and stuff with my afro puffs / Handcuffed as I bust, ’bout to tear sh*t up.” Just a few months later, in 1994, for the Above The Rimsoundtrack, the woman born Robin Allen reiterated those lines as a hook for the first solo Death Row Records single, “Afro Puffs.”
Her solo single was supported by Snoop Dogg making an appearance for some background vocals and a music video cameo. Through G-Funk synths and a heavy bassline, Rage set the track off rugged: “I rock on with my bad self ’cause it’s a must / It’s the Lady Of Rage still kickin’ up dust / So umm, let me loosen up my bra strap / And umm, let me boost ya with my raw rap / ‘Cause I’ma break it down to the nitty-gritty one time / When it comes to the lyrics, I gets busy with mine / Busy as a beaver / Ya best believe-a / This grand diva’s runnin’ sh*t with the speed of a cheetah / Meet a / Lyrical murderer… I’m servin’ ’em like two scoops of chocolate / Check out how I rock it.”
Featuring some of Dr. Dre’s hardest production of the period, the track hit #5 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs and served as the second single for the Above The Rimsoundtrack, following Warren G & Nate Dogg’s “Regulate.” The album, however, peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 1994.
Despite the success of the track, The Lady Of Rage has expressed her initial distaste for “Afro Puffs.” In an interview with Billboard’s Erika Ramirez from 2014, Rage revealed how it almost never happened –– or, at least, it wasn’t supposed to:
“That song almost didn’t happen,” she said. “I just so happened to go to the studio that day, and Dre was playing this beat. He was like, ‘You got something for that Rage? Let me hear it.’ I spit a rhyme that I had written a few days prior. I didn’t like [the song], but Dre was like, ‘Damn, Rage, will you just shut the f*ck up? It’s not even done yet.’ I still didn’t like it, but everybody else did. I asked Suge [Knight] to not put the song on the soundtrack, and he was like, ‘Alright Rage, we won’t do it.’”
The MC continues, “I was riding in the car with Suge’s wife [Sharitha Knight], and I told her, ‘I’m so glad they got rid of that song.’ And she said, ‘Girl, they didn’t take that song off the soundtrack.’ I had a fit! I said, ‘They’re going to ruin my career. That song cannot be the one.’ My style was more East Coast. I’m from Virginia and ‘Afro Puffs’ was this G-Funk sound. [Interscope Records Chairman at the time] Jimmy Iovine called me and told me to calm down because the song is such a hit. That became my claim to fame.”
“Afro Puffs” might’ve been a huge enough single to warrant Rage’s solo debut. However, despite the song’s success, Rage waited while Tha Dogg Pound dropped their Dogg Food debut in 1995. By the end of that year, the label’s priorities had shifted entirely with the arrival of Tupac Shakur. By March of 1996, Dr. Dre, who had worked so closely with Rage, left the label he co-founded. Her first and only studio album, Necessary Roughness, released in June of 1997. The record was released via Death Row and Interscope and featured production by DJ Premier, Daz Dillinger, Easy Mo Bee, DJ Kenny Parker, and Rage herself.
Not long after her album, Rage left Death Row. In 2005, she spoke to Jake Paine (now with Ambrosia For Heads) for AllHipHop about her frustrations. “I went up there one day to pick something up. I’d been going up there all the time. Suge was locked up at the time; things were run differently. When I got to the lobby, the guy there told me I needed an appointment to go upstairs. I was like, ‘I need an appointment? For what?’ All I got was, ‘Things are different now.’ I was insulted by that. I’m one of the artists—one of the reasons this office is here, I feel. I didn’t sell millions of records, but I was on those things. This is mines, like Dre’s, Snoop’s, Suge’s, whatever. I said, ‘Can you go get the package for me?’ When he went upstairs, I picked up something and I broke some things up, and really give them a reason for not lettin’ me in here. I never went back again until I couple of months ago. I was just mad. I was pregnant, I was mad, that was slap in the face.”
Rage’s persona, on the mic and real-life, earned her a role in Next Friday. At a time when her music career was limited, the MC made a convincing bully as “Baby D.” However, Rage has never beat down anything as badly as that amazing Dre production on “Afro Puffs.”
It was a monumental year when Dr. Dre released The Chronic on his Death Row Records imprint in 1992. The multi-platinum album was a street sensation that marked a new era of Rap. It delivered G-Funk to the mainstream, with videos that displayed the laid back vibes, set against menacing lyricism, and cautionary tales of life in Compton, Long Beach, and South Central Los Angeles. Like Marley Marl with his “Symphony,” Dre’s solo debut introduced an ensemble of stars on the mic, behind the boards, and helping supply the smoked-out party. Snoop Doggy Dogg, RBX, Warren G, and Kurupt were some those names. But most notably, The Chronic also showcased a fierce female MC who matched the grit and toughness of her Compton and Long Beach counterparts, although she was raised in Farmville, Virginia.
The track “Lyrical Gangbang” wouldn’t be as hard-hitting if The Lady Of Rage didn’t set the stage with her memorable, hardcore delivery of the lines: “Now I’ma kick up dust, as I begin to bust, On the wick-wack, f*cked up suckers you can’t trust.”
The former Chubb Rock protege known as “Rockin’ Robin” showed up again on The Chronic rapping from the spot of cellblock H on “Stranded On Death Row.” Cellblock H, as she would explain to XXL, is a reference to a women’s prison cell. She explained to the magazine as apart of their 20th-anniversary piece on The Chronic: “I ended my verse with ‘cellblock H’ ’cause I remember running across a television show called Prisoner: Cellblock H, and I think it was about a women’s prison. Me being the female in the crew, I just referenced a female’s prison, cellblock H.”
Snoop Doggy Dogg got his solo album shot less than a year after The Chronic with Doggystyle. Rage is actually the first rapper to set off Snoop’s debut with “G Funk (Intro).” It was there that she rapped the lyrics, “I rock ruff and stuff with my afro puffs / Handcuffed as I bust, ’bout to tear sh*t up.” Just a few months later, in 1994, for the Above The Rimsoundtrack, the woman born Robin Allen reiterated those lines as a hook for the first solo Death Row Records single, “Afro Puffs.”
Her solo single was supported by Snoop Dogg making an appearance for some background vocals and a music video cameo. Through G-Funk synths and a heavy bassline, Rage set the track off rugged: “I rock on with my bad self ’cause it’s a must / It’s the Lady Of Rage still kickin’ up dust / So umm, let me loosen up my bra strap / And umm, let me boost ya with my raw rap / ‘Cause I’ma break it down to the nitty-gritty one time / When it comes to the lyrics, I gets busy with mine / Busy as a beaver / Ya best believe-a / This grand diva’s runnin’ sh*t with the speed of a cheetah / Meet a / Lyrical murderer… I’m servin’ ’em like two scoops of chocolate / Check out how I rock it.”
Featuring some of Dr. Dre’s hardest production of the period, the track hit #5 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs and served as the second single for the Above The Rimsoundtrack, following Warren G & Nate Dogg’s “Regulate.” The album, however, peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 1994.
Despite the success of the track, The Lady Of Rage has expressed her initial distaste for “Afro Puffs.” In an interview with Billboard’s Erika Ramirez from 2014, Rage revealed how it almost never happened –– or, at least, it wasn’t supposed to:
“That song almost didn’t happen,” she said. “I just so happened to go to the studio that day, and Dre was playing this beat. He was like, ‘You got something for that Rage? Let me hear it.’ I spit a rhyme that I had written a few days prior. I didn’t like [the song], but Dre was like, ‘Damn, Rage, will you just shut the f*ck up? It’s not even done yet.’ I still didn’t like it, but everybody else did. I asked Suge [Knight] to not put the song on the soundtrack, and he was like, ‘Alright Rage, we won’t do it.’”
The MC continues, “I was riding in the car with Suge’s wife [Sharitha Knight], and I told her, ‘I’m so glad they got rid of that song.’ And she said, ‘Girl, they didn’t take that song off the soundtrack.’ I had a fit! I said, ‘They’re going to ruin my career. That song cannot be the one.’ My style was more East Coast. I’m from Virginia and ‘Afro Puffs’ was this G-Funk sound. [Interscope Records Chairman at the time] Jimmy Iovine called me and told me to calm down because the song is such a hit. That became my claim to fame.”
“Afro Puffs” might’ve been a huge enough single to warrant Rage’s solo debut. However, despite the song’s success, Rage waited while Tha Dogg Pound dropped their Dogg Food debut in 1995. By the end of that year, the label’s priorities had shifted entirely with the arrival of Tupac Shakur. By March of 1996, Dr. Dre, who had worked so closely with Rage, left the label he co-founded. Her first and only studio album, Necessary Roughness, released in June of 1997. The record was released via Death Row and Interscope and featured production by DJ Premier, Daz Dillinger, Easy Mo Bee, DJ Kenny Parker, and Rage herself.
Not long after her album, Rage left Death Row. In 2005, she spoke to Jake Paine (now with Ambrosia For Heads) for AllHipHop about her frustrations. “I went up there one day to pick something up. I’d been going up there all the time. Suge was locked up at the time; things were run differently. When I got to the lobby, the guy there told me I needed an appointment to go upstairs. I was like, ‘I need an appointment? For what?’ All I got was, ‘Things are different now.’ I was insulted by that. I’m one of the artists—one of the reasons this office is here, I feel. I didn’t sell millions of records, but I was on those things. This is mines, like Dre’s, Snoop’s, Suge’s, whatever. I said, ‘Can you go get the package for me?’ When he went upstairs, I picked up something and I broke some things up, and really give them a reason for not lettin’ me in here. I never went back again until I couple of months ago. I was just mad. I was pregnant, I was mad, that was slap in the face.”
Rage’s persona, on the mic and real-life, earned her a role in Next Friday. At a time when her music career was limited, the MC made a convincing bully as “Baby D.” However, Rage has never beat down anything as badly as that amazing Dre production on “Afro Puffs.”
The second song Snoop Dogg ever released to the public may be his most iconic. “One-two-three-and to the fo’ / Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Dr. Dre is at the do’,” begins 1992’s “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang.” The first inhale of Dr. Dre’s Chronic presented a laid-back side of the Long Beach, California MC first heard on the menacing “Deep Cover” earlier that year.
“G Thang” has become a time-piece. It conjures images of lowriders, and indo’ smoke, barbeques, and looking over one’s shoulder at the light. With a would-be mogul behind the wheel of the track and the dark purple ’64 Impala in its equally iconic video, it is how folks remember G-Funk. While the genesis of G-Funk is up for debate, the song that many believe best exemplifies the sub-genre of Rap is not. The song was a grand introduction for Snoopy, who would show the world how an MC did it Doggystyle less than one year later.
“[Dr. Dre’s beat] ain’t what I wrote “‘G’ Thang’ off of,” reveals Snoop. “I wrote it off [this other beat].” Snoop mimics the bassline of the track. Host Questlove points out that it’s Southside Movement’s “I’ve Been Watching You” (embedded below),” Snoop confirms, “That’s the beat [Dr. Dre] gave me. I took it [over to] my cousin’s [in Long Beach], and I wrote the whole “‘G’ Thang” song to that. [I] came back to [SOLAR] Studios, and bust that sh*t off that for [Dr. Dre].” At 3:00 in the audio clip, Snoop demonstrates his flow in the beat. Quest’ and Phonte provide some improvised background vocals.
At the top of the clip, Questlove also points out to Snoop that Dre sampled his late parents’ (Lee and Jacqui Andrews) vocals for another element of the finished song. Congress Alley’s 1973 cut “Are You Looking” is used. Quest’ demonstrates, and Snoop knows exactly what he is referring to.
Elsewhere in the full conversation, Snoop details The D.O.C.’s input on “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang.” At 25:00 mins, he says that the Dallas, Texas Rap legend suggested the “like this, that, and this” famous part of the hook. Snoop says that The Chronic sessions yielded approximately 25 songs; Dre used 16. The rapper says his favorite cut that was not used is a song called “Hoe Hopper.” Snoop also says that until the late 2000s, he made approximately 15% of his tour revenue, because his ensemble stage shows employed 30 people at a time. Last month, his Doggystyle debut turned 25 years old.
#BonusBeat: The record containing the sample that Snoop Dogg wrote his iconic verse to:
The second song Snoop Dogg ever released to the public may be his most iconic. “One-two-three-and to the fo’ / Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Dr. Dre is at the do’,” begins 1992’s “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang.” The first inhale of Dr. Dre’s Chronic presented a laid-back side of the Long Beach, California MC first heard on the menacing “Deep Cover” earlier that year.
“G Thang” has become a time-piece. It conjures images of lowriders, and indo’ smoke, barbeques, and looking over one’s shoulder at the light. With a would-be mogul behind the wheel of the track and the dark purple ’64 Impala in its equally iconic video, it is how folks remember G-Funk. While the genesis of G-Funk is up for debate, the song that many believe best exemplifies the sub-genre of Rap is not. The song was a grand introduction for Snoopy, who would show the world how an MC did it Doggystyle less than one year later.
“[Dr. Dre’s beat] ain’t what I wrote “‘G’ Thang’ off of,” reveals Snoop. “I wrote it off [this other beat].” Snoop mimics the bassline of the track. Host Questlove points out that it’s Southside Movement’s “I’ve Been Watching You” (embedded below),” Snoop confirms, “That’s the beat [Dr. Dre] gave me. I took it [over to] my cousin’s [in Long Beach], and I wrote the whole “‘G’ Thang” song to that. [I] came back to [SOLAR] Studios, and bust that sh*t off that for [Dr. Dre].” At 3:00 in the audio clip, Snoop demonstrates his flow in the beat. Quest’ and Phonte provide some improvised background vocals.
At the top of the clip, Questlove also points out to Snoop that Dre sampled his late parents’ (Lee and Jacqui Andrews) vocals for another element of the finished song. Congress Alley’s 1973 cut “Are You Looking” is used. Quest’ demonstrates, and Snoop knows exactly what he is referring to.
Elsewhere in the full conversation, Snoop details The D.O.C.’s input on “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang.” At 25:00 mins, he says that the Dallas, Texas Rap legend suggested the “like this, that, and this” famous part of the hook. Snoop says that The Chronic sessions yielded approximately 25 songs; Dre used 16. The rapper says his favorite cut that was not used is a song called “Hoe Hopper.” Snoop also says that until the late 2000s, he made approximately 15% of his tour revenue, because his ensemble stage shows employed 30 people at a time. Last month, his Doggystyle debut turned 25 years old.
