Yeah, I copped The Chronic tape when it dropped and liked most of it. If I’d been old enough to drive around with a ridiculously loud system I’m sure I would have appreciated it even more, but even on a Sony Megabass it sounded pretty good. The problem was, once everyone on the West Coast heard Dr. Dre‘s opus, they decided to throw out all their P-Funk and Zapp records and buy keyboards. Hell, even the previously awesome Rap-A-Lot production crew in Houston abandoned their church organ and harmonica beats for synths and live bands. Sure it was more ‘creative’ but it sounded like crap compared to the old shit. LA Rap had a great period in the late 80’s once they got off that Egyptian Lover tip, with the Rhyme Syndicate, King T‘s crew, NWA and others who brought their own take on hard beats, but as soon as they figured out that a combination of a soft drums, whining keyboards and some random guitar licks could knock out a hit less than ten minutes, it was over. Not convinced? Does the name Warren G mean anything to you? If you answered yes, kill yourself.
Need examples?
Compare anything from the first three Compton’s Most Wanted albums to the shit Eiht put out afterwards:
CMW ‘This Is Compton’ (1987) video:
MC Eiht ‘Thuggin’ It Up’ (1986) video:
ATL were another perfect example – their first album had classic production. After that? Not so much.
Above The Law ‘Untouchable’ (1990) video:
Above The Law ‘Black Supermen’ (1994) video:
The good news is that Havoc & Prodeje of the South Central Cartel actually stuck to their guns and continued to sport jerri curls and ‘Mo Bounce’ loops for longer than most. It wasn’t until 1997 that they were struck by the curse of G-Funk.
South Central Cartel ‘Ya Getz Clowned’ (1992) video:
South Central Cartel ‘Servin’ Em Heat’ (1994) video:
South Central Cartel ‘SCGz’ (1997) video:
Bonus: Bloods and Crips ‘Bangin’ On Wax’ video:
Rhyme Syndicate Comin’ Through > The Chronic 2000
[poll id=”37″]
Its Zapp, not Zzap!
Also, the Egyptian Lover > Most LA Rap
My typo game is strong.
Robbie you’re so right.
I must say that I actually like “Regulate”, but CMW and ATL fell the hell off. Which is a damn shame.
Excellent write up and I agree with it pretty much in full.
This is something I wrote regarding “The Chronic” a few months ago:
“I like this LP less and less as the years go on. Ditto for Doggystyle. Dre was riding off of “Deep Cover” and Snoop’s unique flow. He could’ve looped “Impeach the President” on every track and people would’ve still thought it was great. That’s how bad people wanted anything with Snoop on it at the time. I don’t get what’s so amazing about Dre, and what ‘he’ actually came up with is questionable, between ex-Aftermath producers’ accounts, Warren G’s accounts, the fact that he doesn’t write his own lyrics, and the fact that when your ability to read a sheet of music is shoddy, studio musicians will inevitably end up doing a little bit more than playing under your direction. Not to mention, the LP’s commercial success is hedged on selling wannabe gangsterism and weed medallions to middle America. Overrated, and a great example of exploiting Hip-Hop for cash. The difference between Hammer/Vanilla Ice and Dre is well — non-existant, with the exception of subject matter. “
it did but only because they all got keyboards etc but couldnt put em to use like Dre did.
The Chronic in my opinion gave the West heavy credibilty in its use of distinctive production to compliment its unique story…Where NWA’s production signaled the escape of the Zoo…Looking at this reading made me see that New York Really hadn’t done that in hip hop…Only in Motown …Thought provoking melodic accompanyment of higher caliber thought and sound…The Chronic was inspirational as fuctional music…Music to smoke weed to and the beginning of an ethic
NO DOUBT!!!!!!
Way back when in a’92 issue of the Source magazine,I remember Dre(on the eve of The Chronic’s release)saying that he wanted,”the Chronic’s production to sound clean like Micheal Jackson’s-Thriller album”.I laughed and it dawned on me that this dude use to be in a R&B group before a Gangsta rap group,I remember buying The Chronic hoping it would sound like efil4zaggin,I played the Chronic twice and shelved it.
COMPLETE BULLSHIT!!!!!! Yeah this shit ruined the westcoast soundscape,even when Tha Alkaholiks dropped-21 and over,The souls of Mischief dropped-93 til infinity,and King Tee dropped-The trifflin album(classics),they drowned in a”tidal wave”of “R&Besque-G-Hop”.And sadly it opened the door to some eastcoast”G-Hop”,courtesy of Puffdaddy,..just asked Jeru the damaja..it happened..”ONE DAY”.
This is all types of wrong.
Post-The Chronic was when L.A developed it’s own identity soundwise instead of just rehashing what Marley/Eric Sermon etc were doing.
Doggy Style is probably the best album to come from L.A (well, the best album not by Ice Cube anyway) and gave birth to what’s possibly Dre’s most headfucking beats with Natural Born Killaz and Afro Puffs plus the Chronic gave way to classics like In A Major Way by E40 and the best stuff RAP-A-Lot released in the 90’s (Til Death Do Us Part, Fadanuff Fa Erybody, The Diary, Somethin’ Serious, The Dude) came post-Chronic
the same can be said, arguably moreso, for what Chronic did for East Coast rap. I knew it was a bad sign in the ’92 year end issue of the Source and all the East Coast “top guys” had “Chronic” as their favorite album… Don’t get me wrong, I also banged “The Chronic” but I didn’t need it effecting everyones production style.
Oh dude, I’m going totally take umbrage with you including “Black Superman” on this list…
efil4zaggin – I can barely listen to it due to the over the top misygony, but the beats are the best dre work ever. I’ve been looking for an instrumental forever.. so was that EP 100 miles & runnin
Great post and a fair question.
I think its safe to say that The Chronic not only changed the West Coast sound, it changed hip-hop completely. As you point out, after Dre dropped that album, everyone was on the G-Funk synth tip for years afterward.
But I don’t The Chronic, Dre, Snoop or their affiliates for what happened afterward. In fact, if anything I think Chronic was a leap forward in terms of hip-hop’s overall evolution.
What was sorry was the industry reaction to such a game changing joint: everyone copied it. You can’t blame Dre that he came out with a unique sound – that has to be laid on the foot of the people who a) insisted it be copied or b) artists that went with the trend rather than create their own lane.
Don;t tell me that the artist you mentioned didn’t have dollar signs in their eyes when they decided on this “new direction” for their sound.
How is that Dre’s fault?
I agree that many many dudes (East and West) d*ckrode Dre and his sound, but all you need to do is look at the autotune mess today and realize it was always so.
http://www.yourfavoritewhiteboy.com
I agree also. Above The Law’s first album is so fucking ill. They mos def abanoned thier roots on later joints. This is totally random but whatever happened to C.P.O.?
Interesting how always ‘keyboards’ are brought up when discussing The Chronic’s influence. Need I present a list of samples used on that album? G Thang, anyone? Let Me Ride?
Hell Yea!
Agree, however the statement of:
Compare anything from the first three Compton’s Most Wanted albums to the shit Eiht put out afterwards … could easily apply to any group wich has survived the years.
Compare anything from the first three EPMD albums to the shit they put out afterwards
Compare anything from the first three PE albums to the shit they put out afterwards
Compare anything from the first three LL albums to the shit they put out afterwards
Compare anything from the first three Old-School Blogs to the shit they put out afterwards
@ B-Double
With all due respect,it’s a”catch 22″,see on one hand Dre broke-NO NEW GROUND,the George Clinton and Zapp samples were not new Prince Paul sampled George Clinton(’89) joints on De La Souls-debut:Three feet High and Rising,and EPMD sampled Zapp joints on their debut:Strictly business(’88)They did this first.Hell,The BOOGIEMEN(Pooh,Bobcat,And Rashad)sampled George Clinton for CUBE’S-Death Certificate before The Chronic,
The difference being,Dre and his camp(and understandably so)replayed G.Clinton samples over to save money and that”clean-R&B sound”was easily embraced by the”POP & R&B”market.This was achieved in most part by DRE’S popularity as N.W.A.’s-most popular producer(DJ YELLA,LAYLAW,DONAVAN are often forgotten),and keep in mind,THE CHRONIC was released on the heels of N.W.A.’s break-up and the billboard topping-efil4zaggin.The real culprit here is the”industry machine”that made sure those Deathrow projects were played in heavier rotation than any other HipHop projects,so of course East and Westcoast artist jumped on the bandwagon thinking if they changed their “sound” that would spell more dollars.
Roger,
Don’t forget X-Clan. They adopted P-Funk harder than anyone else on their first LP.
Also, let me add DJ Quik to the list of artists who fell off post-Chronic. Quik’s debut is near classic — the others, not so much.
Nice and smooth used pfunk for funky for u
EPMD ruled PFUNK even afterwards with red
PFUNK and ZAPP and Bootsys rubberband are the same group….we want eazy is really we want bootsy….early Dre production
Jimbrowski by jungle Brothers is PFUNK
Mc LYTE survival of the fittest is PFUNK
Rakim I know u got soul is Funkadelic
Sweet Tee on the smooth tip is PFUNK
Edog used Pfunk for Do what u want to on his 1st album
PFUNK is the shit
However u may be right when u start talking about those corny synth sounds that everybody adopted after the Chronic which I didn’t even like.
When the chronic was out I was bangin Masta Ace Slaughtahouse hard and being dissed by my friends.Doggystyle on whole was a wack album
Kinda reminds me of a letter that someone wrote in to the Source back in the day (in the issue with Eazy by his low-rider on the front), where someone wrote in and slammed all the props Dre was receiving by arguing that Sir Jinx had been there first and done it better.
By the way, an even more interesting question might be whether the success of this stuff “ruined” East-Coast hip-hop by luring many artists and producers away from the gritty, boom-bap sound and styles that had flourished in the early mid 90s…
Once again you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about ” Merciless “….I know you got soul is “Bobby Byrd”…..Get your shit together….
I’m like WHATEVER.
EAST>WEST
Period.
Did ‘The Chronic’ Ruin LA Rap?
No, it didn’t. The weak copies that followed this classic album did.
And leave ATL out of this. Together with Dr. Dre they were the creators of this style and their “Black Mafia” and “Uncle Sam’s Curse” albums were dope.
Haroon– I strongly disagree re: Quik. “Safe and Sound” is post-Chronic and FAR superior musically to Quik’s earlier stuff.
shamz u r so angry…..the drums are funkadelic… ha ha ha ….lol lmfao….lol
Its Zapp, not Zzap!
Also, the Egyptian Lover > Most LA Rap
Comment by KQ 12.16.08 @
WORD UP
@ HAROON-No Doubt,can’t forget X-clan.
@LOTUZ-Nah,Dre didn’t create that”G-funk”sound w/ATL,according to HUTCH of ATL,DRE STOLE THEIR SOUND!!!! After letting him hear their(ATL) finished album(of that year) while still on ruthless,and just before Dre left the label,Dre asked Hutch for the tracks and they refused,so he adopted(or stole)the sound for The Chronic.ATL actually gave this account of events in an issue of Rappages after the Chronic blew up.This is why ATL left Ruthless and went to Tommy Boy records.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAnHQiIwkf0
shamz ur a nerd….lol
dont act like u dig or know any records ever again…don’t act like u know what this classic break was either when u hang out with ur nerd friends.
The Chronic was the best thing to happen to the East Caost not just the West, it spawned an indirect reaction from the East to bring it back to that raw, rugged, and lyrical essence, just look what followed it Wu -36 Chambers, Nas – Illmatic, Biggie – Ready To Die, Jeru – The Sun Rises in the east,…
First, let me start by saying I never bothered listening to The Chronic or Doggystyle (don’t own them don’t care.) Second, I think the keyboard generated bass lines were lack luster at best. For the most part I’d say that the old King T, Rhyme Syndicate, NWA and CMW records were for the most part superior to and more listenable than the Chronic or Doggystyle. As far as replaying samples is concerned it’s not really all that bad unless you’re the RZA (his replaying the sample on Flowers by Ghostface ruined an otherwise flawless record.)
Dont sleep on Regulate…Warren G’s first album is pretty good. Other than that, not a fan. I hated it when it came out–but in recent years I’ve come to the conclusion Warren G was one of the best G-Funk era producers. But yeah, the Dre clones in the post Chronic era was a PLAGUE for at least 3 years. I think the Biggie/Jay-Z era sort of killed it by the time Life After Death dropped.
yeah, nah, most heads i knew, including myself, hated that Warren G sound and i know i still hate it.
never been a Dre fan, never copped anything he was involved in, ‘cept NWA stuff. apart from a few bits and pieces i’ve generally ignored all of the ‘i’m a little tuffy’ West Coast stuff.
my lack of interest probably had as much to do with the West Coast image, as the sound.
though a lot of my mates were into it, which i heard via them, most never had that sound which attracted me, excluding most of the Bay area crew.
this is a long winded way of saying i can’t comment on The Chronic’s effect.
heh, it seems the warmer the climate, the more the music sucks.
This poll is so biased….
Retarded article that praises autotune aka vocoder.
article’s OP must be a testicular-pain or soulja boy fan.
Ice Tea Couldn’t have said it any better, OP, ” eatadick.”
The op was apparently asleep for a whole revolutionary era of hip-hop.
I mean sure I didn’t like the pop boyband era of hip hop but I still appreciate it.
“Labcabincalifornia” by the Pharcyde
“Coast II Coast” by the Alkaholiks
“III: Temples of Boom” by Cypress Hill
“At The Speed of Life” by Xzibit
“Brothas Doobie” by Funkdoobiest
are all solid post-Chronic albums with little to no G-Funk influence
@Haroon
I heard Quik’s “Rhythm-Al-Ism” all over L.A. in ’98
Warren G’s shit was straight garbage. Still is.
But Nate Dogg always brought fire to a track……
The Chronic expanded hip hop’s sonic palette. Drum machines, samplers, synths, live instruments, corny skits, singing, rapping… it’s all on there.
Tastes may vary from head to head, but it’s hard to argue that Dre was a bad influence on hip hop production.
Personally, I think the Chronic was the beginning of hip hop’s true Golden Era: the mid-1990s.
@LOTUZ-Nah,Dre didn’t create that”G-funk”sound w/ATL,according to HUTCH of ATL,DRE STOLE THEIR SOUND!!!! After letting him hear their(ATL) finished album(of that year) while still on ruthless,and just before Dre left the label,Dre asked Hutch for the tracks and they refused,so he adopted(or stole)the sound for The Chronic.ATL actually gave this account of events in an issue of Rappages after the Chronic blew up.This is why ATL left Ruthless and went to Tommy Boy records.
Comment by Roger Jones 12.16.08 @
Yes, Cold 187um probably was the originator. You can already hear that on the “Vocally Pimpin'” EP (’91). But that record didn’t make that much noise. Somehow “The Chronic” was released just before “Black Mafia Life” and therefore it made a bigger impact with the new sound. And of course with the new group of MC’s which sounded fresher than ATL.
My favorite tune on The Chronic was Rat a Tat which could have been from anywhere. The synths, the P Funk influence, the neo-gospel singer on the hook wailing about murder, the reefer?…Copycats.
This album is very important to my generation but to me its just another record.
Smells like a bunch of East coast hip hop underground nerds in this session. I’m tired of the “if it don’t sound East coast it ain’t dope” mentality. If your from the west then you know everybody on the west coast was bumpin The Chronic back in the day.
Didn’t Dre produce the first Above The Law album?
@ TRAY-Nah,ATL produced their own debut,DRE,YELLA and of course Eazy E appears in the Co-producer and executive producer credits.
You know DRE gets all this credit for production,the Chronic and whatnot,anyone that has ever heard side projects by Ruthless records acts-YOMO and Maulkie(solo Yella prod.) have clearly heard DJ YELLA’S influence on NWA’S sound,and even DONOVAN,STAN”the guitar man”and Rythm D’s(NWA) conrtribution can be heard on CPO’s-TO hell and black.With that aside,props go to DAZ Dillinger for his had in the “deathrow” sound(peep:LADY Of RAGE’S solo,No Dre,just the sonics))and [Sam Sneed] who actually produced “Keep there heads Ringin”and”Natural Born killaz”.You tack on-ghostwriters-D.O.C.and J-Flexx,and Dr.Dre is truly a”mole hill”not a mountain.
The funny thing is Dr. Dre uses a bunch of samples on most of his work. He just brings in live musicians to play on top of his shit and mixes his music down really well so the shit has major clarity. Dont’ hate on Dre, his sound still bangs!!
Mercilesz, first of all, chill the fuck out.
Second, you’re wrong, Shamz was right. ‘I Know You Got Soul’ is from the Bobby Byrd joint, a James Brown production.
you are a tool.
I loved CMWs first three albums, all classics, then when that 4th album came out MC Eiht featuing CMW, I thought it had some of the illest beats made on a synth. Some of those songs are so hypnotic. All the shit today sounds the same, that album had a lot of production and layers even though it was heavily synthasized. None of the other MC Eiht albums ever came close.
Mercilesz, first of all, chill the fuck out.
Second, you’re wrong, Shamz was right. ‘I Know You Got Soul’ is from the Bobby Byrd joint, a James Brown production.
you are a tool.
Comment by jimmy conde 12.18.08 @
the guitar and horns that are in the beat are from Bobby Byrd. The drumbeat that is solo in the beginning and plays throughout the track is Funkadelic
Robbie, when I saw this I was like,
he is going to talk about the cash/cheese, cheddar, cake, moola.
Donnel Alexander is writing a history of The Chronic, I think.
That being said, I am intersted in both how
the Chronic changed the game sonically, AND business wise.
In many ways it was the beginning Hip Hop being capitlismed.
That is an interesting post title, “The Chronic: The Beginning of Hip Hop Capitalism.”
As a Parliament/Funkadelic longtime fan I was impressed by HOW Dre sampled their music. Sure many others mentioned in these posts had sampled them (and in dope ways)before he did, but in “The Chronic” he recreated that P-Funk atmosphere that could be felt only in the original records. I also think “Doggystyle” is not as good, some tracks are skippable. I was always into New York Hip-Hop and “The Chronic” wasn’t 100% my shit as far as lyrics and attitude but I can’t deny the album is dope and was musically revolutionary for Hip-Hop in 92. I agree 100% that all the one-too-may wack imitators that came after totally ruined Hip-Hop and brought it to a low commercial level.Even in Europe everybody was tryin to be a g-funkster and thought that a synthetizer beat was enough to sound good. Overall what did upset me the most about this post-Chronic invasion was that the mc role became secondary for a while and many wack rappers had the chance to release records on the strength of sometimes questionable “g-funk” beats.
G-funk killed the west coast for me …but as someone said earlier it wasn’t “Chronic” who killed it , it was all the incredible wack stuff that came after that !
I guess we all can agree that CMW first 3 albums was dope and NWA,Ren’s solo stuff, CPO, Above the Law , WC , King Tee and so on… they’re all way better production and lyrical wise b4 the g-funk sound just swamped LA , hell even Rap-a-lot had mad nice stuff b4 that too .
I think the main problem was that the members of both Zapp and Parliament/Funkadelic where really really good musicians and the “producers” who tried to reproduce their sound wheren’t …and had crap equipment , cheap ass keyboards instead of Moog synths and stuff
hmmm jimmy conde another nerd that should never act like he/she digs ever again…thank u Rahim for being knowledgable enuff to know what the eff im talking about. Djs were cuttin that break up way before anyone was sampling in rap records…oh and a james brown production? really I would have never have known that whitout u too guys educating me….dont u just love sarcasm. Right now its a blizzard so im about to do like mr x and mr z cuz them dudes be gettin drunk….
I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!
Yayyy Funkadelic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjgbb9Nojho
word. definitely wit cmw and atl.
rap a lot too. but you gotta say
that the sample based sound of this
era was like everbody got a same vibe
and after that the different camps
separated.natural evolution.
this article was weaksauce. the reason thangs changed after 92 was because that fat mong biz markie got sued. after that no-one could sample and rap died. thanks biz.
thats crazy…93 up used more recognizable pop samples than any other period in rap…i.e puffy
@ Michel’le’s Drawers-You can’t blame Biz son,No samples?I guess the stuff,Premier,Pete Rock,Large Pro,Beatnuts,Showbiz,Diamond D,and Dj Pooh did 93-97 was all”ketboards”????? Nah,those cats were sampling,that Biz case was indeed landmark,but it didn’t spell the end of HipHop.
It was that G-junk that Deathrow was putting out,marketing and merchandising-violence,and just violence,the other elements of HipHop were shut-out,many pioneers felt the need to”hit switches”and turn gangsta to survive…and it didn’t work,they lost their identity,…and true fans lost interest.And in the end when Deathrow fell,it took the whole coast with it.And many Eastcoast greats as well.
Haters.
Roger Jones , U make a good point, sampling continued. The Chronic just innovated the way studio musicians could be used in hiphop next to samples ,as M Davis pointed out,which are plentiful. Sampling can be done nowadayz but it will cost u but the price is better now than it was in 90 or 92.
@ Chronwell-Thanks.
MY position in all this,is that..yeah the Chronic did damage to both coasts.But the industry machine did the most damage.If you were,say..11 0r 12(or naive early 20 something) in ’92,and all the video and radio stations played was the Chronic,then this is essentially all you would know.Now keep in mind,I don’t mean-ALL 11 or 12 year olds(or early 20ers),just that 3 or 4 million that helped bring Death row to it’s height.The’machine’always”spotlights”one group or artist in R&B and HipHop and gives all it’s attention to that one area,this is why we had cats like Kane wearing purple,Heavy D wearing diaper pants(Think Hammer),mad cats wearing polka dots(Kwame’),and even dudes shaving their heads(think Onyx)or growing dreads(think Das Efx)and dudes were even using(abusing)Das’s flow for awhile.I would be a liar if I said I didn’t think-GETTING PAID was AN important aspect of this genre,but dudes made it the ONLY important aspect of this artform and threw the culture and History out the window.LA cats helped the Chronic destroy it’s regions HipHop circle by”bandwagoning”and making enemies out of eastcoast fans who had supported them for years before the Chronic was released,and Eastcoast artsit killed the scene over here by rejecting the standards that we set,and the world used, as”foundations to set up their own HipHop regions.So both coast helped The”machine”-help the Chronic-TO KILL HIPHOP.
There is a hair salon near my son’s school called “Warren G. Hair”. I pass it every day and it never fails to make me snicker. This is in Nottingham, mind; they look blank when I stick my head round the door and say “I don’t need my hair cut, but how much to regulate it?”
There’s also one a coupla miles up the road by the name of “Hair by Gary Newman”. I find what it lacks in spelling accuracy, it gains in mirth potential. I’ve yet to go into that place and ask if he “don’t like the film” though.
I think indirectly “The Chronic” not only ruined LA rap but ruined HARDCORE rap altogether. Of course, it didn’t happen immediately, and actually a lot of hardcore and ‘gangsta’ artists used elements of G-Funk style to make some good records post-Chronic (for example, 1993 releases by Spice One, Eazy E and Ice Cube were all decent hardcore LA records but clearly influenced by The Chronic).
The problem with post-NWA Dre is that he invented something that could bring hardcore and ‘gangsta’ rap lyrical themes firmly together with contemporary R&B and pop. Soon the hard edge was gone completely, hardcore and party pop became merged. And it blew up.
The Chronic did not ruin LA rap. It is sad to see many good artists who dropped their unique style and attempt to gain success by mimicking The Chronic. But as far as I’m concerned, since the 90’s you’ve always had really interesting projects that didn’t follow the synth keyboards, for instance cypress hill, the pharcyde, project blowed, tha alkaholiks crew, Jurassic 5, freestyle fellowship, etc. and then through the 2000’s with Dilated Peoples, Self Scientific, The Alchemist, Stones Throw, Dirty Science, etc. That’s the beauty of art, there is enough space for every style and trend, whack or not.