Episode Summary
This week we are discussing the 30th anniversary of Dr. Dre's debut album, The Chronic, which was released on December 15, 1992 and features notable artists like Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Warren G. We will explore the album's making and impact on hip-hop, and discuss Dre's prior work with The World Class Wreckin' Cru and N.W.A. and the role of The Chronic in the rise of West Coast hip-hop and the emergence of G-Funk.
Transcript
Christina: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You. I'm Christina.
Miguel: And I'm Miguel. This week we're talking about one of the most important albums in the history of hip hop. It was released on December 15th, 1992, and is the solo album debut from producer, rapper, Dr. Dre. We're talking about The Chronic. This is the 30th anniversary of The Chronic. That's a long ass time.
Christina: You know what? Anytime you mention the '90s, to me, it feels like 10, maybe 20 years ago. And then I do the math. I'm like, no, no, that's 30.
Miguel: Yeah, that's a long time ago. So, we're gonna talk about The Chronic on this episode. So are you ready to get into it?
Christina: I'm ready.
Miguel: Alright. Okay. So I know you are not really into this era of hip hop like I am. But you do, you have an awareness of what things were out and what was happening and things like that.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: So, listening to Dr. Dre before The Chronic, his World Class Wreckin' Cru days, N.W.A., the stuff he did for Eazy-E, Michel'le, The D.O.C. What are your impressions on that?
Christina: Well, the thing is, which I've mentioned a million times, 'cause this was like late '80s, right? So, I was a little too young for this, but the N.W.A. album did get into my hands.
Miguel: Yeah. Which is hilarious. So go ahead and tell that story.
Christina: So my mom's friend had two teenage boys. I can't remember exactly how old they were, but they were like, teenagers and I was like 10 or so. So they were probably like, I don't know, 14 to 16 or something. And sometimes they would just give me like, their old Nintendo games and whatnot. And somehow the N.W.A. tape landed my hands through them.
Miguel: That's hilarious.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: A little 10 year old in Abbotsford, British Columbia, getting N.W.A.
Christina: Yeah, And at this time there was some rap that I was listening to, but it was very like, top 40s kinda stuff.
Miguel: Right. You're listening to like, Will Smith.
Christina: Right, exactly. And um, yeah, I was like [gasps]. And so it was in my hands too early.
Miguel: That's funny.
Christina: But I remember, I remember, that. In my mind I also remember it being a dub. I feel like I saw like, you know, the handwritten tape thing. But yeah, so that was my first experience that I feel like I remember.
Miguel: I appreciate them trying to pass it on to the youth.
Christina: It was a little too early.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: And so, for me, my first real introduction to Dre was around The Chronic and stuff. Like, I knew of N.W.A.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: But I didn't realize that he was part of the World Class Wreckin' Cru until much later. That was a shocker to me, because of like the shiny suits, the electro music.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: I was like, what? 'Cause it's one thing—
Miguel: Listening to "Surgery."
Christina: Yeah. And just those funny outfits and the Jheri curls.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So, that was a shock to me that he was part of that group 'cause just knowing him as Dre, Dr. Dre. Um, so, I never really got into N.W.A. because I think by the time I fully got into rap, it was—
Miguel: They were done.
Christina: It was old, they were done.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And then I think also, that's probably why I didn't really get into like Eazy-E either. I just didn't listen to much of that.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: I think I was surprised that some of that electro dance-y stuff also made it into some of the N.W.A. songs because I had always thought of N.W.A. as like "gangster rap."
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So, I wasn't expecting, um, what's the one song...
Miguel: "Something 2 Dance 2."
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: I saw an interview with Arabian Prince. And he was just talking about that first compilation that they put together, the N.W.A. and the Posse, and basically he said their thinking was, since Dre had been doing that World Class Wreckin' Cru type stuff, they would put that kind of stuff out as well. Because if the "Straight Outta Compton", "Boyz-N-The Hood" shit didn't work, we could always go back to this.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Uh, I don't know how it was in other cities, but in L.A. that was very popular, that style of music. So, they figured, hey, we got this in our back pockets just in case this other shit don't work out.
Christina: Even when I was re-listening to some Michel'le stuff, it just reminded me of more like pop R&B—
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Like something Pebbles or even Paula Abdul might sing and I was like, oh, Dr. Dre did this too?
Miguel: He did.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: There is an album that I would suggest people listen to. It's from an artist that was signed to ruthless name Jimmy Z. He plays the harmonica, he plays the flute,[1] he plays the saxophone. It's not a very good album. But him, Dre and a guy who worked a lot with Dre in those days, a guitarist, bass player named Colin Wolfe. They put that album together. And it's a lot of experimentation that they have on it. It's like, '80s jazz that they're doing. Hip hop fusion, R&B. It's an interesting album to listen to production wise. Content is corny as hell. There's a reason nobody knows of it, but if you want to hear Dre stretching his legs a little bit, check that album out.
Christina: I think, uh, Michel'le too, just because you have some smooth, slow jams and then you have "No More Lies."
Miguel: Right.
Christina: That's a very pop, dance-y hit.
Miguel: Yeah, but this goes even further than that. Imagine "No More Lies" with Kenny G. Like from the late '80s, and that's what they were trying to do, I believe.
Christina: Okay. So, before we get into the album, let's talk a little bit about what led to it. So first, why did Dre decide to go solo even though N.W.A. was doing pretty well?
Miguel: The problem was he was doing all the work. So, he did the N.W.A. album. He did the N.W.A. EP. He did Eazy's solo album. Michel'le's solo album, The D.O.C.'s album. Co-produced Above The Law's first album. And at this time, he's arguably the best producer in hip hop.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: Depending on what you're into. It could be DJ Quik, it could be Marley Marl, could be Premier, or Dre.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Just like when Cube was leaving, money became an issue.
Christina: So is this how Suge Knight came into the picture?
Miguel: Yes. So The D.O.C. was signed to Ruthless. He's looking at his contracts, him and Suge, and they're like, something ain't right here. Money ain't adding up the way it should be. They decide they were gonna go off and do their own thing. They come back and tell Dre, hey, Cube's paperwork was fucked up. D.O.C's paperwork is fucked up. Chances are yours is too. So, they get into his ear, he has a lawyer look over stuff. He decides he wants more compensation.
Christina: Wasn't Suge The D.O.C.'s bodyguard? So how did Suge turn into this?
Miguel: That's an interesting question, and because Suge is kind of a bully, every story—
Christina: Kind of?
Miguel: Okay. Suge is a bully, and every story I hear about that, it basically sounds like he just forced himself into people's relationships without them even knowing it. And by the time they realized that, it was too late. So, like you said, he was The D.O.C.'s bodyguard and he was Bobby Brown's bodyguard previous to that. Hanging around with Bobby, he's learning the music game. That's why he decided to get in The D.O.C.'s ear and was like, Hey, you need to be getting a little more money than you should. Now he's The D.O.C.'s manager.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Without actually becoming The D.O.C.'s manager.
Christina: That's quite a promotion.
Miguel: It is. So, he gets in Dre's ear, like I said. And now he's unofficially Dre's manager because he's advising him on his contract status. Once he gets involved with Dre, this is where it gets kind of murky because we've heard the stories about him getting Eazy to come to this meeting and saying that he's got Jerry Heller tied up in a van outside and he knows where Eazy's mama lives. So, he better sign these releases for Dre, The D.O.C. and Michel'le. Did it happen? We don't know, but something happened and Dre gotta—
Christina: 50/50.
Miguel: Yeah, Dre got a release and he's no longer on Ruthless.
Christina: Okay, so Dre leaves one bad situation to go in another murky situation?
Miguel: Yeah, basically.
Christina: All right, so it's, a murky, fresh start.
Miguel: It's kind of a fresh start, but in his mind, all he's thinking is, I got a new place to work.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And this guy over here is gonna handle everything else. I just gotta make the music.
Christina: Right. So now, that he's got his own record label, he's gotta stock it with artists.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And this is how Warren G and Snoop, of course—
Miguel: Basically, yes.
Christina: And the rest of them come in?
Miguel: So, the, the biggest find was obviously Snoop Doggy Dogg, who was a childhood friend of his stepbrother, Warren G. Snoop and Warren have been buddies since they were knee high to a duck, as people say, and they're working on their own thing, called 213, with Nate Dogg.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: But Snoop is kind of too shy to put his music out in front of Dre. So, Warren G is going to all these parties that Dre is having and is like, Hey, you should come over rap for Dre and we can get put on. And Snoop would go to the parties and just hang out because he was too shy to be in front of these people who are like stars already.
Christina: Which is funny now.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: To think of Snoop as being shy.
Miguel: Yes. If you remember in the "'G' Thang" video and in the "Deep Cover" video,[2] he doesn't ever really stay in the camera, like he'll look at it and then bow his head. But anyway, they're having one of these parties. Snoop isn't there. Music is playing. They're drinking, they're having a good time. The music goes off. Warren G takes the opportunity to take their demo tape and puts it in the cassette player. It starts playing. Everybody's like, who the fuck is that?
Christina: Right.
Miguel: Warren's like, this is us. I've been telling y'all that we got something. This is us. They bring Snoop into the mix. Start working from there.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: So, Warren G brought in Snoop and Nate. Daz is Snoop's cousin. RBX is Snoop's cousin. I think Dre found Lady of Rage on somebody else's album[3] that he was listening to and was like, I want her.
Christina: Because you always have to have a girl.
Miguel: You always have to have a girl in crew. Snoop is going around just random house parties and whatnot, battling anybody who would basically show up. One of these people was Kurupt. He says that they're going back and forth for like 45 minutes.[4]
Christina: That's a long battle.
Miguel: It is. So they promised that if either of them got put on, they were bringing the other one with them. Snoop, got hooked up, brought Kurupt in, and now you've got your team.
Christina: All right. You've got the Death Row...
Miguel: Inmates.
Christina: Ensemble? Oh, Death Row inmates, yes.
Miguel: They are the Death Row inmates.
Christina: The Death Row inmates.
Miguel: It's on the cover, it says, "featuring the Death Row inmates."
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: I think we should take a quick break get back and talk about The Chronic.
Christina: Okay.
Christina: Are you enjoying this podcast?
Miguel: Hell yeah.
Christina: If you are as much as he is, there's a couple things that you can do. You can feel free to drop some coins into our collection plate at ko-fi.com/troypodcast. And that's "ko-fi," K-O-dash-F-I dot com. Link is also in the show notes. We're self-funded, so any support would be appreciated. And if you don't have any extra coins to spare, just leave us a 5 star rating or review. Like JLo's love, it won't cost you a thing.
Miguel: You just sitting at home on the couch anyhow.
Christina: Alright, thanks.
Miguel: Back to the show.
Miguel: All right, and we are back. And we are now gonna talk about what we're here for, the 30th anniversary of Dr. Dre's The Chronic album.
Christina: Yes!
[both laugh]
Christina: That didn't come out the way I thought it would.
Miguel: I'm leaving it in too.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Like I said before we went to break, it introduced the rest of the Death Row team to the world. It was a bunch of nobodies that we had never heard of, including Snoop. You had Snoop's cousin Daz, his other cousin, RBX. Kurupt The Kingpin from Philly. Lady of Rage from Virginia, Dre's stepbrother, Warren G and their homeboy Nate Dogg, they basically made The Chronic what it is. Do you remember hearing it for the first time?
Christina: I do remember it because "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" was like nothing I'd ever really heard before. Because there were some hints of it in a couple songs in the last N.W.A. album.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: But since I wasn't listening to it...
Miguel: You wouldn't know it.
Christina: Yeah, this was like, what is this? Right? So I do remember hearing. like, wow, what is this?
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: That signature sound, which would become what we know as G-funk.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: That little, [mimics part of the song], that sort of like high pitch synthesizer sound was very, different and kind of like, defined that sound.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Of course there's like, other parts but like, nobody else was doing that though.
Miguel: Yeah. In terms of the production, what made it different is, like you said, was the live instrumentation. Because he had used live instruments on the N.W.A. stuff before, like you were saying, but with each album, the samples became less and less and those samples would be replayed. So, on this album is where it all came together and there was like a cohesive theme around it. Whereas on Niggaz4Life, which I think is the best sounding album of all time, of any genre. I don't mean like the raps or the beats or whatever, but the way it sounds. Nothing I've heard, nothing that sounds better than that. But with this album is when he started to incorporate more of the, the funk elements to it.
Now people credit Dre with starting G-funk. He didn't. He made it great, but he didn't actually start it. So G-funk was actually created by Big Hutch, AKA Cold187 from Above The Law. And he said in an interview[5] that when they were working on both Niggaz4Life and their album Black Mafia Life, he went to the video shoot for "Appetite for Destruction" for N.W.A.. He played "Pimp Clinic"[6] and "Never Missing A Beat" for Dre. And Dre was blown away by it. This is all going on at the same time of N.W.A. having their own internal issues. So once they start to break up and fall off, Above The Law, kind of get caught in the middle. Because they ended up losing their record deal when the label found out that Dre wasn't producing it anymore.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: So they're like, all right, we are not gonna put this shit out.
Christina: Were they on Ruthless too?
Miguel: They were signed to Ruthless, but they were distributed by Sony, I believe, and part of the contract said that Dre had to produce half of the album.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: He's gone. He's starting Death Row over here. Sony's like, if Dre ain't here, what we need you for? And they [Above The Law] spent two years trying to get another record deal and that's why Black Mafia Life came out after The Chronic. Even though it was finished a year before. So technically he created it, but Dre perfected it. And perfect, he did. Because The Chronic is one of the greatest albums of all time.
Christina: Because I think the biggest difference in comparing the, the pre-Chronic stuff, the N.W.A. stuff to The Chronic is, not only is the sound is a little different, It's more laid back.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: It's a little slower. It's the kind of, as we always joke around, elbows up, kinda music.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Make you wanna put some chucks on and point your toes out.
Miguel: And it was stuff that people were listening to in L.A. Like, playing in their car. Somebody's always playing some old Parliament-Funkadelic stuff. So to actually not just sample it, but to replay it is what gave it that feel. Because as we all know, live instrumentation just feels different than sample music.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And I believe that's why it hit the way it did. And Dre says that he was inspired[7] by The Low End Theory from A Tribe Called Quest because they had a lot of live instrumentation on that as well. Ironically, Q-Tip says that they were inspired to make Low End Theory by listening to Straight Outta Compton. So it all kind of ties together, this whole music thing.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But the live instrumentation was an issue for a lot of record execs 'cause he said he was shopping that album to a bunch of labels before Interscope finally said yes. And everybody was like, nobody wants to hear this live instrumentation. What are you doing? This is terrible.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: And he says he's sitting on a balcony talking to Nate Dogg, and is like, I don't think this shit is gonna work.
Christina: Was it because people were still kind of stuck in like the late '80s, that electro pop sound?
Miguel: Not even the electro pop sound, but everything was sample based still.
Christina: True. Well, rap was heavily sample based.
Miguel: Yeah. Because at this point, we're just getting to the point where people are suing for credit and sample recognition and whatnot.
Christina: So, shouldn't they be happy that he has live instrumentation versus sampling?
Miguel: It was still the wild, wild west and nobody had done it yet, so. They're like, this is wack. We don't want this. And then once "Deep Cover" comes out, the "G Thang" comes out and everybody's got egg on their face afterwards.
So, what are your favorite songs from the album?
Christina: I think it's gonna have to be "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang." And actually, let me just pull up the track list. There are some other ones, but now I can't remember off the top of my head.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: But I'm definitely more familiar with the first half of the album.
Miguel: Yeah, the first half basically, that's where all the singles were.
Christina: That's probably why. Well, "Fuck wit Dre Day."
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Mm. I like "Let Me Ride," but not as much as some of the other ones.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: There's one more. Maybe there isn't one. [Singing] "Little ghetto boy." Yeah, I say that's it actually.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Those are the main ones. But yeah, "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang," because you have the little intro melody, and then you have Snoop just coming in, all laid back.
Miguel: Rapping all slow.
Christina: "One, two, three and to the four." Okay. This is different.
Miguel: Well, for me it's "Dre Day." And we were talking about this the other day, and I always forget this, and I'm sure most other people do too. We know that he's talking shit about Tim Dog and Luke, but everybody forgets that he's talking shit about Ice Cube on this song too, because it's just a little love tap at the end of it. And I always forget that because even when I was giving you songs to listen to, I was telling you about, listen out for the Tim Dog and the Luke stuff, and completely forgot about the—"with the chrome to the side of his White Sox hat" and "trying to check my homie, you best check yourself" and all that stuff. And the irony of it is that was the second single from the album. Third single was "Let Me Ride." Ice Cube was in that video[8].
Christina: They worked it out.
Miguel: So I need to know what the conversation was between "Dre Day" coming out and being asked to be in the "Let Me Ride" video.
Christina: I think it's hilarious that Snoop was just all in, in this beef that he wasn't really a part of. It was just like, hey, if my friend doesn't like you, I don't like you.
Miguel: Basically.
Christina: We gonna ride on this lie.
Miguel: It's party over here, fuck you over there. Yeah, he went all in with his loyalties.
Christina: Is he just like, I'm riding with Dre and if this is what he wants, then?
Miguel: Dre put me on and if he got a problem with N.W.A., we got a problem with N.W.A..
Christina: Exactly.
Miguel: Tim Dog put out a song called, "Fuck Compton." Compton is right next to Long Beach. Fuck Tim Dog. So, yeah, he's a loyal soldier as they say.
Christina: Mm-hmm. Well, just looking at some of the samples that they did end up using, and it's no surprise that this was perfect for you because you listen to a lot of Parliament and Funkadelic and stuff like that.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So, now you have this stuff that you grew up listening with, mixed in with like, this new stuff that you like.
Miguel: Yeah, I vividly remember playing this album, going to high school basketball games.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: This was our traveling music. Basically, we would have a boombox in the back of the bus playing this, going to different games or coming home from practice and whatnot. This was the soundtrack to basically my senior year of high school.
Christina: You talking about your senior year of high school, I'm like, I'm just starting high school.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So, I probably shouldn't have been listening to this. Especially with some of those dumb ass skits.
Miguel: Oh yeah.
Christina: Dr. Dre skit, and all that.
Miguel: There's a lot of things that we shouldn't have been listening to at those ages, but we did anyway.
Christina: We did.
Miguel: And we're better people for it, I think.
All right, so. What do you think the impact of The Chronic was on the sound of hip hop? I know what the answer is, but as someone who wasn't— well, you were alive for it, but you weren't in it. What are your feelings on it?
Christina: I wasn't in it and I had no real frame of reference for it. I was discovering rap and hip hop. I didn't have any knowledge of like, the musical influences, like Parliament and stuff. So for me it's just like brand new. So, The Chronic came out in '92. And between like the late '80s up to about '93 was when I was still, figuring it out.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So, I did listen to The Chronic, but I mostly just listened to the singles. So, the impact of The Chronic for me was more what came after it, or because of The Chronic. So, the Doggystyle album, I listened to a lot.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: The Regulate album I listened to a lot.
Miguel: Yes. I think we've mentioned on this before, about your G-funk era t-shirt.
Christina: And so much so that I had a G-funk era t-shirt made for me.
Miguel: And I don't think we've posted that photo yet, either.
Christina: We have not.
Miguel: We need to do that.
Christina: I went to the local t-shirt shop and I picked out the font, you know that font.
Miguel: Airbrush?
Christina: No, no. It wasn't airbrush. It was like that, um, you know, the like almost like a Roman font?
Miguel: Yes, the old English.
Christina: And it was stitching.
Miguel: Oh, I thought it was like, iron on or something.
Christina: No it was stitched.
Miguel: Okay, so you paid the big bucks for it.
Christina: I designed it myself too.
Miguel: All right. We need to find this photo and post it—
Christina: I got it somewhere.
Miguel: Of you wearing the, the G-funk era t-shirt.
Christina: I think we might have to make it again though. [gasps] Yeeeeah.
Miguel: I think we should.
Christina: Let's do it.
Miguel: All right. I'm with it. I am with it.
Christina: Oooh, maybe I should make a new one and then we could recreate it.
Miguel: I think so. I think we should do this.
Christina: Oh, I'm not wearing that dumb ass hat again though.
Miguel: Oh, yes you are.
Christina: All right, all right. Maybe I'll wear the T-shirt, but I, I don't know about the hat. Anyway. So, I think for me it's one of those things where we talk about this a lot, where sometimes we're fans of people, but we don't know that we are.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Because, maybe they do a lot of work behind the scenes like production work or songwriting.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Like, how we discovered that Faith was all over the Usher album because at the time we didn't know who she was. Or like, I didn't know who James Fauntleroy was for the longest time, and then I realized he's written like 80% of my favorite songs. Maybe not 80, but like, you know?
Miguel: A lot.
Christina: Like, I always knew who Dr. Dre was, but I didn't realize at the time that his work had such an impact on the music that I liked.
Miguel: Right. The thing for me, after The Chronic came out and Doggystyle came out, everybody's production style changed. Well, I shouldn't say everybody because that would be a lie, but a lot of people's production style changed. Trying to emulate and mimic The Chronic. It doesn't matter who you are or where you were from. East coast. West coast, down south. Everybody was trying to have some sort of funky type, laid back, live instrumentation, beat with the little funky worm playing throughout it. For example, I like Da Brat. I'm a fan, but Funkdafied, is just a watered down version of The Chronic and Doggystyle.
Christina: I like Funkdafied.
Miguel: I do too. I do too. I'm a fan of Jermaine Dupri. I like his work, but it's a blatant ripoff of what Dre and Snoop were doing at the time. And he's not the only one. Everybody was doing this. His own stepbrother, Warren G. I like Warren G. It's a knockoff.
Christina: Dre didn't work on his album?
Miguel: He did one song.
Christina: Oh.
Miguel: One song, but Warren G produced pretty much all of it himself.
Christina: But see, Warren G was basically an intern for the longest time.
Miguel: Yeah. So—
Christina: He got to learn from him.
Miguel: He was there.
Christina: Yeah. They made him work for it.
Miguel: Yeah. Like Ice Cube's "You Know How We Do It?" That's a Dre knockoff.
Christina: I guess.
Miguel: So ,everybody was doing it. It shifted the sound of hip hop and rather than people trying to take it and do something different, people were trying to emulate this sound and recreate it and strike gold for themselves. It didn't really work until people started to branch out and do their own thing. But the first two years after, everybody was trying to emulate Dre.
Christina: It also changed R&B.
Miguel: It did.
Christina: Cause you had G-funk style R&B too.
Miguel: Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me."
Christina: Mm-hmm.
Miguel: That's a perfect example. So, it just changed music in general, at least urban music.
Christina: We talk about this a lot, how, rap has lost a lot of its regionality.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Even though you're saying, well, like Jermaine Dupri did it and other people did it, but it felt very, this is West Coast.
Miguel: Yes, it did. And that was because of the, like I said, the P-Funk stuff. There weren't many people outside of the West Coast that were doing those types of sounds. Like, early on you had EPMD, Redman. Basically everybody in the Hit Squad, Def Squad crew, they made music that sounded like they were from California, which is probably why they got over in LA because, "You Gots To Chill"[9] sounds like a record that a L.A. dude would make, but it's not. It's EPMD . So a lot of those acts were incorporating funk and whatnot, but it was very rare for people outside of California to be doing that.
Christina: Because I definitely miss regionality. Actually, I don't know if it's regionality that I miss or if it's just variety.
Miguel: I think it's both. It's not gonna happen, but I think we could get back to each region having a sound. Rather than people from New York sounding like they're from Atlanta. And Houston rappers rapping like they're from New York.
Christina: Because I feel like rap now, I don't know if we're getting a little off topic. There's two styles. There's the Migos cadence. [mimics the sound]
Miguel: Right.
Christina: And then there's the sing-songy, autotune rap. I don't know if it's just as an old head and I don't know enough anymore.
Miguel: I think it might be one of those situations where you play a sound and only people of a certain age[10] can hear that.
Christina: Like a dog whistle? But music.
Miguel: Yeah, like, a dog whistle. But if you're between the ages of 20 and 40.
Christina: It all sounds the same.
Miguel: You're not gonna hear it. It's like Lanny and Laurel,[11] whatever that sound was from a couple—
Christina: Oh yeah. One of these viral videos.
Miguel: Yeah. All right, we getting way off topic.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: So to wrap all this up. I know we didn't get too deep into the album and we just kind of skimmed over just to talk about it a little bit, if there's anything that you would recommend for someone to listen to, either before The Chronic or a song on The Chronic, what would it be?
Christina: I would say to listen to the N.W.A. albums first. Just so that you can kind of hear what it started like and the beginnings of what eventually became The Chronic, I guess. So it's really different for me now listening to the N.W.A. albums and then listening to The Chronic. Whereas when I was younger, I went straight into The Chronic. So I would recommend going back so that you can see his, um...
Miguel: Progression.
Christina: Progression. Yes.
Miguel: Okay. I agree with that. If you've never really dove into Dr. Dre, go back to the beginning and then work your way all the way up through his last album, Compton, in 2015. That would be my suggestion.
Christina: And it's not that hard to go through Dre's albums 'cause he only has three.
Miguel: Yeah. He's only got three.
Christina: Now if you going through produced by Dre, that's gonna take you a lot longer.
Miguel: Yeah, it's gonna take you a while, but he's got three solo albums and three albums with N.W.A. and an EP, so you can get through that pretty quickly. All right. So that's all I have. Do you have anything you would like to say before we get out here?
Christina: Mmmm... just when I was revisiting some of these old songs, I was watching the music videos. And I miss those very realistic looking house party and beach party videos. These look like, you know, regular folks. They have, you know, a few girls that have obviously been casted.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: To stand in the front looking pretty and stuff. But the majority of the folks in video, I'm like, oh, I kind of miss this like, non glossy, just bunch of people at a house party. I remember watching them as a kid, like, I wanna go to a house party.
Miguel: So bring back house party videos.
Christina: Like, real house party videos.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Those extras are probably not being paid.
Miguel: And it's not filmed in a mansion.
Christina: It's not filmed in a mansion. They told their friends to tell their friends...
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: To come here and we're just gonna have a party and record it.
Miguel: It was filmed at a house in Long Beach.
Christina: There's five girls who've been casted, but everyone else is just there.
Miguel: Yeah. Uh, I don't have anything to add, so I think we can wrap up on that note.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: And this has been the 30th anniversary of The Chronic, so go out and listen to that. Lemme think. Yeah.
Christina: What you doing? Some quick maths?
Miguel: No, I'm trying to remember if it's still available on streaming services, but it's not because—
Christina: It isn't.
Miguel: Snoop has bought Death Row and taken everything off for the moment.
Christina: Well, the other Dre albums are, but it's easy to find on YouTube if you don't have the CD laying around.
Miguel: Yeah. So I still had mine so I was able to dig it up and listen to it. And on that note, I think we out.
Christina: We out.
Miguel: Bye.
Christina: [sings] Smoke weed every day.