DR DRE Vinilo y CD

Review: Where does Dr Dre's 1992 masterpiece, The Chronic, rank in the list of hip-hop's greatest albums? It's certainly up there with the most significant sets of the '90s, delivering as it does a brilliant blend of re-imagined, 'gangsta rap' era G-funk beats (Dre giddily drew not only on his own West Coast synth-funk heritage, but also samples from classic cuts by, amongst others, Malclom McLaren, Parliament, George Clinton, James Brown and Bill Withers) and on-point raps from a veritable who's who of Death Row Records-affiliated rappers - most notably Warren G, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, The Lady of Rage, Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. Now fully remastered and bundled with - fittingly - with some branded rolling papers, The Chronic is a genuine classic that deserves a place in everyone's music collection.

Review: Alongside De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Dr Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic, is one of the few hip-hop sets that genuinely changed the genre in the months and years after it was released. Three decades on from its original release, it has lost none of its allure - as this celebratory reissue proves. Built on distinctive 'G-funk' beats that heavily reference his hero, George Clinton, a wealth of killer samples, and raps from the cream of the then West Coast scene (his old pal Snoop Dogg is the most prominent voice throughout), it's a kaleidoscopic and sonically vibrant excursion that's every bit as essential now as it was back in 1993.

Review: First things first: the world has come a long way in its attitude to women since this album was first released, so in 2019, 2001 sounds - at least lyrically - wrong on many levels. But it is also still very right when it comes to g-funk, west coast rap and second wave hip hop sounds. Listening to it from start to finish is to spend 90 minutes as a fly on the wall of the lives of Snoop, Dre, Eminem and all the rest of the high profile guests. Jam packed with classics and gold standards, this is an album of its time but one that was never bettered.