Dr. Dre has made a startling admission about his seminal album The Chronic, revealing that he had to be “talked into” recording the record and that it wasn’t even his idea.
The renowned producer admitted that the turbulent final years of N.W.A forced him to start separating himself from the group when he sat down with Kevin Hart for his Hart To Heart series on Peacock.
The bond was strained because of the involvement of money and business, according to Dre. “I had to keep my distance from [Eazy-E] because he chose to go in a different direction. I’m alone out here because [Ice] Cube already departed. I have no notion in the world what I’m going to do. I simply know I possess this gift.
Dre continued by claiming that The D.O.C., a close friend and partner, had persuaded him to begin working on his solo debut album by telling him that he only needed to enter the studio and begin producing.
He said, “A good friend of mine, let’s call him D.O.C., got me into doing the Chronic album. “I was talked into doing it; it wasn’t my choice. I just jumped in there because I thought it was a life or death situation at the time.
The Chronic was released by Dr. Dre on December 15, 1992. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and produced “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” (No. 2) and “Dre Day” (No. 8), two top 10 Hot 100 hits. The song “Let Me Ride,” meanwhile, brought Dre his first Grammy Award.
The album is widely acknowledged with upgrading the sound of Hip Hop and helping the West Coast unseat New York as the genre’s dominating territory at the time, as well as inspiring future generations of rappers. This is in addition to its economic success and critical acclaim.
The owner of Beats By Dre previously discussed The D.O.C.’s effect on The Chronic during a guest appearance on Dolvett Quince’s Workout The Doubt podcast last summer, where he revealed he initially didn’t plan on rapping on the CD at all.
“The D.O.C., my friend, talked me into getting on the mic and actually doing that thing,” he added. I wasn’t going to speak on the microphone before then. My first solo album, The Chronic, was going to be something I just sat back and produced. What I intended to do was that.
The D.O.C.’s influence on culture has long been admired. He has written numerous singles for the N.W.A, Eazy-E, and Dre. In 1989, his solo album No One Can Do It Better was a triumph. The Texas native’s growing solo career was all but ended when his vocal cords were damaged in a vehicle accident a few months after the album’s release.
