Music

As of Dec. 15, 2022, we’ve had 30 years of The Chronic, hip-hop legend Dr. Dre’s breakout solo debut album. That’s three decades of house parties, backyard BBQs, collegiate ragers, beach/lakeside hangouts and slow drives in the sunshine soundtracked by The Chronic and its innovative G-funk sound.

It’s the great unifier. Its funky, silky-smooth live instrumentation with slick guitar and deep bass, inspired by Parliament/Funkadelic and George Clinton, broke down cultural walls; everyone loves The Chronic. It lifted hip-hop to a new echelon of cultural relevancy and set the stage for the next generation of rappers and producers. It crowned Dre atop the industry as its preeminent artist-producer.

The context in which it was created, however, was far rockier.

The Chronic was recorded in the aftermath of the L.A. riots in April 1992—vocal samples from people on the streets were used on tracks like “The Day the N–gaz Took Over” and “Lil’ Ghetto Boy.” And its lyrics captured the world that then surrounded Dre and his crew – drugs, guns, gangs and overt misogyny (which can make The Chronic uncomfortable to revisit given the rapper’s public admission of beating women as a young man, including his attack on TV host Dee Barnes in 1991. Dre has since apologized for his actions).

Then there was Dre’s beef (over a financial dispute) with his N.W.A collaborator Eazy-E, Ruthless Records and its co-founder Jerry Heller. Dre got his start by co-producing N.W.A’s 1988 album, Straight Outta Compton. But by the early ‘90s—following public insults from N.W.A member Ice Cube on his brutal diss track “No Vaseline”—Dre wanted out. He wanted to join up with Death Row Records, the notorious label owned by former football player/rap don Suge Knight. Dre took aim at Eazy on the tracks “F-k Wit’ Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” and “B-tches Ain’t Sh-t,” among others. It was a tense time.

Dre doesn’t have such fond memories of that era: That’s “the toughest record that I’ve recorded in my career,” he told BigBoyTV. “I was in survival mode.” And with “all the things that were happening in the studio during the making, it was crazy. During that process, my house burned down, I was shot in the legs, and I was in the studio on crutches for a couple of weeks. So, it was a lot that went into that record. It was blood, sweat, and beers that went into it, you know what I mean?”

When The Chronic dropped on Dec. 15, 1992, however, it paid off. The Chronic produced three top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (where it spent eight months in the chart’s top 10) and won the Grammy Award for best rap solo performance (“Let Me Ride”).

The Chronic also introduced his clique of collaborators to the world: Snoop Dogg, who appears on 11 of its 16 tracks, plus Nate Dogg, Warren G, Kurupt, The D.O.C., Daz Dillinger, RBX and The Lady of Rage. Snoop, in particular, captured attention with his lyrical, laid-back flow, further focusing the attention of the hip-hop world on Los Angeles and Death Row Records.

And for Dre, it kicked his career into overdrive, beginning a string of hits that continued with artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, Kendrick Lamar and others. This would ultimately lead him into tech (Beats By Dre, Apple), film (Straight Outta Compton) and sports (the 2022 Super Bowl performance) on his way to become one of richest artists on earth.

The Chronic redefined the West Coast sound, which up to that point, was aggressive, in-your-face, abrasive and less accessible. By packaging the gangsta lifestyle in funkier, smoother sounds, Dre’s G-funk lifted hip-hop out of the inner city and gifted it to the rest of the world.

The album’s legacy continues to inspire artists far and wide. To celebrate its 30th birthday, let’s revisit and rank The Chronic’s 16 tracks.

Druski is on the verge of revolutionizing what it means to be a comedian in the era of social media. What started as a dream of becoming a star turned into reality for the Atlanta, Georgia native, and it only took him five years to reach the highest point in his field.

So many people have tried their hand at making others laugh on Twitter and Instagram, and those who succeeded — like Druski — were tasked with figuring out what to do next.

In Druski’s world, the answer to that question lies in his upcoming Coulda Woulda Shoulda stand-up comedy tour, which he announced last week. The 30-venue trek has Druski bringing the laughs to New York, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and more cities, and it’s something he knew had to happen if he was going to level up his craft.

“I think the idea started to cement itself in my mind when I was hosting shows on music tours for J. Cole and Chris Brown and Lil Baby,” Druski tells Billboard. “It’s like this is my time to shine and finally step into that spotlight. I could continue doing stuff on social media forever, or I could jump somewhere else and prove I’m more than just an Internet star.”

Stand-up comedy is a different beast than social media videos, and Druski is fully equipped for it. As the comedian explains, he got his first taste of the big stage as an opener on J. Cole’s 2021 The Off-Season Tour, with the same thing happening a year later on Chris Brown and Lil Baby’s One of Them Ones Tour this past summer.

Both of those events were eye-opening, in that Druski knew what people wanted to see and that only fueled the creation of his own major show. Of course, not every joke was a hit, and he bombed in a few cities — but he needed that to happen, since part of the process of stand-up comedy is audience interaction. Druski has millions of people tuning into his content on social media, but that’s nothing compared to being with those same people in person.

“You have to put in the work, and you can’t really go outside of what that work is,” he says. “You have to go to all these comedy clubs and theaters and bomb. You have to go do what the greats did in order to get to that level. You can’t really skip that step — and I think a lot of people now get so much so early. Like, you get your fan base before you even get to a live show.

He continues: “The biggest question is always, ‘Can he make us laugh in person?’ I want to show the world that I can do that, and I’m gonna have people come to these shows and have them die laughing in real-time.”

Everyone in Druski’s family had comedic potential: His grandfather is a prankster, his mother is funny all-around, and his father lives and breathes dark humor. Once it began to click in his mind that he was a naturally funny person himself, Druski knew comedy would be a part of his life forever — so it made perfect sense that he embraced it head-on.

At first, the comedian’s goal was to find a way to get on television, and he believed he needed a lane in sports broadcasting. That didn’t go far, especially because people kept telling him how funny he was all the time. After some self-reflection, and studying interviews of stars like JAY-Z, Will Smith, Kevin Hart and Steve Harvey, Druski realized these people found success by focusing on what they’re good at and locked in on getting better.

“I was skipping class at Georgia Southern just to watch all those interviews in my crappy apartment, and I paid attention to every little thing they said and applied it to my life,” he adds. “I think that played a big role in me dropping out of college and taking a chance at going down a path that I knew felt right to me.”

Druski obviously chose the right one. In 2017, he began releasing comedy skits on his old Druski2funny Instagram page, and before long, opportunities began to present themselves. Fans started seeing Druski all over, from starring in hip-hop music videos with Lil Yachty, Drake and Jack Harlow (Druski is friends with all three) to landing on various cameos in television commercials for brands like Bud Light Seltzer, Beats By Dre, AT&T and Mountain Dew.

And though Druski values his relationships, everything has come from a pure and genuine place, especially his friendships with Drake and Harlow. The BFF bond between Druski and the latter hitmaker includes Thanksgiving dinners at the rapper’s house, to even a shared Complex cover story from last year. “We’re working on a movie together right now behind the scenes,” says the comedian. As for his bond with Drizzy, Druski compares their initial link-up to “meeting the president.”

“I’m sitting in a room, and they’re like, ‘Drake will come and talk to you.’ People are coming in and checking on me and I’m like, ‘Alright. Where’s he at?’ He comes in with like a fleet of security — but you smell this dude before he even walks in the room. So I’m like, ‘What the hell is that smell? Like, the whole room has this heavenly smell to it. Cologne don’t even smell like that. I’m like, ‘What the hell? Did they spray something in this whole room?’” 

Druski’s affinity for music will continue to inform his expansive nation-wide tour. Fans can expect an event full of laughs, and longer segments of his popular Coulda Been Records Instagram Live show, where local people can get on stage with him and get their “15 minutes of fame” with whatever talent they have.

If that weren’t enough, Druski also reveals Coulda Been Records will be turning into an actual label very soon, where he’ll actually sign artists to a deal. The hilarious platform is also in the process of receiving its own TV show.   

“I knew that if I kept working, my time was coming,” Druski says with confidence. “I won’t stop until I’m the biggest star in the world — like the ones I looked up too, like Eddie Murphy and Kevin Hart. I want a long-standing career in stand-up, movies, TV, everything. This is just the beginning.”