Day 0718 - The Chronic

Dr. Dre "The Chronic" (1992)

Dre left N.W.A. and teamed up with Suge Knight to create Death Row Records (which got off to a running start with classic albums from Dre, Snoop and eventually Tupac) and released his first solo album.

Dre's production created the genre known as 'G-Funk', slow P-Funk style grooves with deep sludgy bass and high lead-synth parts.  Dre would often re-record the source material rather than just sample the original recordings, and the lyrical approach of this new genre was confrontational and 'raw'.

I know that rap beefs are part of the fabric of the genre, but so much of that feels a bit petty and insecure, with shots being fired at some of Dre's old N.W.A. associates (Eazy E in particular).  A lot of the rest seems to focus on dicks and balls being people's mouths, or people being on said dicks and balls... to the extent that there's even a track called "Deeez nuuuts".

Whatever my feeling toward the lyrical approach, the album helped launch the production career of Dre, and the rap career of Snoop Dogg before he'd even released an album of his own - though once his debut "Doggystyle" appeared, he cemented that success.

Day 0663 - Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" (1989)

We wrap up the 1980s with another classic rap release.   Oddly, this album was funded via a canny marketing move from Priority Records, who licensed and released an album by the fictional group 'The California Raisins' who had hit it big with their cover of 'Heard it on the Grapevine'.



Eazy E assembled the group of DJs and MCs, and put together an undeniable slice of gangster rap.   Whereas Public Enemy brought their 'wall of noise' and De La Soul, their pop-leaning sample-based tracks, N.W.A. just lay down sparse rhythms with some scratches and a few well-placed sounds and beats-by-Dre (and Yella) to create the backing for Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Mc Ren to rhyme over. 

The tracks are famously aggressive, packed with violence, which the group were accused of glorifying, but as they pointed out, they were just reporting on what life was actually like in their neighbourhood.  The opening salvo of "Straight outta Compton" "Fuck Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set the scene, but the album holds its own throughout the duration.

The mix of the three MCs works really well and adds variety enough to keep things spicey across the album's runtime.