Rap icon Dr. Dre is set to unleash his classic debut album "The Chronic" across all streaming platforms on April 20.
In a statement released yesterday, April 9, eOne's Global President for Music & Live Chris Taylor said that fans will now "have another reason to celebrate on what has become a national holiday," referring to the cultural 4/20. Taylor compared working with the Death Row materials as like working with music legends Elvis, Chuck Berry, and The Beatles. He further explained that these "historic artifacts" should be made available to all so they can experience "the brilliance of this seminal work."
"These historic artifacts should be heard by all music lovers and we are so happy has opened this door so everyone can experience the brilliance of this seminal work."
For the last five years, Dr. Dre's landmark work was exclusively available on Apple Music following a $3 billion dollar partnership with Apple. Now as eOne obtains the Death Row Records catalogue, fans can now stream the 16-track magnum opus on Spotify and TIDAL.
"The Chronic" was first released in 1992 under Death Row Records and later distributed by Interscope Records. It marks Dr. Dre's first major work after leaving the hip-hop group N.W.A. and Ruthless Records because of a financial dispute.
Dr. Dre's debut album reached number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling more than three million copies in the United States alone. The G-funk pioneering work included rap tracks "Let Me Ride" and "Nothin' But a G Thang," which peaked second on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped both the Hot R&B Singles and Hot Rap Singles charts.
Aside from its successful sales performance, "The Chronic" is also notable for featuring a number of rising hip-hop artists at the time such as Daz Dillinger, Lady of Rage, Warren G, D.O.C., and RBX. Snoop Dogg, who featured in the title track and a couple of other songs in the album, would also launch his own successful solo career afterwards.
Dr. Dre, born Andre Romelle Young, started breaking into the mainstream as a part of the hip-hop group N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). He was among the infamous rap team, which also included Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E, recognized as among the pioneers of the gangsta rap genre, using explicit lyrics.
Over his three-decade career in music, Dr. Dre has won six Grammy Awards and has been recognized by Rolling Stone as among its "100 Greatest Artists of All Time." As a music producer, he has created albums and helped launch the career of other hip-hop stars such as 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, The Game, Anderson .Paak, and Kendrick Lamar.
Dr. Dre also made a couple of film appearances, starting with the 1996 heist film "Set it Off." It was followed by the 2001 movies "The Wash," together with DJ Pooh and Snoop Dogg and featured appearances from Eminem and Ludacris, and "Training Day" starring Denzel Washington.
After his successful solo career starting with "The Chronic," Dr. Dre became the founder of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, the latter being a billion-dollar Apple subsidiary famous for speakers and headphones. After the popular "Beats by Dr. Dre," Beats Electronics also produced Heartbeats by Lady Gaga and Diddy Beats.
