DJ Clark Kent was recently a guest on Angie Martinez's Warner Music podcast, Iconic Records, where he offered his opinion on where Dr. Dre's 1992 album, The Chronic, stands among Hip-Hop's classics.
“If you look at every album that you think is a classic album, like the real classics, the NWA’s, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg first album, A Tribe Called Quest joint, Slick Rick’s album… Chronic. I can’t even put The Chronic before I put Snoop Dogg’s [first] album," the producer said. "Snoop Dogg’s album is better than The Chronic. It definitely is. That’s not even a question.”
He continued with his analysis of what makes a classic record. “What I’m saying is, if you take a second and listen to all of those albums, Reasonable Doubt, Life After Death, Ready To Die, they’re the same album. All of these albums do the same thing. They begin, they hold you in the middle, they hug you, and then they end. That’s what classic albums do. But you gotta have great songs that make that thing happen. If you don’t…. you’ll get one song that doesn’t hit properly, you done took yourself out of the classic thing because if you can skip, you ain’t got a a classic. That’s why I won’t say The Chronic is a classic. Because I can skip [‘High Powered’ featuring] RBX.”