Dr. Dre 'The Chronic' - Collection

[bd94s10]

I am big on collecting everything from cassettes, CDs, magazines, vinyl, etc. I've been collecting pretty much 3/4 of my life. The Chronic dropped when I was 14 years old (turned 14 Nov '92) and it quickly became my favorite Hip Hop album of all time. Below is some of my collection in both images. The large collection image is from Dec 2023 but still did not include everything.

What else in your opinion could Death Row / Aftermath / Interscope release related to this album (I saw aftermath as Dre has been clear that he owns The Chronic and the latest release of the album has an Aftermath logo on it)? The longbox CD a few years back for Record Store Day blew me away. Never in my lifetime did I think I'd see a longbox release of the album. It will probably never happen but it would be cool to see bonus material drop featuring all the alternate mixes including Puffin' on Blunts and Drankin' Tanqueray b-side track - it was of course a b-side and turned up on various best of Death Row releases). Also, the Lil' Ghetto Boy cassette single seems very rare. Searching the internet makes it seem non existent however I've seen some collectors on Instagram who have a copy which can be seen here https://www.discogs.com/release/8538571-Dr-Dre-Lil-Ghetto-Boy-Dre-Day/image/SW1hZ2U6MjMxNjUwODM=

The Wide Awake Chronic Re-Lit dropped in Sept '09 and the Chronic DualDisc dropped 11.22.2005 (DVD Audio is 16 bit at 48khz. Lossy master.) and that might be all we get though besides the normal re-presses: https://www.discogs.com/release/644594-Dr-Dre-The-Chronic

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr"description">

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr">

The G Thang single import was one of my favorite items from The Chronic due to the huge leaf on the front and Daniel Jordan's iconic Dre and Impala image on the back.

In fact I even figured out where the famous "lowrider" photo was taken thanks to the photographer Daniel Jordan. More on that here:https://youtube.com/watch?v=XmUyCefeTrM

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr" alt="description">

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr" alt="description">

Note the autographs are Daniel Jordan who took the iconic photos of Dr. Dre for The Chronic album.

Peace,
Jason "ODB" Ballard

[k1000]

and u got a "Goonies" vhs too 

[Fonky Fresh]

They could release footage on dvd/bluray of the chronic tour, i know it was halted pretty quick (Snoop Dogg's murder case). I doubt the quality will be pristine

[bd94s10]

Agree on The Chronic Tour. The HHC mag has a write-up on the tour. I'll have to share it here for those that haven't seen it. Ironically my buddy John and I had front row tickets to the Tampa, FL show. He was friends with a person at the radio station and won all kinds of stuff. He called and won the front row tickets. I'm still waiting for him to unearth them as I want to add to my collection. I do have a few backstages passes I've acquired over the years.

The Chronic Masters stuff seemed to be dud for the most part. I bought 1 skate deck, a shirt and a few small things... but the photos and "replica" master cases was sort of weird to me due to the high cost.

LOL on The Goonies. No doubt. I'm a huge fan. Before I got into West Coast Hip Hop via NWA, CMW, etc. I was a straight up 80s kid. Really still am. Grew up watching Steven Spielberg films such as Goonies, BTTF, etc.

[Sccit]

super dope

[Soopafly DPGC]

Dre has said he’s not proud of his earlier music and wanted to own the rights to make sure no one released any of his old death row stuff. He has no interest in releasing anything else associated with The Chronic.

[The Predator]

Agree on The Chronic Tour. The HHC mag has a write-up on the tour. I'll have to share it here for those that haven't seen it.

Still got that issue somewhere, not in mint condition like in the pic'...I remember The Chronic era was in full swing at that time.

Nice collection by the way, i noticed the ash-tray 

Add '187 Deep Cover' and 'Let Me Ride' singles to further complete the set.

[dnjp4life]

Impressive collection man, can tell that The Chronic is your favourite album ever.

I bet if Dr. Dre saw this himself he would be taken aback by your dedication 

(By the way, are a couple of those signed by Dre himself?).

[bd94s10]

Thanks everyone. I agree on Dre wanting to pretty much "move ahead" from that era. I've heard in interviews he says it just kind of conjures up bad times (not in those words lol). I do think what we got from WIDEawake was prob all we will see but.... I was still blown away when the longbox dropped. I liked it but I thought... now who came up with this idea....

Thanks everyone! The signatures are Daniel Jordan who took the photos of Dre. I helped him with something and through a mutual friend he signed a few items for me. It's a long story that I think I cover in one of my videos on my YT Channel... there was confusion and the photographer Michael Benabib (who ironically shot the images of Dre on the cover of HHC and others) had a post up saying he shot The Chronic images... Daniel Jordan didn't know this and he contacted him and Michael realized his mistake. I guess he thought all these years it was his images on the album but it wasn't lol. These are more of the images he took of Dr. and Snoop which if I recall correctly included the 187 single - https://michaelbenabib.com/dr-dre-young-90s-hip-hop-archive

Thanks and I met Kevin Donan back in Sept '22. He has roots going back many years in the record industry .. he has a store in LA. He has photos with Eazy-E, Dr. Dre and so many others. I told him I'd love to get something signed by Dre at some point. He has several items signed by him including a plaque in his shop.

I need the Let Me Ride vinyl and def the 187 single. I have Deep Cover soundtrack which I bought on CD shortly after the release....

Pics of me with Kevin Donan and Kevin and Dr. Dre. He deals with test pressings and supplying near perfect vinyl to collectors and various folks in the industry. I spoke to him about an hour and he had all kinds of stories.

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr" alt="description">

<img src="Dr. Dre The Chronic by Jason Ballard, on Flickr"description">

I've got more I'll show in the future as it relates to Death Row Records. I'm working on a new Oakley display case with a ton of stuff. I've pretty much been collecting stuff since nine deuce lol.

[Sccit]

^ siavash and i went over to meet kevin at the shop a couple years ago when we were pushing fatlip vinyl

interesting dude, to say the least lol

[bd94s10]

Sccit, thats dope. He was super cool.

Although this isn't The Chronic I've always loved the Extended remix of Afro Puffs (I know you bobbing your head was used on Keep Their Heads Ringing)

Oh and to bring it back to G Thang... I've always loved the Freestyle of Nuthin' But A G Thang - "Fly through the sky gettin' love" is what Warren G used on his debut album via Super Soul Sis



✌🏽
Jason ODB

[Tony Trey]

Dre has said he’s not proud of his earlier music and wanted to own the rights to make sure no one released any of his old death row stuff. He has no interest in releasing anything else associated with The Chronic.

Well, Dre is a fool then. He doesn't understand what his best work was.

[Soopafly DPGC]

Well, Dre is a fool then. He doesn't understand what his best work was.

Well to be fair, Dre is mainstream now.  A lot of his earlier work was very socially unacceptable these days.  Just Don't Bite It talks about gangbanging a 14 year old and being proud of it.  Other songs talk about beating women, etc.  Dre Day references putting his nutz in someone's mouth.  Laughing about how Eazy E got AIDS.  I don't really think Dre wants to bring those types of songs back to the forefront of his brand at this stage of his career.