Endless paragraphs have been dedicated to the work that’s resulted from the career of Andre Romelle Young aka Dr. Dre. And while each laudatory citation is unquestionably warranted, at this late date everyone’s just waiting for a full length from the west coast stalwart. It doesn’t seem too much to ask despite his continued and dense production duties for Em and everyone else. But releasing just two proper long players since the end of ’92 doesn’t make for a busy rhyme writing schedule. Whatever the delay – and we’re probably not talking about personal stuff at this point, or are we? – the folks that recently acquired the Death Row catalog have seen fit to reach back and polish off some classics that are now getting close to twenty years old.

First rolling out The Chronic as its flagship re-issue is sensible from a chronological standpoint as well as just plain popularity. The disc was the first big seller on the Death Row imprint, served to introduce Snoop Dogg to the world and apart from Tupac’s releases might be one of the best selling discs from the era. Of course ’92 is far removed from where we are today – in hip hop and culturally. The vast expanse between folks’ world view then and now is probably staggering. And while party album’s usually are timeless, the fact that Dre’s production here represents something untoward at the time it was released makes this new Chronic all the better.

Included in the repacked disc are a few DVDs that hold some in-studio, behind the scenes kinda stuff, but also some detailed liner notes in addition to those re-mastered tracks. But regardless of what Dre and the new Death Row have seen fit to include in this new release even the tracks that didn’t get exorbitant radio play upon the disc’s initial release sound as shocking and engaging as they did seventeen years ago.

“The Day the Niggaz Took Over” with its menacing intro and that slow, slow beat never received the attention it should have – mostly because of its title and what gets discussed here. The song isn’t a celebration of what occurred in the wake of the Rodney King beating, but no one here says that it was wrong. Despite the subject matter – and the well placed KRS One sample – anything being figured over this beat would have been able to scare Middle America. It did, but that didn’t slow sales of the album the first time, nor should it affect the way in which people digest this banger in 2009.

The importance – culturally, socially and musically – of this release can’t be overstated. And while that just sounds like reviewer hyperbole, what happened to hip hop after the release of this disc really took everyone into unchartered territory. Dre was invariably around whatever craziness transpired during the rest of the decade, which may then account for his release schedule, but regardless of that, the producer and emcee has been able to create a massive back catalog of classics. So, if this disc is somehow unfamiliar to you, cop it.