Dr. Dre‘s groundbreaking 1992 LP, The Chronic, has made a historic leap to streaming platforms and is now available to listeners across services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL. The iconic release has largely evaded digital services since Dre’s 2011 triumph in a lawsuit against Death Row Records that ruled that the producer had the right to individually decide the album’s distribution format.
Dre elected to make The Chronic available only physically, and the LP consequently remained digitally inaccessible until 2015, when Dre partnered with Apple Music to The Chronic to stream on the platform following its launch.
Now, at long last, The Chronic, which features landmark releases such as “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” and “Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” is digitally accessible, and will be honored with a “420 smoke-in celebrating the availability of The Chronic everywhere,” presented by Snoop Dogg. At 4:20 p.m. PST (7:20 p.m. EST) listeners can tune in to Merry Jane’s Instagram live story (@MerryJane) to watch DJ Snoopadelic spin a live DJ set in homage to The Chronic’s full streaming debut.
Dr. Dre’s digital release of The Chronic follows the album’s recent induction in the Library of Congress‘ archives. Light up and listen below.
Featured image: Marilyn Chung/The Desert Sun