"The Prequel Episode" Loren Kajikawa on Dr. Dre's "The Chronic"

Heat Rocks

This is a special "prequel" episode, originally taped in December of 2016. Back then, Heat Rocks was just a mere glint in the eye Morgan and Oliver. All we had was a basic concept: how about a podcast devoted to doing deep dives into an album? We invited Univ. of Oregon musicologist Loren Kajikawa, author of Sounding Race In Rap Songs, to help us tackle one of the most important albums of the last 25 years: Dr. Dre's The Chronic, which just so happens to celebrate its 25th release anniversary today (hence why we timed to put it out now).

For our listeners, you'll notice that while this episode shares some familiar aspects with our regular Heat Rocks shows, there are some differences. For one, we hadn't come up with our format yet, especially in having our guests pick a hot track, sleeper jam, etc. We had also toyed with a little "Context" section - complete with its own jingle! - that we eventually abandoned because it was superfluous (Oliver did have fun making the jingle though). But overall, we think you can easily see the seed of Heat Rocks even in this very early attempt. Hope you all enjoy it and we're so happy to finally share this, one year later.

More on Dr. Dre's The Chronic:

• The Chronic "Track By Track" review in Billboard.
• "How The Chronic Changed Hip Hop Forever" in NME.
• "Dre Ain't Shit: 25 Years On and The Chronic Still Stinks" in Quietus

More on Loren Kajikawa

• His book, Sounding Race In Rap Songs
• "The Hip Hop Prof" article on him in the Oregon Quarterly
• Faculty Profile | Twitter

Show Tracklisting (all songs from The Chronic unless indicated otherwise):

• Fuck Wit Dre Day
• Nuthin' But a G Thang
• Leon Haywood: I Want To Do Something Freaky To You
• Public Enemy: Bring Da Noise
• Above the Law: Livin' Like Hustlers
• Let Me Ride
• The Roach
• NWA: Niggaz 4 Life (From Efil4zaggin)
• Lyrical Gangbang (feat. Lady of Rage and Kurupt)
• Stranded On Death Row (feat. Kurupt and Snoop Dogg)
• Rat-A-Tat-Tat
• Dr. Dre: Deep Cover (feat. Snoop Dogg, from Deep Cover OST)
• Tupac and Snoop Dogg: Amerikaz Most Wanted
• The Day the Niggaz Took Over
• Bitches Ain't Shit

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