Suge Knight at the Chasen's launch party

See also: The Making of The Chronic
Why The Chronic Is the Greatest Album In Rap History

Today we revisit the launch party for Death Row, held on February 25, 1992 at erstwhile West Hollywood restaurant Chasen's, a swanky eatery that once hosted Oscar parties. Though he was not able to attend because he was locked up, the money man behind Death Row, Michael "Harry O" Harris, received shout-outs throughout the night from performers like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Intended to introduce and legitimatize the fledgling label (an arm of Harris' Godfather Entertainment), the party was ultra lavish.

If you try to remember the late fall of 1992, all you see is smoke. Smoke smoldering from the rubble of post-riot L.A. Smoke sepulchral from the barrels of freshly fired AKs. Smoke swirling from the zigzags of anyone able to purchase the bomb, the real sticky-icky, the chronic.

See also: The Making of The Chronic
Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums

All you hear is The Chronic -- Dr. Dre's perfectly rolled joint, which soon celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Dec. 15, 1992, release.

Dr. Dre's seminal 1992 album, The Chronic, turns 20 next month. Though a sensation upon its release, the raw-but-melodic work's legend has only grown in the ensuing decades, and today seemingly every MC-producer duo fancies itself the next Dre and Snoop Dogg. It has become the most influential rap work ever made, and perhaps even the greatest, as Jeff Weiss argues.

See also: *Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums
*The Chronic: The Greatest Album In Rap History

But it almost never happened. Despite the success Dre had experienced with N.W.A, he was entangled in contractual problems with his former crewmate Eazy-E's label. For that reason, as well as Death Row's dodgy reputation, The Chronic had a hard time finding release. It took the shepherding of renegade upstart Interscope Records, the financing of convicted drug kingpin Michael Harris and the steady hand of Suge Knight, an intimidating former defensive end, to give it life.