By all accounts it was Dre and crew just hanging out in the studio, getting blunted and drunk. Sorta structured on the first half, but the second side is pretty much all "freestyle" battle shit (Lyrical Gangbang, Stranded on Death Row, High Powered)

And, you know, I like sample-based production, which Dre was still very much using on "The Chronic." It didn't matter that De La or Digital Underground or EPMD had sampling funk tracks; did used what he used and also made it sound dope.

If anything, he started to sort of lose me around 2001 (not even counting that "Aftermath" album), where the "soul" seemed to lacking. Everything is clean and immaculately mixed, but it doesn't have as much heart.