The Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre Mash-Up Album Has Arrived

In the new mixtape The DAMN. Chronic, DJ Critical Hype—the same producer who brought us Chance the Dropout—lays Kendrick Lamar verses over classic Dre beats. An official collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre has been a pipe dream of several fans for awhile now. But the dream isn’t completely improbable, considering Dr. Dre acted as executive producer on Kendrick’s (arguably) best album Good Kid, m.A.A.D City and has continued to be an avid supporter of K-Dot’s work.

The DAMN. Chronic isn’t a direct mash-up between K-Dot’s latest and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. K-Dot’s self-titled mashes with Dr. Dre’s production on Eminem’s “My Name Is…,” and elsewhere, Kung Fu Kenny’s “The Heart Pt. 2” blends well with Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang.” The intricate mash-ups also include guest appearances by Jay Rock, Alori Joh, Nate Dogg, and Pusha T. 

“Kendrick has so many flows, voices, and styles, plus Dre beats are really incredible, so I figured it would be dope,” Critical Hype told Pigeons & Planes. “I was determined to make it work, but the truth is it wasn’t easy. A lot of the tempos actually didn’t mix well. It was a lot more work trying to find good mixes. I had to dig deep.”

Though all of The DAMN. Chronic is compelling to the ear, the mash-up’s standout tracks are definitely “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe“—laid over “Forgot About Dre”—and “Average Joe (3 Beat Blend)”, which, as the name suggests, shows how Kendrick’s verse can fit over Dre’s “What’s The Difference,” “The Next Episode,” and “The Watcher.”

DJ Critical Hype received widespread praise for his 2016 mash-up Chance The Dropout, a similar mashup project centered around Chance the Rapper and Kanye West. “The Chance and Kanye tape has a lot of parallels to the Kendrick and Dr. Dre one, so it made sense for my follow up,” he said. “Both pairs come from the same city and were big influences to their younger counterparts early in their careers.” You can stream The DAMN. Chronic below.