The Chronic

The Chronic borrows its look from a packet of rolling papers. The cover is an homage to Zig-Zag, with Dr. Dre's portrait set inside the ornate border where the brand's bearded mascot usually sits, a fitting design for an album named after slang for high-grade cannabis.

The idea had a recent precedent: the cover was heavily inspired by the artwork for Eazy-E's "We Want Eazy" single, which had also been designed as a tribute to Zig-Zag. Art direction and graphic design were by Kimberly Holt, and the photograph of Dre was taken by Daniel Jordan.

The Zig-Zag mascot comes with its own legend, retold by NME: a soldier at the siege of Sevastopol in the 1850s had his clay pipe shot out and rolled his tobacco in paper torn from a gunpowder bag. Released on 15 December 1992 by Death Row, the album popularised G-funk and made its papery sleeve one of the most recognised images of West Coast rap.