2001 is the second studio album by American rapper and producer Dr. Dre. It was released on November 16, 1999, by Interscope Records as the follow-up to his 1992 debut album The Chronic. The record was produced primarily by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, as well as Lord Finesse, and features several guest contributions from fellow American rappers such as The . Hittman, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit, Eminem, and Nate Dogg.
The same article mentions Chronic 2001, Dr. Dre and Dr. Dre 2001 as other names that were considered. On the album’s content, Dr. Dre told The New York Times: Everything you hear is planned. It’s a movie, with different varieties of situations. This album was going to be called Chronic 2000 until Priority Records (who had become Death Row’s new distributor) decided in cohesiveness with Suge to call their Deathrow Compilation album Chronic 2000. Deathrow owned the trademark for The Chronic, as did Interscope Records, who previously distributed Death Row Records. Shortly after Death Row’s Chronic 2000 release, Dr. Dre changed the name of this album to Chronic 2001 and a big budget promotional campaign began. Suge was tipped off about the name of Dr. Dre’s album since notification of the trademark use was required by Aftermath Records.
