Happy 30th Anniversary to Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, originally released November 23, 1993.
Calvin “Snoop Doggy Dogg” Broadus emerged as a can’t miss hip-hop prospect. The tall, lanky, Long Beach resident crept through the hood and delivered a scene-stealing performance on “Deep Cover,” Andre “Dr. Dre” Young’s first post-N.W.A single, in April of 1992. By the end of the year, he was prominently featured on The Chronic, Dre’s genre-redefining cultural phenomenon of a debut album. And nearly one year later, he released Doggystyle, arguably the most anticipated hip-hop album of all time.
Snoop Dogg seemed to have been born for the spotlight, with an aura of charisma that radiates off of him when he talks, let alone when he raps. When he did pick up the mic, he made everything look easy. He utilized a silky, conversational flow that made it seem like his raps just spilled out of him without much effort. Snoop easily did much of the lyrical heavy lifting on The Chronic, featuring front-and-center on most of the album’s singles. He left the audience clamoring for more, demanding a swift follow-up solo project. With Doggystyle, Snoop gave his fans both what they wanted and needed.
The Chronic may be the stronger release overall, but Doggystyle is the better-structured album. While The Chronic features darker, heavier production, Doggystyle’s vibe is more soulful and relaxed. Doggystyle also relies more heavily on live instrumentation rather than sampled material, but the music never feels forced and synthetic. Both albums were the products of weed-filled studio sessions, but while The Chronic was influenced by the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, Doggystyle borrows thematically from Superfly and other Blaxploitation flicks.
“Who Am I?” the album’s first single, is actually the weakest song on Doggystyle, a fairly obvious “Atomic Dog” recreation that’s generic in execution. “Gin and Juice,” the album’s second offering and ostensibly the leadoff track, is a far superior entry. It features one of Snoop Dogg’s all-time great opening lines and one of hip-hop’s all-time great hooks. The song itself depicts Snoop and his friends chilling at a late night party, getting progressively more inebriated and bold as the night progresses. The beat is a classically constructed G-Funk track, constructed from a loop of George McCrae’s “I Get Lifted” and additional wailing synthesizers.
“Tha Shiznit” showcases Snoop’s free-flowing, off-the-cuff riffing over a keyboard-heavy beat. It’s possible that Snoop could be freestyling all three of the song’s verses, as they seem like exercises in word association bolstered by his unique delivery. He makes sure to continue his and Dre’s ongoing beef with Uncle Luke of 2 Live Crew (Dre had been trading barbs with the Miami pioneer since 1990), rapping, “Gotta take a trip to the MIA / And serve your ass with a motherfucking AK.”
“Lodi Dodi” is not my favorite song on Doggystyle, but I can acknowledge its important legacy. In a genre that tended to shun “biting” rhymes, the idea of a rapper recording a cover of another hip-hop song was long considered taboo. “Lodi Dodi” bucked this trend, as Snoop recorded a close word-for-word retelling of Slick Rick’s “La Di Da Di.” Snoop’s cadence and style was clearly influenced by Rick, so the Long Beach rapper decided to pay homage to hip-hop’s master storyteller. Though a few hip-hop covers predated it, “Lodi Dodi” opened the floodgates, and by the mid ’90s, hip-hop covers became en vogue.
“Murder Was the Case” takes the album on a darker turn. The song really isn’t about murder, instead centering on the perils of succumbing to temptation and the irresistible pull of the street life. The narrative that frames the song is Snoop getting gunned down on the street, and then making a deal with the Devil in order to live. The Prince of Darkness promises him limitless riches with one catch: he must give up the gang life. But because this is a deal with Beelzebub, Snoop falls back into the gangsta lifestyle and ends up proverbially serving 25 to life in a maximum-security prison. With his final verse, Snoop does an excellent job depicting prison as hell on earth, devoid of hope and humanity.
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It should be noted that while recording Doggystyle, Snoop was arrested and charged with murder in the death of a Phillip Woldemariam. Prosecutors alleged Snoop played a role in Woldemariam’s death, driving the car when Snoop’s bodyguard, McKinnley Lee, shot and killed the man. Both Snoop and Lee were subsequently acquitted of these charges.
Daz and Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound both play supporting roles throughout much of Doggystyle, as Snoop uses the album to give them their shine like Dre did for him on The Chronic. The pair joins Snoop on “Doggy Dogg World,” a soulful ode to doing what it takes to succeed and watching out for those who’ll stab you in the back. Snoop uses his sing-songy delivery to great effect while Kurupt and Daz manage to sound both suitably aggressive and relaxed. The Dramatics also make an appearance, adding their harmonies to the affair.
Kurupt and Daz also appear on the eerie, synth-driven “Serial Killa,” joining Snoop and fellow veteran of The Chronic, RBX. All four emcees turn in solid performances, rapping about why it’s a folly to step to the Dogg Pound Gangstas. While RBX gets “deep like minds of Minolta,” Kurupt raps, “I see myself in the midst of smoke / Death becomes any n***a that takes me for a joke.”
Tha Dogg Pound also get an entire track to themselves on “For All My N****z and Bitches,” where Snoop forgoes kicking any verses and sticks to just delivering the chorus. The song was very much Kurupt’s coming out party, as he dominates this track, turning in an MVP-worthy performance that earned him the Rhyme of the Month in The Source. He namechecks and pays respect to his influences as he raps, “Fly motherfuckers can’t see Kurupt / Hellraising like Pinhead, beware I’m tearing shit the fuck up / Slow your roll, like your legs was broken / Who’s joking? Rakim never joked, so why should I, loc? / Now that's my idol, check the vital rhyme flow tho / Runnin’ ’em like Flo Jo, stranded on Death Row / Mediocre motherfuckers die cuz I’m servin and / They can’t fuck with or see me I'm mass murderin’.” The Lady of Rage also comes correct, dropping in for a quick eight-bar verse, but she can’t outdo Kurupt’s prolonged lyrical fury.
“Ain’t Not Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None)” is the album’s best-known posse cut, a raunchy romp and perennial audience favorite. Nate Dogg, Kurupt, and Warren G all join Snoop to share their tales of sexual escapades. Nate Dogg’s lead off verse earned him much-deserved fame, and stands as one of his best performances of his career. It being a mid ’90s gangsta rap song, it’s not particularly enlightened in terms of subject matter, as the chorus extols the virtue of “sharing” your female companion with your friends. It’s one of those blissfully ignorant, eminently catchy songs that is a product of the times. It’s both extremely entertaining and fairly cringe-worthy 30 years later.
Snoop finishes up the album in a particularly strong fashion. “Gz and Hustlas” is an off-the-cuff track in the vein of “Tha Shiznit.” During an interview with MTV, Snoop insisted that the song was completely freestyle, and if that’s the case, then I sure wasn’t able to tell.
“Gz Up, Hoes Down” is a brief track that has Snoop utilizing the same stream of consciousness style, effortlessly stringing together words and phrases to state his street bona fides. The song was featured on earlier versions of the album, but was later removed due to sample clearance issues. It’s a shame that it had to be removed, but it helps the album flow from “Gz and Hustlas” to “Pump Pump,” another lyrically and musically belligerent track. Snoop is again in battle mode, mixing his smooth stylings with Jamaican patois. Lil’ Malik of Illegal drops the album’s final verse, in what would be one of the then young rapper’s last real performances of note.
There’s been some speculation for a while that Doggystyle was turned in unfinished, due to Dre’s perfectionism when it came to put. It had already been delayed past a couple of release dates, and distributors and record stores were making rumblings that they were on the brink of cancelling orders. The story goes that as a result, Dr. Dre had to rush through the final production stages, hastily recording skits, and wasn’t able to finish all of the planned tracks for the album. For example, the earliest pressing of the album lists the album’s final track as “The Next Episode,” the sequel to “Nuthin’ But a G Thang.” Unmastered versions of this duet between Snoop and Dre have popped up online. Truthfully, the version that appears on 2001 (1999) is by far superior.
Doggystyle lived up to its hype creatively and commercially. It went quadruple platinum, dominated the airwaves and video play, and turned Snoop Dogg into an international superstar. But as the months and years passed, Snoop Dogg’s career stalled out for a bit after Doggystyle’s release and subsequent success. The problems were due to a myriad of issues, some of which were outside of Snoop’s control.
Snoop’s discography has been prolific yet inconsistent in the 30 years that have followed. He recorded two albums for No Limit Records, and about a dozen others since. He’s released more iconic singles, but often his full albums tend to be overlong endeavors. However, you can’t say Snoop has lacked ambition in the last quarter century. Besides around 10 gangsta rap albums, Snoop has recorded a few R&B/Soul albums, a Reggae-influenced project recorded in Jamaica, and even a gospel album that he released earlier this year.
Overall, Snoop has lived up to the potential he showed on Doggystyle. Though he’s matured in some ways, in others he’s still the tall, lanky emcee that oozes cool confidence, equally able to kick a fierce rhyme, pull your girl, or lay back and puff some good weed. It’s no easy feat to have millions of hip-hop fans expect an artist to deliver something truly special, but Snoop rose to the challenge and made himself a legend in the process.
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Editor's note: this anniversary tribute was originally published in 2018 and has since been edited for accuracy and timeliness.