The West Coast was booming in the early 1990s when, a year after Dr. Dre released The Chronic, another Southern California star named Snoop Doggy Dogg dropped his debut album, Doggystyle. Another blossoming artist in the area, CJ Mac, now names it as one of his favorite albums as he sits down with Soren Baker on Best Albums.
CJ Mac details the scene around the project, including the riots that erupted in Los Angeles after Rodney King was beaten by police officers and the sense of community that the music scene was creating for the people.
“You had Crips and Bloods going to different neighborhoods throwing picnics and hanging out and trying to have some peace within the streets at the time,” he shares. “So it was a lot of togetherness. [Snoop] had already done the ‘G Thang’ song and showed all that togetherness and people hopping up and down the streets off Dr. Dre’s record. So it was just a really, really good time.”
For himself, Doggystyle was especially impactful as CJ Mac was trying to get out of the street life and found music as a good alternative. Mac had heard Snoop Dogg (as he is now known) on “Deep Cover” and The Chronic, but when he sat down to listen to Doggystyle, he was really impressed, citing “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” as the track that really hooked him.
Besides the music, Mac says it’s important to note that when the album dropped, Snoop Dogg was on trial for murder. This helped fuel the hype for a young Calvin Broadus as he was balancing the life of a rap star and living the life of the streets.
Mac’s favorite song on Doggystyle is “Gz and Hustlas,” a deep cut that not very many people would pick as their favorite, but Mac says “he just went in and he just took off.”
He then details a show in Las Vegas when Snoop asked him what song he’d want him to perform. When Mac told him “Gz and Hustlas,” Snoop laughed and revealed that he freestyled the whole song.
“I was like wow, that’s just a testament to his talent,” Mac says. “He’s special. He’s very special.”
A more popular track off Doggystyle is “Aint No Fun (If the Homies Cant Have None).” Even though it is sexually explicit, the track became one of The Doggfather’s most recognizable. Mac explains this phenomenon by saying that it transcended rap.
“You have that crowd of people, which was a vast majority, that just wanted to hear a good melodic chorus, a deep bass line and a banging beat,” he says. “So I think that’s how they were able to pull that off.”
But even bigger than “Aint No Fun” is “Gin and Juice,” which is certified gold.
“Snoop’s just got that cool, laid-back demeanor anyway,” Mac says of why the song is such a hit. “It’s just him. Everybody could relate to it and also everybody could just get his vibe and catch his vibe and just catch him slowing the record down and chilling.”
Part of what made “Gin and Juice” so alluring and the record as a whole was the relatability of what Snoop was talking about in the songs and in the skits that wove the storyline together. Although Snoop Dogg has now become a figurehead of the gangster rap genre, he, Mac and others like N.W.A didn’t make music specifically with the genre in mind.
“I think other people put that on us,” Mac says of the label. “The media put that on us, so we were just doing what we know. So that album was like that’s what we do at home, sit around and play dominoes and talk smack and crack jokes, that’s normal living. So at home, you got to take a look at what they’re doing and what their lives were like. It was so similar to what I was living, that it just was cool.”
Overall, Mac sees Doggystyle as a practically perfect album. From its relatable content to its production, it’s an album that is just as powerful 25 years later.
“It had everything,” he shares. “There was nothing left. He threw the whole kitchen sink at it. What could you have done better on that record? Nothing. There’s no complaints. What song can you complain about? What skit can you complain about? What beat can you complain about? Nothing. What lyric? What did he say wrong? We was talking earlier how sometimes rappers say things wrong that don’t match. He didn’t! It’s an amazing record. Today, matter of fact, I think I’ll bump it now.”