Massive. The hype started with Deep Cover. The Chronic exceeded the hype... Then Doggy Style....
There were tons of anticipated albums... Many midnight sales...
Doggy Style was far and away the most anticipated album at the time and possibly in the era.
It's important to note though that it was a totally different vibe. Snoop the funny chill celebrity didn't really start until the 2000s. In the 90s, he was one of the coolest rappers and he was pretty much entirely known for his songs and secondarily for loving weed. The only place you saw him that wasn't a music video was on a High Times cover at Tower Records.
“Broadus was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Philip Woldermariam” - his wiki
Everyone seems to be a Snoop expert here.
I don’t remember a song called “accessory to murder was the case that they gave me”
You sound like a reporter from that era tbh. You are correct but His bodyguard pulled the trigger. Snoop didn’t even have a gun on him. And dude came up trying to start a confrontation with Snoop, it was self defense, which is why he was acquitted
When Snoop came out I had never heard anything like his music. His sound just caught on like wild fire. It wasn't until Bone Thugs in Harmony came on the scene that anything that uniquely sounding hit the waves.
Massive was the exact word that came to mind. Doggystyle was all over MTV, then his murder trial.
People stole his CDs from the store.
Was still a big deal in college in the early 00s. Saw him in concert.
Here’s the thing - he was a massive celebrity without getting airplay on Top 40 stations.
These days, hip hop is all over pop radio, and with streaming, satellite radio, and YouTube, there are alternatives to terrestrial radio. But back then, the mass audience got its music from Top 40 radio, MTV and record stores. Radio programmers dictated what was popular and they did not like rap because advertisers hated it. They’d often play versions of R&B songs without the rap section and unless you were MC Hammer or Will Smith, you weren’t getting played much (and even they got limited play in comparison to how big they were).
This background is important in explaining how big Snoop was. I think the Chronic was the first album that I can remember being big without crossing over to pop radio, and Snoop’s verses on the singles made him a superstar. And once Doggystyle came out in 1993, he was EVERYWHERE (except pop radio). And because his popularity took adults by surprise, there was a lot of moral panic about “gangsta rap” and he was on covers of weekly news magazines (ask your grandparents about those), which only made him bigger, I think.
You explain it will. Although there were late night radio shows that would play hip hop, that’s how everyone was turn on to the Wu. Yeah, a lot of it was word of mouth.
For sure. My exposure to Wu was through the local college station that had a nightly hip hop show.
Back then, even R&B stations didn’t like rap that much.
I am not denying that hip-hop wasn't really on the radio in this era... It was just slowly starting to bleed over.... But to even further show how big this album was, What's My Name made it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 prior to the album release. Not the rap chart where it made #1 but the Hot 100 which is, more or less, the mainstream pop chart.
Snoop was a massive force in that window of time.
So in the 90s, there was a disconnect between radio spins and the charts. Before 1991, the Hot 100 was based on a survey of radio programmers and retailers. That changed with the advent of SoundScan, which could accurately track sales. That was a game changer for rap.
And that disconnect got awkward because top 40 stations didn’t want to play rap, but every week, they aired Casey Kasem’s syndicated America’s Top 40 show, which used the Hot 100 ranking. I think he ended up switching to a more pop-focused chart to avoid alienating programmers and advertisers.
You're absolutely correct on all of this and 93 is still the infancy of using soundscan vs surveys... And the shift towards metal and hip-hop started to highlight some very obvious bias in the previous methods of calculation...
It's why songs like What's My Name, It Was a Good Day and Mr. Wendell were such anomalies at the time.... But to even get to that chart was a show, basically of sheer will for the Snoop hype train.
Definitely this and throw in the fact rap was being introduced to a new sound and style coming out west that never been heard before that later changed rap music forever.
All of this! It's funny how he was very quiet and chill until Doggystyle came out then his personality really started to come out. We all knew he was going to be a big deal but probably not as big as he got hanging out with Martha Stewart and Grandmothers knowing him. Good for him!
My dad just got out the hospital and needs a walker during the first little while. My son put the little tennis balls on the ends of it and him and my daughter were walking around with it for a moment, playing around, I was like “OH SHIT THIS IS GREAT FOR US OLD HOES WE CAN TWERK AGAIN!” I grabbed the walker and proceeded to do the most horrid of twerks and my daughter’s laughing and said “damn mom you’re a weirdo”
Those old folks homes are gonna be lit, legit.
44 and the same. Wife and I saw the 25th anniversary tour of doggystyle w snoop, Warren g, and the current doggpound crew lineup. Was really fun but def wasn’t the gangster rap album vibe it was in the 90’s. We all
grew up and are too old for that shit haha
Had a real live murder case going on to make it seem even bigger. I'm glad suge help him stay out of jail cause he definitely was in trouble alot of it.
Having lived it, here's another bit of context: there were two massive sea changes occurring in music at the time, the speed and totality of which have not been repeated since. In "rock" grunge killed hair metal. In hip hop "gangsta rap" (a term put forth largely by the media at the time, later adopted by the community) dethroned 80's conscious rap. In both cases a seminal group/album nearly defined the genre. Nirvana's Nevermind in the former, Dre's Chronic the later. Both were like a light switch that turned off the past and started the next trend. Snoop was on the Chronic's major hits and his fast follow helped solidify the switch.
My only pushback is that the term “conscious rap” is, like gangsta rap, a 90s term created by a yt media as a counterpoint to gangsta rap. Yes there was conscious rap in the 80s but there was also lots of street/crime rap and party rap it just was rap then. Kool G and Run DMC, same same but different.
There is a reason he can do tv with Martha Stewart, had a reality show about his son's football team, and can sell shitty wine. He was massive
My mom knew who he was in in the 90's, she was a librarian who listened to classical music
I was (am?) a white midwestern kid in grade school when it came out and I bought the cassette tape with my paper route money.
My Mom unfolded the cover at home, looked at the cartoon inside and said “you shouldn’t be listening to this.”
It was awesome.
I’m 36 and snoop dogg was my intro into being a fanatic of hip hop. My older sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles all had him everywhere. My stupid ass just loved him cuz his name was snoopy like the peanuts character, help me learn English too
At the time, probably the biggest rapper of all time. Not from a historical perspective, although that’s definitely arguable but, from a pop culture perspective definitely. He was the biggest artist on the biggest label. The hype around his introduction was HUGE. He was famous before he was famous, in that Kardashian kinda way. Snoop specifically and Death Row as a whole put West Coast rap back on the map (or maybe on the map), solidified the creation and prevalence of “gangster rap” and pushed rap so far into the mainstream that it could never be out again.
The hype around doggystyle was HUGE before the release and it didn't disappoint. I had to stealthily buy the cassette because my parents didn't want me listening to explicit gangsta rap 🤣
The first time I heard Snoop on Deep Cover was on Yo! MTV Raps. Back then, I didn’t get an allowance so I had to skip my school lunches and save money to buy cassette singles. Tracks were so huge kids were starving themselves for Snoop tunes.
Hard to state how big. I was in grade 10, Chronic was game changing for west coast as Cypress Hill prob biggest (we would listen to Funkdoobiest & Black Sunday on repeat) but then Doggystyle came out & was ALL OVER the TV with music videos. Airplay was insane as it was FAR more party music compared to Chronic (I think they both masterpieces almost on par with Paul’s Boutique). Ain’t no fun was the High school JAM, What’s my name huge on radio, Lodi, Shiznit, Doggy Dogg world party songs, Gz & Pump Pump we would crank in car steroes!
& our friends older brothers pointed out all the Funkadelic/Parliament references so they got huge into it as well.
Watch The Defiant Ones documentary, some good stories, the video shoot one is hilarious
Snoop was honestly bigger than Dre. Dre's album was a banger but he was beloved more as the guy who brought us Snoop and Doggystyle than he was for The Chronic, which was on its own arguably the best rap album of the time besides... Doggystyle. I feel like the only thing close at the time was Cypress Hill which is almost not even in the same genre.
When Snoop Doggy Dog dropped Doggy style it was massive. That album was getting blasted everywhere on college campuses, BBQ, basketball courts…etc. The sound was fresh, it was a fun,and catchy album. Not to mention the videos were classic. His posters were everywhere along with his murder trail.
On the flip side of that though is he fell off hard with his 2nd album.
Not only Snoop but the new sound of G-funk was embraced around the world, Snoop, Dre, Warren G, Nate Dogg wand others was played in clubs and on mainstream radio.
I cant imagine not being able to hear the cacophony of sound that is the opening of "Whats my name?" blasting your ear drums for the first time and just being blown away. Youd never heard anything like it. Talk about a song that will wake you the fuck up!
Doggy Style CD from On Cue. It warped inside of my CD player, of my 1977 VW Bug. Still know all the words to the album. Never gets old.
I tell my kids that me and Snoop grew up together.
Untouchable. He was probably the 90s first real Rap superstar. Dre was mostly behind the boards, but to emphasize how big and influential he was (is), this is like a Beatles of Hip-Hop teaming up type of event that these two visionary musicians should end up being in the same neighborhoods as each other.
short story long, Snoop was huge.
Snoop and Dre were so big , churches protested . A pastor bought a store inventory of snoops debut album and steam rolled them so no one could hear his music.
Snoop was a big deal in the early 90’s his debut was similar to DMX and 50 Cent as far as the hype. He was instantly one of the best artists out. His music and popularity took a hit after the murder trial and Dr.Dre leaving Death Row and then Snoop going to No Limit. When Dre and Snoop started working again his career rebounded.
A Mega Star, he was Drake for comparative measures; as big as 50 cent. when murder was the case came out, he was National News. Death Row was a huge success.
I was a Little kid in NY but I had those tapes, my dad had the chronic. he had deep cover. I had dpg tapes. Him and Dre were the first stars that I grew up with that lasted the test of time which spanned decades, a hit in every era, at least.
my mom phased out of rap a long time ago, she was more of a Mc Lyte, SWV, Mary J Blige, En vogue type, then went to Christian Music. But when It came to snoop, His music was allowed in the house and permissible for me, as he was that much of a force, Unavoidable.
Doggy style came out when I was in 7th grade, in the south LA suburbs, and it was the most scandalous hilarious coolest thing ever that year. I wasn’t even really into rap but that album was my shit.
From a uk perspective. I was in school at the time and even over here it was NEWS. He was big. The controversy. The use of “bitches” and “how’s” in songs was nationwide news. Playground hall etc it was everywhere.
I’m sure he can recall him being banned from the uk around that time I could be wrong. But everything else was a wave that took the game over. His songs were everywhere. He was Eminem before Eminem
Edit: also take into account deathrow records was on fire at the time every record they put out was a banger. They literally could not miss.
Early to mid 90s he was every where, I grew up in L.A. and would go to the beach in Long Beach.
I remember driving with my parents as Snoop was playin on the radio, and a bunch of cars on the Freeway where playing Snoop
When Doggystyle came out I preordered it from Warehouse Records in Ann Arbor. They let you pick it up at midnight. So I picked mine up and drove around Ann Arbor for 2 hours listening to it back and forth. Snoop absolutely blew up when that came out.
You honestly can’t imagine how big artists such as Snoop, Eminem, the rest of the artists from the Up In Smoke Tour back in 2000, were in that era if you weren’t there. By the way, there was an official DVD release for that tour recorded on July 20 & 21, 2000 in Worcester Mass. Aftermath honestly had the whole country on lock by that time and was basically an extension of Death Row from the 90s in a sense through Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop, Eminem & Xzibit.
I think Big Pun & Fat Joe and some of Wu Tang may have been on some of the tour dates as well, I’m not sure though.
But all those artists that you’ll find if you start digging into that era were basically artists who started either by themselves or with better known artists during the 90s and then exploded into careers of their own in the 2000s, many of whom are artists who many of us still listen to or are fans of today 20 or so years later.
Realizing now after typing all of that, that I totally misread your comment lmfao.
In which case yes, as others have said, Mobb Deep is a very good place to start. But honestly, there’s sooo many other roots to trace the music back to because it was so expansive at the time and everybody was contributing something to hip hop in one way or another.
Leading up to the 90s in the late 80s there were also groups such as Leaders of the New School, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions w/ KRS One, D Nice & Scott LaRock, Native Toungues & Zulu Nation, Pharcyde, the Soulquarians were possibly one of my favorite groups and still are to this day…list goes on and on lol
Alot with suge is fairy tells rumors an lies dude was a good guy just ran with a lot of tough guys an he started to believe the stories about himself. Made a lot of bone head moves but definitely was a major contributor to the game
Snoop could have walked away from Hip Hop after Dre's 2001, in that 7 years from Deep Cover to 2001, Snoop had enough hits to last 2 careers. When you look at the albums Snoop had a major hand in: The Chronic, Doggystyle, Murder was the Case, Dogg Food, Top Dogg and 2001, they're all great at it's worst to classic.
I worked at a Record Bar at the time, showing my age here. The night before we had people trying to buy them early. Next morning, a line, sold out in under an hour, and we spent the next two days telling people we were out. Never had any other albums in the 7 years working there that happened with.
So big I was a 14yo white kid and I saw him in the Baltimore arena, and learned what weed was. Every person was smoking inside. Cops did not care. It was a wild scene. Back when that shot was completely illegal.
His “music” was big and popular from like 92-96, after that his music fell off but he became an even bigger celebrity just by being who he is on tv and in movies. His popularity outlasted his musical impact in my opinion
He was that dude at the time, I was in middle school at the time and had to get someone else to buy the tape for me the day it came out, they wouldn't let me buy it at the wall 😂
I was lil kid but from what I remember dude was a rockstar. He legit couldn’t miss with anything he touched, and it’s pretty much the same today. He’s not the biggest star but everything he touches literally turns to gold.
His name is pretty much synonymous with rap music and Hip Hop as a whole. It’s crazy cause when I hear him speak in interviews he always comes off as somebody that could be your regular ass Uncle. Almost as if he doesn’t even realize how globally famous he is. Maybe cause it’s been this way since he was like 18.
I'll put it this way: I never owned a copy of his debut album, but I can recite that shit word-for-word-for-word, including all of the skits. It was EVERYWHERE.
He was huge, one of the top guys in the scene. He ain't the top dogg for nothing. There's a reason why he's still as huge as he is today, look at everything the man has done. He's a real OG
Crazy hype around them. I have a heavy East Coast bias but there was NO denying that Deep Cover drop in 1991 and the accompanying video. Then came The Chronic. Then Doggystyle. Then Death Row.
They wasn’t missing…at all.
Funny, I still have a few wall cards of Doggystyle for advertising in record stores when I was doing promotions back then…
huge... i remeber the chroinc coming out I was 7 at the time it wants just snoop and dre. you had RBX, yoyo, ice cube , nwa , they all set the stage for west coast rap, including e40 and others.
The East Coast ain’t got no love for Death Row?!?! He was larger than life before that. His album was a banger and his personality just as big. The only thing I couldn’t understand was why Pac didn’t really like him. 🤷🏽
In LA? Here it was fuckin incredible. I was 12 when I first heard the bathtub droplets. Goood lawwwd and the rest was history. You had every low rider in the hood bumping doggy style.
Especially for his age, he was a MONSTER!! Snoop put Dr Dre back into the conversation. After NWA, Eazy E and Ice Cube were at each other’s throats. Dre wasn’t even mentioned until Snoop DOGG.
At first, he was huge. Because of his features on The Chronic and then Doggystyle put him through the stratosphere.
Then he dropped Tha Doggfather and he came crashing back down to Earth. Then he joined No Limit lol.
I was in college when Doggystyle came out. People were lined up around the block at midnight at the record store near campus to buy a copy of that album.
He was huge from day one on DR. DRE Nuthin" but a G Thing video. Nice follow up to his first album Doggystyle that sold tons of copies. It sold out everywhere.
Huge. From his first feature on Deep Cover, to The Chronic, to the Doggystyle release. Then there was the Murder Was the Case Soundtrack, and his own murder case. To me his second album, Tha Doggfather, was aweosme–some didn’t like it, there was no Dr. Dre production. It also helped that Death Row was EVERYWHERE. Above the Rim, Gridlock’d, Gang Related, to other artist albums. 2Pac and Tha Dogg Pound. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, that was huge at the time, as well. I’m not even a big fan. I lost a lot of interest in him when he went to No Limit, but I bumped the shit out of The Chronic and Doggystyle.
He was the biggest thing in rap music at that point when rap music was just starting to become mainstream.
There was not at that point was a bigger star in rap music.
The West Coast changed hip hop, it was basically like the Grunge movement. Snoop, Dre and Pac were the center pieces. It's like they were the Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam of rap, everyone knew them and everyone listened. This was pre Internet, pre social media, so fame was very concentrated back then. They blew tf up
Honestly, Deep cover was huge, nothing but a G thing ... huge, Doggy style was a good album,, Murder was the case for me was the highest point given his court case. After that I feel like snoop started to decline in popularity. There was just SOOO much other better music being produced, better rappers that became a bigger focus.
I was born in England, left for the States in 1999. I first heard Snoop after watching the movie 'Deep Cover' UK record shops did a good job with selling movie soundtracks back then, so the Deep Cover soundtrack was easy to find. I think Dre's Chronic album came out before that, but I picked that up a few weeks after I heard 'Deep Cover' Videos for Dre's song and others related to his style were massive in the UK back then.
We had a rap music radio show late Saturday nights and the DJ would have whatever was popular playing, and have guests, all the big names at the time. I went to the Brixton Academy in London to the Dre Chronic tour, with Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound and Lady of Rage in June 1994, he was the standout for sure. Once Doggystyle came out he was just everywhere even on English music channels of the time.
To me, he was largely disappointing on his own albums after that, but came back well on Dre's 'Chronic 2000'
He’s really the West Coast OG gangster rapper. Yes there were others before him as well as during his time and after but Snoop had and always will have a very distinct and different style to his music and honestly he has for the most part not changed one bit so now he’s 100% certified
Massive. The hype started with Deep Cover. The Chronic exceeded the hype... Then Doggy Style.... There were tons of anticipated albums... Many midnight sales... Doggy Style was far and away the most anticipated album at the time and possibly in the era.
It's important to note though that it was a totally different vibe. Snoop the funny chill celebrity didn't really start until the 2000s. In the 90s, he was one of the coolest rappers and he was pretty much entirely known for his songs and secondarily for loving weed. The only place you saw him that wasn't a music video was on a High Times cover at Tower Records.
Don't forget Murder Was The Case! Shit was all over the media.
He was known for his songs and being a gangster. Dude was literally charged and acquitted from the murder of a rival gang member.
Yeah he’s legit certified once he beat that case he became a menace
His bodyguard pulled the trigger. They just charged him as an accessory.
“Broadus was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Philip Woldermariam” - his wiki Everyone seems to be a Snoop expert here. I don’t remember a song called “accessory to murder was the case that they gave me”
The dude his bodyguard killed wasn't a rival gang member
In LA who isn’t affiliated
You sound like a reporter from that era tbh. You are correct but His bodyguard pulled the trigger. Snoop didn’t even have a gun on him. And dude came up trying to start a confrontation with Snoop, it was self defense, which is why he was acquitted
I'm still bumping "what's my name"
Yea he really dropped a whole album about his case lmao 😂
When Snoop came out I had never heard anything like his music. His sound just caught on like wild fire. It wasn't until Bone Thugs in Harmony came on the scene that anything that uniquely sounding hit the waves.
Massive was the exact word that came to mind. Doggystyle was all over MTV, then his murder trial. People stole his CDs from the store. Was still a big deal in college in the early 00s. Saw him in concert.
Up In Smoke
Doggystyle was and still is an unbelievable album
Here’s the thing - he was a massive celebrity without getting airplay on Top 40 stations. These days, hip hop is all over pop radio, and with streaming, satellite radio, and YouTube, there are alternatives to terrestrial radio. But back then, the mass audience got its music from Top 40 radio, MTV and record stores. Radio programmers dictated what was popular and they did not like rap because advertisers hated it. They’d often play versions of R&B songs without the rap section and unless you were MC Hammer or Will Smith, you weren’t getting played much (and even they got limited play in comparison to how big they were). This background is important in explaining how big Snoop was. I think the Chronic was the first album that I can remember being big without crossing over to pop radio, and Snoop’s verses on the singles made him a superstar. And once Doggystyle came out in 1993, he was EVERYWHERE (except pop radio). And because his popularity took adults by surprise, there was a lot of moral panic about “gangsta rap” and he was on covers of weekly news magazines (ask your grandparents about those), which only made him bigger, I think.
You explain it will. Although there were late night radio shows that would play hip hop, that’s how everyone was turn on to the Wu. Yeah, a lot of it was word of mouth.
For sure. My exposure to Wu was through the local college station that had a nightly hip hop show. Back then, even R&B stations didn’t like rap that much.
I am from Florida. My first exposure to Wu was Howard homecoming
I am not denying that hip-hop wasn't really on the radio in this era... It was just slowly starting to bleed over.... But to even further show how big this album was, What's My Name made it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 prior to the album release. Not the rap chart where it made #1 but the Hot 100 which is, more or less, the mainstream pop chart. Snoop was a massive force in that window of time.
So in the 90s, there was a disconnect between radio spins and the charts. Before 1991, the Hot 100 was based on a survey of radio programmers and retailers. That changed with the advent of SoundScan, which could accurately track sales. That was a game changer for rap. And that disconnect got awkward because top 40 stations didn’t want to play rap, but every week, they aired Casey Kasem’s syndicated America’s Top 40 show, which used the Hot 100 ranking. I think he ended up switching to a more pop-focused chart to avoid alienating programmers and advertisers.
You're absolutely correct on all of this and 93 is still the infancy of using soundscan vs surveys... And the shift towards metal and hip-hop started to highlight some very obvious bias in the previous methods of calculation... It's why songs like What's My Name, It Was a Good Day and Mr. Wendell were such anomalies at the time.... But to even get to that chart was a show, basically of sheer will for the Snoop hype train.
187 on a undercover/motherfucking cop!
Tick tock never the glock just some nuts and a cock
Pump Pump Sam Sneede
EVERYONE had Doggy Style. EVERYONE quoted Doggy Style. It was fucking huge.
90s baby and I just listened to Doggy Style for the first time in full yesterday. 🔥 album.
The hype waiting for his solo album to release was unreal… even folks who didn’t normally listen to that much hip hop were in anticipation
Definitely this and throw in the fact rap was being introduced to a new sound and style coming out west that never been heard before that later changed rap music forever.
Maniac lunatic call me Snoop Eastwood! I still love that song
All of this! It's funny how he was very quiet and chill until Doggystyle came out then his personality really started to come out. We all knew he was going to be a big deal but probably not as big as he got hanging out with Martha Stewart and Grandmothers knowing him. Good for him!
And then Doggystyle being so good. It’s not a bad song on that album.
All facts!
I’m 41, I still know every word of Doggystyle
I’m 41 as well, and expect to be able to recite every single word of Doggystyle when I’m in the old folks home.
My wife and I say the same- when we’re old, that retirement home is gonna be BUMPIN’
And it's gotta be bumpin' (City of Compton)😄😄😄
Nice
My dad just got out the hospital and needs a walker during the first little while. My son put the little tennis balls on the ends of it and him and my daughter were walking around with it for a moment, playing around, I was like “OH SHIT THIS IS GREAT FOR US OLD HOES WE CAN TWERK AGAIN!” I grabbed the walker and proceeded to do the most horrid of twerks and my daughter’s laughing and said “damn mom you’re a weirdo” Those old folks homes are gonna be lit, legit.
Oof, yup, that hits
I’m 46. I feel you
44 and the same. Wife and I saw the 25th anniversary tour of doggystyle w snoop, Warren g, and the current doggpound crew lineup. Was really fun but def wasn’t the gangster rap album vibe it was in the 90’s. We all grew up and are too old for that shit haha
They changed pop culture, Snoop was a huge part of that, seeing gangsta rap become a phenomenon
Doggystyle was the biggest selling debut, all the way until Get Rich Or Die Trying. He was huge. He couldn’t miss at that time.
Had a real live murder case going on to make it seem even bigger. I'm glad suge help him stay out of jail cause he definitely was in trouble alot of it.
About 6-4 190
You got the height about right, but I’d put his weight at around 60 lbs.
When he’s wet and wearing boots
“Damn E, they tried to fade you on Dre day.” “But Dre Day only meant Eazy pay day.”
I was 13 when Doggystyle came out and I bet if you gave me a notebook and pen I could write the lyrics to every song without hesitation
Snoop was such a household name he was mentioned and parodied on late night shows, sketches/skits from comedy shows, etc.
I remember David Letterman joking about meeting Snoop's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Doggy Dogg.
Having lived it, here's another bit of context: there were two massive sea changes occurring in music at the time, the speed and totality of which have not been repeated since. In "rock" grunge killed hair metal. In hip hop "gangsta rap" (a term put forth largely by the media at the time, later adopted by the community) dethroned 80's conscious rap. In both cases a seminal group/album nearly defined the genre. Nirvana's Nevermind in the former, Dre's Chronic the later. Both were like a light switch that turned off the past and started the next trend. Snoop was on the Chronic's major hits and his fast follow helped solidify the switch.
> "gangsta rap" dethroned 80's conscious rap we been struggling ever since
"Struggling" is putting it lightly. It's been brutal since then.
Can we call it genocidal? That's how it felt when we completely lost the balance in the culture / music.
You've got me on your side, fam.
My only pushback is that the term “conscious rap” is, like gangsta rap, a 90s term created by a yt media as a counterpoint to gangsta rap. Yes there was conscious rap in the 80s but there was also lots of street/crime rap and party rap it just was rap then. Kool G and Run DMC, same same but different.
None bigger
When Doggystyle first hit, the world wasn't ready. He created a new sound from his slow relaxed flow.
There is a reason he can do tv with Martha Stewart, had a reality show about his son's football team, and can sell shitty wine. He was massive My mom knew who he was in in the 90's, she was a librarian who listened to classical music
My mom took away/threw out 3 different copies of “doggystyle”, if that says anything.
I was (am?) a white midwestern kid in grade school when it came out and I bought the cassette tape with my paper route money. My Mom unfolded the cover at home, looked at the cartoon inside and said “you shouldn’t be listening to this.” It was awesome.
I’m 36 and snoop dogg was my intro into being a fanatic of hip hop. My older sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles all had him everywhere. My stupid ass just loved him cuz his name was snoopy like the peanuts character, help me learn English too
W Snoopy
Everything was better in the 90's
MASSIVE
Snoop was huge! He really brought the West Coast back! My Doggystyle tape(s) got stolen so many times and I lived in NY LOL
Most anticipated debut in hip hop history.
At the time, probably the biggest rapper of all time. Not from a historical perspective, although that’s definitely arguable but, from a pop culture perspective definitely. He was the biggest artist on the biggest label. The hype around his introduction was HUGE. He was famous before he was famous, in that Kardashian kinda way. Snoop specifically and Death Row as a whole put West Coast rap back on the map (or maybe on the map), solidified the creation and prevalence of “gangster rap” and pushed rap so far into the mainstream that it could never be out again.
The hype around doggystyle was HUGE before the release and it didn't disappoint. I had to stealthily buy the cassette because my parents didn't want me listening to explicit gangsta rap 🤣
The first time I heard Snoop on Deep Cover was on Yo! MTV Raps. Back then, I didn’t get an allowance so I had to skip my school lunches and save money to buy cassette singles. Tracks were so huge kids were starving themselves for Snoop tunes.
Here is how big…he help shape what west coast hip hop is. And trust…Daz and Dre were the ones who gave him that sound…
Hotter than fish grease. There’s only been a handful (if that) of solo rappers that had the same effect as Snoop when he first came out.
Hard to state how big. I was in grade 10, Chronic was game changing for west coast as Cypress Hill prob biggest (we would listen to Funkdoobiest & Black Sunday on repeat) but then Doggystyle came out & was ALL OVER the TV with music videos. Airplay was insane as it was FAR more party music compared to Chronic (I think they both masterpieces almost on par with Paul’s Boutique). Ain’t no fun was the High school JAM, What’s my name huge on radio, Lodi, Shiznit, Doggy Dogg world party songs, Gz & Pump Pump we would crank in car steroes! & our friends older brothers pointed out all the Funkadelic/Parliament references so they got huge into it as well. Watch The Defiant Ones documentary, some good stories, the video shoot one is hilarious
The only album I can remember that had the same type of anticipation coming out was Wu-Tang Forever.
NYC played the chronic album for at least about 2 to 3 years and the doggystyle album had the same buzz. Ain't No fun played everywhere
Snoop was honestly bigger than Dre. Dre's album was a banger but he was beloved more as the guy who brought us Snoop and Doggystyle than he was for The Chronic, which was on its own arguably the best rap album of the time besides... Doggystyle. I feel like the only thing close at the time was Cypress Hill which is almost not even in the same genre.
Massive.
were massive, especially Snoop Dogg. There was a lot of hype when Doggystyle was announced, it was one of the most acclaimed debut albums of all time.
When Snoop Doggy Dog dropped Doggy style it was massive. That album was getting blasted everywhere on college campuses, BBQ, basketball courts…etc. The sound was fresh, it was a fun,and catchy album. Not to mention the videos were classic. His posters were everywhere along with his murder trail. On the flip side of that though is he fell off hard with his 2nd album.
Huge. Big as nirvana
Not only Snoop but the new sound of G-funk was embraced around the world, Snoop, Dre, Warren G, Nate Dogg wand others was played in clubs and on mainstream radio.
Huge. He was so serious. Seeing him as a celebrity now and being funny is amazing but it’s so crazy. He was hard as nails back in the day
I cant imagine not being able to hear the cacophony of sound that is the opening of "Whats my name?" blasting your ear drums for the first time and just being blown away. Youd never heard anything like it. Talk about a song that will wake you the fuck up!
Doggy Style CD from On Cue. It warped inside of my CD player, of my 1977 VW Bug. Still know all the words to the album. Never gets old. I tell my kids that me and Snoop grew up together.
Seemed like every time you turned on MTV they had the Who Am I (What’s My Name)? video on
Bigger (in terms of media exposure and sales) than the artists who influenced him, specifically Slick Rick and Smooth B.
I love snoops ladi-dadi version
Yeah, people were CLAMORING to get their hands on Doggy Style. He was huge. I can't think of an artist who had a bigger build up.
Untouchable. He was probably the 90s first real Rap superstar. Dre was mostly behind the boards, but to emphasize how big and influential he was (is), this is like a Beatles of Hip-Hop teaming up type of event that these two visionary musicians should end up being in the same neighborhoods as each other. short story long, Snoop was huge.
Megastar in 93 basically how 50 cent was in 03 without the internet and cell phones back then
Him and dre had 93 on lock. Latter half of the 90s started to drift back to the east.
Snoop and Dre were so big , churches protested . A pastor bought a store inventory of snoops debut album and steam rolled them so no one could hear his music.
It was the dominant album the summer of 1993 without a doubt at every party
BIGLY!!!
Snoop was a big deal in the early 90’s his debut was similar to DMX and 50 Cent as far as the hype. He was instantly one of the best artists out. His music and popularity took a hit after the murder trial and Dr.Dre leaving Death Row and then Snoop going to No Limit. When Dre and Snoop started working again his career rebounded.
A Mega Star, he was Drake for comparative measures; as big as 50 cent. when murder was the case came out, he was National News. Death Row was a huge success. I was a Little kid in NY but I had those tapes, my dad had the chronic. he had deep cover. I had dpg tapes. Him and Dre were the first stars that I grew up with that lasted the test of time which spanned decades, a hit in every era, at least. my mom phased out of rap a long time ago, she was more of a Mc Lyte, SWV, Mary J Blige, En vogue type, then went to Christian Music. But when It came to snoop, His music was allowed in the house and permissible for me, as he was that much of a force, Unavoidable.
White people were absolutely in love with or completely fucking appalled by him. There was no in between.
Everyone was waiting for Doggystyle to come. Nothing sounded like it. I don’t remember album that had that much anticipation for its release
Doggy style came out when I was in 7th grade, in the south LA suburbs, and it was the most scandalous hilarious coolest thing ever that year. I wasn’t even really into rap but that album was my shit.
huge. and people also found him intimidating back then.
He was the Doggfather. Need I say more?
From a uk perspective. I was in school at the time and even over here it was NEWS. He was big. The controversy. The use of “bitches” and “how’s” in songs was nationwide news. Playground hall etc it was everywhere. I’m sure he can recall him being banned from the uk around that time I could be wrong. But everything else was a wave that took the game over. His songs were everywhere. He was Eminem before Eminem Edit: also take into account deathrow records was on fire at the time every record they put out was a banger. They literally could not miss.
Early to mid 90s he was every where, I grew up in L.A. and would go to the beach in Long Beach. I remember driving with my parents as Snoop was playin on the radio, and a bunch of cars on the Freeway where playing Snoop
Huge
When Doggystyle came out I preordered it from Warehouse Records in Ann Arbor. They let you pick it up at midnight. So I picked mine up and drove around Ann Arbor for 2 hours listening to it back and forth. Snoop absolutely blew up when that came out.
Snoop was the star that people say Tupac was.
You honestly can’t imagine how big artists such as Snoop, Eminem, the rest of the artists from the Up In Smoke Tour back in 2000, were in that era if you weren’t there. By the way, there was an official DVD release for that tour recorded on July 20 & 21, 2000 in Worcester Mass. Aftermath honestly had the whole country on lock by that time and was basically an extension of Death Row from the 90s in a sense through Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop, Eminem & Xzibit. I think Big Pun & Fat Joe and some of Wu Tang may have been on some of the tour dates as well, I’m not sure though. But all those artists that you’ll find if you start digging into that era were basically artists who started either by themselves or with better known artists during the 90s and then exploded into careers of their own in the 2000s, many of whom are artists who many of us still listen to or are fans of today 20 or so years later.
Realizing now after typing all of that, that I totally misread your comment lmfao. In which case yes, as others have said, Mobb Deep is a very good place to start. But honestly, there’s sooo many other roots to trace the music back to because it was so expansive at the time and everybody was contributing something to hip hop in one way or another. Leading up to the 90s in the late 80s there were also groups such as Leaders of the New School, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions w/ KRS One, D Nice & Scott LaRock, Native Toungues & Zulu Nation, Pharcyde, the Soulquarians were possibly one of my favorite groups and still are to this day…list goes on and on lol
Enormous. He was tied in with Dre and Pac. Those guys were it back in the 90’s.
Alot with suge is fairy tells rumors an lies dude was a good guy just ran with a lot of tough guys an he started to believe the stories about himself. Made a lot of bone head moves but definitely was a major contributor to the game
Big. DS is one of the goat albums.
I’d say like 6’4” maybe 85 pounds. Just guessin
Snoop could have walked away from Hip Hop after Dre's 2001, in that 7 years from Deep Cover to 2001, Snoop had enough hits to last 2 careers. When you look at the albums Snoop had a major hand in: The Chronic, Doggystyle, Murder was the Case, Dogg Food, Top Dogg and 2001, they're all great at it's worst to classic.
I worked at a Record Bar at the time, showing my age here. The night before we had people trying to buy them early. Next morning, a line, sold out in under an hour, and we spent the next two days telling people we were out. Never had any other albums in the 7 years working there that happened with.
So big I was a 14yo white kid and I saw him in the Baltimore arena, and learned what weed was. Every person was smoking inside. Cops did not care. It was a wild scene. Back when that shot was completely illegal.
"50 pounds wet n wearin boots" was what I heard.
He’s always been fairly skinny. Maybe a little skinnier in the 90s due to his younger age
I think he’s 6 foot 3
His “music” was big and popular from like 92-96, after that his music fell off but he became an even bigger celebrity just by being who he is on tv and in movies. His popularity outlasted his musical impact in my opinion
Doggystyle is still one of the great rap albums of all time
Huge!
Murder was the case big
The biggest for a good amount of time
They had the early 90's in a chokehold
They were very big.
He was that dude at the time, I was in middle school at the time and had to get someone else to buy the tape for me the day it came out, they wouldn't let me buy it at the wall 😂
Seriously? he’s doing lighter commercials with Martha Stewart today so that tell you something.
Very
Never heard of em. 🙄
Huuuuge!
Huge
Too big of a scale to hold him on.😁💪🏽
About as big as you can get from the day he stepped on the scene. He's always been a Megastar.
Before snoop you could be a gangster, pimp, funny, or weed smoker rapper. After snoop you had to be them all.
GOAT
I was lil kid but from what I remember dude was a rockstar. He legit couldn’t miss with anything he touched, and it’s pretty much the same today. He’s not the biggest star but everything he touches literally turns to gold. His name is pretty much synonymous with rap music and Hip Hop as a whole. It’s crazy cause when I hear him speak in interviews he always comes off as somebody that could be your regular ass Uncle. Almost as if he doesn’t even realize how globally famous he is. Maybe cause it’s been this way since he was like 18.
I'll put it this way: I never owned a copy of his debut album, but I can recite that shit word-for-word-for-word, including all of the skits. It was EVERYWHERE.
Big enough to beat a murder charge and rap about it.
The most dangerous man from 1993
Like 6’4
He was huge, one of the top guys in the scene. He ain't the top dogg for nothing. There's a reason why he's still as huge as he is today, look at everything the man has done. He's a real OG
I used to be a Snoop fan when I was in the 5th grade. He ushered in the G funk era. Layed back, gangsta shit. Not the "Blast ya in ya face."
As big as now with less of the “get on every tv show and commercial” effort
Crazy hype around them. I have a heavy East Coast bias but there was NO denying that Deep Cover drop in 1991 and the accompanying video. Then came The Chronic. Then Doggystyle. Then Death Row. They wasn’t missing…at all. Funny, I still have a few wall cards of Doggystyle for advertising in record stores when I was doing promotions back then…
The biggest
1.8.7. Deep Cover sound track… creep with me as I crawl thru the hood…
HUGE
huge... i remeber the chroinc coming out I was 7 at the time it wants just snoop and dre. you had RBX, yoyo, ice cube , nwa , they all set the stage for west coast rap, including e40 and others.
About 6’4”
He was so big that asking that question to old heads like us makes me laugh 😃
The East Coast ain’t got no love for Death Row?!?! He was larger than life before that. His album was a banger and his personality just as big. The only thing I couldn’t understand was why Pac didn’t really like him. 🤷🏽
In LA? Here it was fuckin incredible. I was 12 when I first heard the bathtub droplets. Goood lawwwd and the rest was history. You had every low rider in the hood bumping doggy style.
Especially for his age, he was a MONSTER!! Snoop put Dr Dre back into the conversation. After NWA, Eazy E and Ice Cube were at each other’s throats. Dre wasn’t even mentioned until Snoop DOGG.
The murder case only made him even bigger of a star..
Doggystyle had the biggest debut sales in one wk ever at that time
At first, he was huge. Because of his features on The Chronic and then Doggystyle put him through the stratosphere. Then he dropped Tha Doggfather and he came crashing back down to Earth. Then he joined No Limit lol.
Pretty big!!!!
Massive! He was one of the names that got me into hiphop. Even my immigrant parents knew who he was, and they had no clue what rap was.
Bigger than Von and lil Durk just to give you a idea
6’ 4”
Huge
I was in college when Doggystyle came out. People were lined up around the block at midnight at the record store near campus to buy a copy of that album.
It all started with deep cover. And he just got bigger and bigger. A lot less competition back then also
He's about 6'4", rollin in his six-fo
Big, he was thee Rapper
Let's just say you could hear The Chronic and Doggy Style pretty much everywhere you went
I think he was about 6 feet 4 inches.
He was huge from day one on DR. DRE Nuthin" but a G Thing video. Nice follow up to his first album Doggystyle that sold tons of copies. It sold out everywhere.
Huge. From his first feature on Deep Cover, to The Chronic, to the Doggystyle release. Then there was the Murder Was the Case Soundtrack, and his own murder case. To me his second album, Tha Doggfather, was aweosme–some didn’t like it, there was no Dr. Dre production. It also helped that Death Row was EVERYWHERE. Above the Rim, Gridlock’d, Gang Related, to other artist albums. 2Pac and Tha Dogg Pound. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, that was huge at the time, as well. I’m not even a big fan. I lost a lot of interest in him when he went to No Limit, but I bumped the shit out of The Chronic and Doggystyle.
He was big but Dre was bigger
Huge
So Big he's still relevant & even more popular now
He was the biggest thing in rap music at that point when rap music was just starting to become mainstream. There was not at that point was a bigger star in rap music.
Pop star
Iconic… I was a freshman in high school the year the chronic came out. It was damn near a cultural event.
The West Coast changed hip hop, it was basically like the Grunge movement. Snoop, Dre and Pac were the center pieces. It's like they were the Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam of rap, everyone knew them and everyone listened. This was pre Internet, pre social media, so fame was very concentrated back then. They blew tf up
Honestly, Deep cover was huge, nothing but a G thing ... huge, Doggy style was a good album,, Murder was the case for me was the highest point given his court case. After that I feel like snoop started to decline in popularity. There was just SOOO much other better music being produced, better rappers that became a bigger focus.
I was born in England, left for the States in 1999. I first heard Snoop after watching the movie 'Deep Cover' UK record shops did a good job with selling movie soundtracks back then, so the Deep Cover soundtrack was easy to find. I think Dre's Chronic album came out before that, but I picked that up a few weeks after I heard 'Deep Cover' Videos for Dre's song and others related to his style were massive in the UK back then. We had a rap music radio show late Saturday nights and the DJ would have whatever was popular playing, and have guests, all the big names at the time. I went to the Brixton Academy in London to the Dre Chronic tour, with Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound and Lady of Rage in June 1994, he was the standout for sure. Once Doggystyle came out he was just everywhere even on English music channels of the time. To me, he was largely disappointing on his own albums after that, but came back well on Dre's 'Chronic 2000'
Niggaaaaa!!! Huge
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge
I’m 41 doggy style, *NSYNC no strings attached and get rich or die trying were the biggest albums of my generation
I believe 6'3 but very slight - maybe 140 pounds
Like close to Elvis level. Nobody from this era could even see snoop in his prime.
Everybody was a gangsta after The Chronic came out!
Huge, like over 6 foot tall
He’s really the West Coast OG gangster rapper. Yes there were others before him as well as during his time and after but Snoop had and always will have a very distinct and different style to his music and honestly he has for the most part not changed one bit so now he’s 100% certified
Who?
Nobody bigger, big
There's a reason he's still around and its not because he was unpopular.
He brung in a west coast unique Slick Rick sound. The shit took over during that time
He was the biggest star on the planet for a few years.
He was one of the biggest stars of the 90s. His first album is one of the best debut rap albums of all-time.
not as big as he is now
Full on moral panic in the UK. Tabloid headlines screaming "Kick This Evil Bastard Out" when he first toured over here.