This is the album that helped launch Snoop Dogg into the world - and funnily enough, I’m writing this during what can only be called Snoop Dogg’s Olympic Games, which might be launching his fame even higher worldwide.

Look, I get that times were very different in the 90’s, and the heroes of gangsta rap had an image to uphold - but these lyrics haven’t aged great. It’s the classic problem of trying to appreciate art from a different time that has elements today’s society doesn’t like - although to be fair, it’s not like sexist lyrics have disappeared from music today either. And maybe fair is the wrong word.

This album was a huge moment in music production - the beats are phenomenal, original, full of musicianship and swagger, trailblazing the G-funk style. It was influential, and inventive, but the glamor of the gangster references has pretty much worn off for me. I love it as a history lesson, and for the funk-tinged production, but not so much for the content.

Jams

“Nuthin’ But A G Thang”

From the roundup Jamwise #39 - Best of 1992, Pt. 1.