Programming note: It’s 90s week! I'm spotlighting some of my favorite records released between 1990 and 1999. Like previous decade-themed newsletter posts, I've selected albums that cover multiple genres and deliberately avoided the well-worn titles that top all "best of" lists for this decade. In other words, no OK Computer, Nevermind, and so on.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s 90s music pick marks the 30th anniversary (!) of Snoop Dogg’s solo debut, a record he’s been trying to top ever since.
Genre: G-Funk, Gangsta Rap
Label: Death Row
Release Date: November 23, 1993
Vibe: 🚬🥃
At this point, Snoop Dogg’s distinctive, laid-back vocal delivery is the stuff of legend. From making silky-smooth appearances on EDM hits to starring in hilarious TV commercials, the culture takes it for granted now, which is part of why Doggystyle has held up so well for three decades. Taken in tandem with The Chronic, this record solidified G-funk (and, relatedly, Death Row Records) as the commercial epicenter of the hip-hop universe. It’s not hard to see why—tracks like “Gin and Juice,” “What’s My Name,” and “Ain’t No Fun” have endured as party anthems in part because Snoop zigged where others zagged. His bars aren’t snarling or aggressive like Dre’s or Ice Cube’s at that time. Instead, Snoop’s voice moves at his own pace and rhythm, bending words and phrases into then-uncharted melodic territory. The resulting flow has been imitated countless times but never equaled, including on nearly all of the Doggfather’s subsequent releases.
Interspersed throughout this album are gritter moments that showcase Snoop’s ability to tell vivid, often graphic stories that grappled with street-level paranoia. Take “Murder Was the Case,” a tale that sees the rapper being gunned down, left for dead, resurrected after bargaining with Satan, and witnessing the birth of his child. It’s not a song that ends on a feel-good note either, with Snoop hinting at more violence on the horizon: “Late night I hear toothbrushes scraping on the floor/N****s getting they shanks, just in case the war.” There’s also “Doggy Dogg World,” using the title’s clever play on words as a starting point to characterize life the ruthless life-and-death struggle happening daily in a post-LA Riots America. It’s not what most people remember from this record, but its power has far from diminished in the intervening years.
Overflowing with killer verses from emcees like Nate Dogg, Warren G, Kurupt, and many others, as well as enough soul and funk samples to make your head spin, Doggystyle earns its spot etched in the Mount Rushmore from hip-hop’s golden age.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈