Song:Nuthin' But A "G" Thang
Album:The Chronicle: The Best Of The Works...
These days Andre "Dr. Dre" Young is mainly a producer. But he started out as a rapper and his 1992 hit Nuthin' But A "G" Thang did a lot to popularize rap and especially Calvin "Snoop Doggy Dogg" Broadus. Young was born Feb. 18, 1965 in Compton, CA which is the center of west coast rap. Young's father had a doo wop group and his stepbrother is rapper Warren G. Young was headed nowhere because of poor grades in high school. But he heard Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and he thought he could do that. He became a DJ. At first he called himself Dr. J after basketball legend Julius Erving but that changed to Dr. Dre. He met rapper Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby and the two experimented in the four track recording studio in the back room of the club. One of the songs they worked on Surgery became a hit for World Class Wreckin' Cru. Young was briefly a member. He met O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson in 1986 and this led to the formation of N.W.A. with Eric "Eazy-E" Wright. The two albums N.W.A. recorded were successful. But Jackson left in 1989 and then Young left in 1991 and signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records. Young's debut album The Chronic was released in 1992. The first single was the theme for the film Deep Cover. Nuthin' But A "G" Thang was the second single. Though there were other guest rappers on the album, Broadus is on the whole album. He had never recorded before so The Chronic introduced the rapper now known as Snoop Dogg. Though Nuthin' But A "G" Thang is today considered an iconic rap song and very influential, it didn't top the Billboard Hot 100. It only reached #2 because Informer by Snow topped the chart for seven weeks. Nuthin' But A "G" Thang is based on Leon Haywood's I Wanta' Do Something Freaky To You. I wouldn't call it sampling. The backing track is the entire basis of Nuthin' But A "G" Thang. Back then they called everything sampling but this is more than that. The Chronic was certified 3XPlatinum. Young could have continued to be a successful rapper. But he became a producer and he still does that today. This budget comp covers his Death Row days. Today Young owns his own label. He released an album in 2015 but it was his first album since 1999. His legacy is all the artists he has produced including of course Snoop Dogg. Here's the video for Nuthin' But A "G" Thang by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg.
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