In May, members of Vinyl Me, Please Rap & Hip Hop will receive an exclusive 25th anniversary pressing of Snoop Doggy Dogg's landmark debut, Doggystyle. A classic in G-funk, it's a timeless album that features hits that can still rock a party in 2018 ("Gin and Juice" and "Who Am I (What's My Name)" chief among them). The first vinyl reissue in the states since the early '00s, this 25th anniversary edition comes on brown and mint splattered vinyl, a heavyweight tip-on jacket, and newly mastered for vinyl from the original analog reels by Chris Doremus at Penguin Recording. This is a must-own for rap fans. For the first time, you can sign up for just Vinyl Me, Please Rap & Hip-Hop which you can do right here.
Here, we give you a primer for going deeper into Snoop’s catalog, from the Death Row albums, to the No Limit albums, to his commercial comeback thanks to Pharrell, we break down his essential releases. Snoop's got a deep catalog full of albums stretching the limit of a CD's length, so we make it easy for where to go next.
這張唱片常常被忽視,因為它是在Doggystyle推出兩年後發行的,當時對Snoop首張專輯的需求達到了巔峰。外部世界的影響進一步明顯:Snoop打贏了他的謀殺指控,Death Row正處於崩潰當中,而Snoop的名氣也讓他思考自己所擁有的權力。在Tha Doggfather中有很多值得批評的地方:在Dre暫時缺席的情況下,音樂製作前後不一,展現出90年代末期音樂的糟糕一面,聽起來有些荒謬。和所有Snoop的專輯一樣——但90年代的大多數專輯也是如此——這股臃腫感壓在心頭。但是在最佳狀態下,Snoop稍微提升了他的表現,同時進一步展示了他作為年輕OG的老練。而這次,Tha Dogg Pound僅在必要的時候出現,沒有讓人分心,讓Snoop的表現得以發揮。簡單地減少曲目列表本可以讓這張專輯有更好的評價;對於兩年的努力,這是一項值得重新檢視的可敬之作。