Death Row 50546
Producer: Dat Nigga Daz
Track listing: Intro / Dogg Pound Gangstaz / Respect / New York, New York (Tha Night I Served 2,000 M.C.?) / Smooth / Cyco-Lic-No (Bitch Azz Niggaz) / Ridin’, Slipin’ and Slidin’ / U Can’t Cee Me / Big Pimpin 2 / Let’s Play House / I Don’t Like to Dream About Gettin Paid / Do What I Feel / If We All Fuc* / Some Bomb Azz Pussy / A Dogg’z Day Afternoon / Reality / One By One (Subtracting Sucka Azz Niggaz from the Face of the Earth) / Soo Much Style
November 18, 1995
1 week
Months before the release of Dogg Food, Tha Dogg Pound was no stranger to controversy and the top of the charts. The duo, consisting of Delmar “Dat Nigga Daz” Arnaud and Ricardo “Kurupt the Kingpin” Brown, appeared on such hit albums as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle, and the Murder Was the Case soundtrack.
With such an impressive list of credits and connections — Daz is Snoop Doggy Dogg’s cousin — anticipation for Tha Dogg Pound’s album was already high when a political firestorm in May 1995 brought things to the boiling point. Senate majority leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole publicly attacked Time Warner for selling what he called “violent and sexually degrading” rap music. Other influential leaders, including former Secretary of Education and federal drug czar William J. Bennett and C. DeLores Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women, also applied pressure on Time Warner to divest itself of Interscope Records, the label that distributed Death Row Records, home to Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Tha Dogg Pound.
The pressure was so great that Warner Music Group chairman Michael Fuchs opted to sever ties with Interscope, leaving Death Row free to pact with the independent Priority label for distribution of Dogg Food.
While the anti-gangsta rap political forces were celebrating a victory, Tha Dogg Pound wasn’t going to go away. In fact, in the midst of the hoopla, the duo continued working tirelessly on the album, almost oblivious to the controversy. “It was just a campaign thing,” says Daz. “We didn’t give a fuck about that shit. We were just trying to get our album done.”
While Tha Dogg Pound was bound to have similarities to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle, Daz says each album is unique. “It’s all different coming from different areas,” Daz says. “We’re all different individuals, so we all have our own perspective.” Dr. Dre, who produced Doggystyle, served as co-executive producer of Dogg Food, along with Death Row CEO Suge Knight.
Although the album was originally scheduled to bow in July 1995, it wasn’t released until Halloween day, as the duo made sure to enjoy the sessions held at Can Am studios and Dr. Dre’s studio, known as Dre’s Crib. “There was all kinds of shit going on,” Daz says. “Late nights, phone calls, bitches, all kinds of shit. It was like a goddamn party in there. I like a lot of people around when I’m working. It all inspired us to do better.”
Hardcore rap fans didn’t need to be convinced. Like Doggystyle and Murder Was the Case, Dogg Food entered The Billboard 200 at Number One. Bob Dole, William Bennett, and C. DeLores Tucker had to be disappointed.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of November 18, 1995
1. Dogg Food, Tha Dogg Pound
2. Daydream, Mariah Carey
3. Cypress Hill III (Temple of Boom), Cypress Hill
4. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette
5. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins