Snoop's scrapped 1997 EP, Doggumentary

[sweetdudejim]

Naw, it wasn't intended to be disrespectful I just had a couple follow up questions so I wanted to see if you were old enough to remember some of the liner notes and the other stuff going on at that time...The other thing I completely gaffed on haha but I'll message you as soon as I remember.


Nate was never officially signed to Death Row apparently. His original album that was being promoted was called 'Dogg of a Different Breed'...The lead single was "Never Leave Me Alone"....things got hectic at the row at this time and affected many of the planned releases, specifically Nate's, Rage's and Doggumentary. Dre left, Pac passed, Snoop was getting shit for not having Pac's back the way some felt he should and he was sort of black balled or a target from some rivals. He was technically not under contract and then was hosting for Power 106 I believe and releasing premiere's as part of his employment there. I'm not certain, but I think this was to help keep him afloat during all the uncertainty. I think it was Damizza that set it up. Eventually, things got hotter, he made his way south to get away for a bit, linked with Master P, who did the deal with Suge. (Similar situation that Suge did for Dre at Ruthless).


Tha Doggfather struggled out the gate commercially and Midnight Love was produced by Daz (Now Death Row's overseer) to spark sales. It was a closer sound that Snoop's fan's became used to.


Dogg of a Different Breed was taken/stolen and expanded to 2-Discs to become G-Funk Classics Vol. 1&2. It's an incredible album but was never officially released in the States like Scitt mentioned. Many of the songs are poorly mixed and mastered and were likely demos/scratch takes that they just ended up releasing.

Hey...sorry for lashing out. I figured you meant it in a fucked up way. My b.

While I get that things got crazy at Death Row after Tupac's death and Suge going away, I still don't understand why the projects that were ready to go couldn't just move forward. As we know, Nate's G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 was pressed and ready to go, I remember seeing the single for "Never Leave Me Alone" in a department store in like late '96 or '97. I'm pretty sure he had interviews in The Source and probably other stuff. The album was ready for release. Then.....nothing. Until he go the rights and put it out, along more new recordings, as G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 & 2.

Now as far as Snoop, are you kinda insinuating that things weren't alright between Snoop and the rest of the Death Row camp after Tupac's murder? Cuz I mean, I just don't get why they wouldn't be pushing their number one living artist, right after his second album was released. I don't see how Doggumentary wouldn't have helped both Snoop and the label. As I said before, I think "Midnight Love" had a shot at being a nice pop hit. I don't necessarily think it would've changed the trajectory of Death Row, and likely Snoop (and Daz and Kurupt and Soopafly and whoever else) woulda left the label anyways.

Anyways, so yeah I'm 41 and was paying close attention back in those days. However, I didn't use the internet until 1998 or so, so I admit I was a little clueless on any of the rumors that might've been floating around back then. My main source for news on hip-hop in those days was MTV, BET, The Source and probably Vibe.

[D-TalkX]

No worries at all, definitely poor wording on my part. My bad. We're both 41. I miss The Source and XXL...had to have them back then. This site, WCRYDAZ and a few of the Dublin affiliate websites had a ton of the 411 on the inter web around 1998/99 as well. The Welcome to Death Row documentary was really good.


Biggest reason why the projects couldn't move forward as is, are the rights/publishing/contracts etc. Death Row would have owned the masters so they wouldn't give clearance to an artist that was leaving or already left the album. That's why at this time there was a lot of recycled lyrics/verses. The labels would have owned the master recordings of the original songs but in this case, they would not have had much, if any, control over the writing/publishing. Snoop "officially" released Buss'n Rocks on Top Dogg but had the original version on Smokefest. There were a lot of recycled lyrics on different independent projects (DPGC U Know What I'm Throwin' Up) as well as features for different labels. Snoop recycled verses on JD's 1472 as well as a number of other projects. Ride On/Caught Up and then on a number of No Limit releases. Also Bad Azz's 'Word On Tha Streetz".

Do you have the Smokefest album? One of my favs with a number of tracks produced by Daz, DJ Pooh etc. I don't recall for sure, but I think LT Hutton did some work as well.

I don't know first hand what the exact relationships were with Snoop and Death Row affiliates but from what I could deduce, everything was a disaster. It was like the fall of Rome...A number of ppl have commented that the money was the usual root of all evil and it interfered with everything. Throw Dre leaving, 2Pac's death and "street related" beefs in to the mix and it was a ticking time bomb.

Dogg of a Different Breed was pushed back for a number of reasons but I think a lot of it had to do with contractual stuff between Nate and Death Row. You're definitely right about the singles and the promos that were going on. I don't believe there was ever a specific release date, but Death Row's typical "Coming Soon" or Coming in 1997" type thing. I'm not certain on that though. Things were definitely messy. Suge would have gone to jail not long after and the executives that were left in charge, couldn't put things back together.

Lot of people weren't happy with Snoop and the interview he did regarding Biggie either. Some still aren't (Young Noble).

Eventually, Nate broke ties, Kurupt left, Daz was one foot in, one foot out, then eventually left after RR&G was released, worked/studied with JT Tha Bigga Figga, then started DPG Recordz. Soopafly and Rage both had projects underway and ended up staying for the time being. I think all of this drama and shit resulted in Death Row either losing or not renewing their distribution. Some stuff was done through Universal and then Priority (this is where the Cube/Mack 10/Hoo Bangin' stuff came to be I believe.)