Evolution of "Tha Doggfather" LP - Death Row internal reference mixes + timeline

[Efrain]

Something I put together showing the evolution of Snoop's "Doggfather" album. All info is from internal Death Row label reference mixes which show the album from early conception and production (see: adding "strings", transferring to "multitrack", etc), to track selection and album finalization. Check the revolving door on the tracklists... it's pretty wild. "Head Doctor" and "C Walkin'" were there consistently and in the running up until the very last track selection; just barely making the retail. While other tracks like "Off the Hook", "Never Leave Me alone", "Into to the Indo", "Just Watchin" and "Street Life" were all considered at one point (and/or possibly recorded originally for this LP). Also interesting is that almost all of DMW and Snoop Doggy Dogg at his best, were, at one point in time, the core of this album. Really makes you wonder.       

PROPS to the person who hooked me up with the info, all credit to him.


At the least this will dead some of those Doggfather "original version" conversations lol. Anyways, check it out!

The Doggfather production timeline/tracklist selection and iterations:

DAT
String Date 3/21/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Walk The Walk w strings,
May I Funk w strings,
Dogg Father w strings,
I Will Survive w strings,
I will survive w strings & vocals,
Change Is Gonna Come w strings,
Wake Up w strings,
Dogg Father w strings,
Come On Home w strings,
Dogg Father Interlude w strings,
East Side party Instrumental w strings,
East Side Party w Vocals & strings

DAT
The Doggfather 4/3/96    
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Dogg Father,
East Side Party,
I Will Survive,
Change Gonna Come,
May I Funk With You,
Tommy Boy, Wake Up,
Walk That Walk,
Come On Home,
Never Leave Me Alone,
Street Life,
2001

DAT   
Tha Doggfather new 4/12/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Gangstas life,
Smoke enuff bud,
Dogg collar,
I will survive,
Eastside party,
Doggy land,
2001,
May I funk with you,
Change gone come,
Hit rocks,
Wake up,
Word on the street,
Too black,
Dogg father,
Too high,
Tommy boy,
Walk that walk

1/2 tape   
Edit Piece from DAT transfer to multitrack 4/12/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Gangstas life,
Smoke enuff bud,
Dogg collar,
I will survive,
Sastside party,
doggy land,
2001,
May I funk with you,
Change gone come,
Hit rocks,
Wake up,
Word on the street,
Too black,
Dogg father,
Too high,
Tommy boy,
Walk that walk

DAT   
The Doggfather Master Comp Safety 5/7/96 ***not for production   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Gangsta Life,
Smoke Enuf Bud,
Dogg Collar,
I Will Survive,
East Side Party,
Dogg Land, 2001,
May I Funk Wid You,
Change Gone Come,
This Rocks,
Wake Up,
Word Out The Street,
Too Black (no scratch),
Dogg Father,
Too High,
Tommy Boy,
Walk That Walk

DAT   
Tha Dogg Father copy 5/17/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Intro-Havent You Heard,
Up Jump The Boogie,
Six Minutes,
Me & My Doggz,
Doggyland,
2001,
Wake Up,
Word On The Streetz,
Change Gone Come,
Off The Hook,
Out Tha Moon,
Dogg Father,
Too Black,
Gold Rush,
Doggy Style 96,
Hits Rocks,
Gangsta Life,
Keep It Real Doggs,
May I funk wit you,
I will survive,
smoke enuf Bud,
Dogg Collar

DAT   
DAT Digital Copy 6/17/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Doggfather,
Up Jump The Boogie,
2001, Doggyland,
Me & My Doggs,
C Walkin,
6 Minutes,
Word on The Streets,
Head Doctor,
Wake Up,
Quite Oblivious,
Too Black,
Gold Rush,
Change Gone Come,
Hit Rocks,
Off The Hook,
May I Funk With You

DAT   
The Dogg Father 7/10/96 Safety   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Gangstas Life,
Whats My Name (remix),
I Will Survive,
Dogg Collar,
Street Life w Tupac,
Too High Poly High,
Tommy Boy,
Get Up To Get Down w Smitty & DeBarge,
Out The Moon w 2 Pac,
Bugsy,
Stone Cold Corleon,
Been So Long,
No Recognition,
County Blues,
Usual Suspects,
Droppin Bombs,
In The Rain,
In The Rain (remix),
Would You Kill 4 Me,
Party People,
Keep It Real Dogg,
Just Watchin'

Cassette   
Mixes 1 Masters Only 9/16/96    
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Conversation,
Downtown Assasins,
Gold Rush,
Head Doctor,
Wake Up,
Your Thought,
C Walkin,
Snoop Upside Ya Head,
Me & My Doggs,
Change Is Gonna Come,
Up Jump The Boogies,
Midnite Love,
Doggie Land,
Dogg Father,

DAT   
Snoop Dogg Master Compilation 9/25/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Conversation,
Downtown Assasins,
Gold Rush,
Head Doctor,
Wake Up,
Your Thought,
Snoop Bounce,
C Walkin,
Me & My Doggs,
Up Jump The Boogies,
Doggie Land, Vapors,
Dogg Father,
6 minutes,
Change Is Gonna Come,
Groupie, 2001 mix,
Snoop Upside Ya Head

DAT   
Snoop Dogg Album Final 9/26/96   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Up Jump,
Vapors,
You Thought,
Me & My Doggs,
Dogg Father,
Snoop Upside Your Head,
Head Doctor,
Gold Rudh,
Snoop Bounce,
Wake Up,
C Walkin,
Downtown Assasins,
Doggy Land,
Groupie,
2001,
Soldier Story,
Blue Berry

DAT   
Album final 9/26/96 Safety Copy   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Up Jump,
Vapors,
You Thought,
Me and My Doggs,
Dogg Father,
Snoop Upside Your Head,
Head Doctor,
Gold Rush,
Snoop Bounce,
Wake Up,
C Walkin,
Downtown Assassins,
Doggy Land,
Groupie,
2001,
Soldier Story,
Blue Berry

DAT   
The Doggfather 10/1/96    
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
Ride 4 Me,
Up Jump The Boogie,
Vapors,
You Thought,
(Tear 'em Off) Me & My Doggs,
Doggfather,
When I Grow Up,
Snoop Bounce,
Gold Rush,
Freestyle Conversation,
Down town Assassins,
Groupie,
2001,
Sixx minutes,
Hot Line,
Head Doctor,
Snoop Upside Your Head,
Traffic Jam,
Doggy Land,
Blue Berry,
Soldier Story   

CD   
Tha Doggfather commercial release   
Snoop Doggy Dogg   
intro,
doggfather,
ride 4 me,
up jump tha boogie,
freestyle conversation,
when I grow up,
snoop bounce,
gold rush,
tear em off me and my doggz,
you thought,
vapors,
groupie,
2001,
sixx minutes,
dj wake up,
snoops upside ya head,
blueberry,
traffic jam,
doggyland,
downtown assassins,
outro

[doggfather]

interesting.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Interesting how Snoop's Upside Ya Head ("Niggas in the game be doing way too much/ Acting tough with this East-West Coast stuff") didn't end up on any of the proposed tracklists until after Pac died.  Good read.

[HighEyeCue]

they took "Street Life" off very early...always thought it might have been a last minute decision not to have any Pac collabos on Doggfather

[DeeezNuuuts83]

they took "Street Life" off very early...always thought it might have been a last minute decision not to have any Pac collabos on Doggfather

Yeah... it went from having no Pac to three songs with Pac (Street Life, Out the Moon, Just Watchin) to no Pac again in three consecutive tracklist proposals.  But I wonder which proposed use of the song came first, this particular tracklist or the Gridlock'd soundtrack.  Again it makes me wonder more about the song, since there was talk before of it being strictly a LBC Crew/DPG song (which is likely the truth) intended for Haven't You Heard but with Pac added at Suge's suggestion to stir up more pre-release buzz (which is now what is questionable if this same version had a possibility of being on Tha Doggfather).

[Efrain]

Whoops, forgot to add this one too. Also interesting they were considering this as a maxi single for the album at one point...

DAT
The Doggfather Maxi Single  11/18/96
Snoop Doggy Dogg

Snoops upside ya head (remix)
Out the moon (w 2Pac)
Off the hook (w El Debarge)
Get up to get down (instrumental)

[Sir Petey]

[bouli77]

if that album had included Eastside Party, Too High, Street Life and May I instead of other lackluster songs (imo) which made it to the final tracklist, it would have been way doper. funny how most of the songs weren't in the early tracklists.

[Sir Petey]

as much as i enjoyed tracks liek downtown assasin etc they didnt mesh well with the sound of the album.

if it had a pac collabo or two on it and may i funk w you and  change gon come i think it would have made that album classic status

[Giesuz]

pretty interesting, i knew most of the DAT lists before but some where even new to me.

thanks for sharing!

i think the album would`ve been way better with another final tracklist (May I, Dogg Collar, Street Life, Just Watchin, Head Doctor, Change Gon Come all classic songs left off)

[lukeh]

as much as i enjoyed tracks liek downtown assasin etc they didnt mesh well with the sound of the album.

if it had a pac collabo or two on it and may i funk w you and  change gon come i think it would have made that album classic status

Yeah your dead right

[MarshColin]

if that album had included Eastside Party, Too High, Street Life and May I instead of other lackluster songs (imo) which made it to the final tracklist, it would have been way doper. funny how most of the songs weren't in the early tracklists.

Cosign. They definitely left some heaters off of there that would have made the album way better. Looks like Head Doctor would have been on there if they could have cleared the sample.

Thanks Efrain!

[MarshColin]

This info Efrain has provided us has made me think of a couple interesting points of discussion.

The "strings added" information is what particularly caught my eye. Most of the early Doggfather songs ended up on Smokefest and Dead Man Walkin. The versions on "Dead Man Walkin" all sounded complete with proper mixing and added instruments, especially STRINGS, when compared to Smokefest.

I always thought that Death Row had Big Hutch or one of the other in-house producers at the time go in and add those elements to the DMW album. After seeing the evolution of Doggfather I no longer believe that. The Smokefest bootleg must have consisted of mixdowns of those tracks that came prior to any of these Doggfather DATs, hence the lack of strings in most of those songs. So when Smokefest was released there were more complete versions of all of those songs in existence, but when Snoop released it he only had copies of the older mixes to use for it. Gold Rush was labeled "Lite Mix" on Smokefest which makes sense because it was really just a pre-mix version like the rest of the songs on there. It was the only song that had been previously released though so that's why it got "Lite Mix" attached to it.

DMW tracks must have just been taken straight off of one of the Doggfather Master DATs and not even really touched. Same goes for the Doggfather leftovers that appeared on "At His Best."

[Black Excellence]

interesting.

[bouli77]

DMW tracks must have just been taken straight off of one of the Doggfather Master DATs and not even really touched. Same goes for the Doggfather leftovers that appeared on "At His Best."

why would they put up fake credits mentioning additional work by Big Hutch on several songs ? makes no sense except if they wanted to hype Big Hutch's work up and give publishing rights to an artist affiliated to their roster at the time.