#83: Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (1993)

Zack: When this album came out, I was doing it puppystyle. It hearkens back to an era of West Coast G-Funk when gangstas ruled the rap scene and hoes knew their place. This album is packed to the brim with booze, drugs, and sex. The big single, Gin and Juice (coincidentally a must at any alcohol-fueled night involving Tanqueray), manages to pull off that trinity. He follows that up by repeating the trifecta in excess on just about every song and skit on the entire album. It's just that non-stop partying that really makes you wonder how Snoop has managed to maintain his string bean figure, even as he's slimmed down his name to just a single Dogg. As a hip-hop fan, I like to focus on the lyrical content above all other aspects of a rap song. Snoop leaves me hanging in that respect. But his signature flow is so slick (I thought about it for a long while and determined that smooth just isn't accurate enough) and the Dr. provides such a fantastic blend of beats that it makes up for it. At the end of the day, Snoop Doggy Dogg is one of the biggest and best pre-Tupac (if only slightly) West Coast rappers and has to be respected for advancing hip-hop to where it is today. Even if he has sold out a little (alright a lot. Pepsi man? Really!?), he was important in bringing rap music up to speed and still manages to drop strong albums all the way up to 2011's Doggumentary.
Favorite Tracks: Gin and Juice; Doggy Dogg World; For All My Niggaz and Bitches

Emily: Some of you may be wondering whether my newly burgeoning appreciation of hip hop was solidified by this album. Well, it wasn't. There's something about G-funk, or gangsta rap, or West Coast rap, that just doesn't fit with my broadening music tastes. Perhaps it's the subject matter, or just that I'm a white girl from the suburbs. Whatever the reason may be, my personal tastes do not prevent me from appreciating some aspects of Doggystyle. The beats are funky, the production is solid, and Snoop's flow is just chill to listen to. And, of course, who doesn't love the line "I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind"? Though I may not completely like or understand this album, I think it would go perfectly with some Tanqueray and dropping it like it's hot.
Favorite Tracks: Gin and Juice; Doggy Dogg World; Lodi Dodi