"Gin and Juice"
Single by Snoop Doggy Dogg
from the album Doggystyle
ReleasedJanuary 18, 1994 (1994-01-18)
Genre
Length3:31
Label
Songwriter(s)Calvin Broadus
Producer(s)Dr. Dre
Snoop Doggy Dogg singles chronology
"Who Am I? (What's My Name?)"
(1993)		 "Gin and Juice"
(1994)		 "Doggy Dogg World"
(1994)
Music video
"Gin and Juice" on YouTube

"Gin and Juice" is a song by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on January 18, 1994, as the second single from his debut album, Doggystyle (1993). The song was produced by Dr. Dre and contains an interpolation from Slave's "Watching You" in its chorus and a sample from George McCrae. Tony Green created its bassline; additional vocalists on the song include Dat Nigga Daz, Jewell, Heney Loc, and Sean "Barney" Thomas. "Gin and Juice" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It earned a gold certification from the RIAA and sold 700,000 copies.[5][6]

"Gin and Juice" was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. It was listed as number eight on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs".[7]

Critical reception

Stephen Dalton from NME wrote, "The Snoopster slopes back with a slinky low-rider of a groove and a spliffed-up wibbly-wobbly rap about smooching down the boulevard sipping happy juice in the sunshine. Slow, low beats and cheesy disco synth effects give a Parliament-style space-funk vibe, and Mr Dogg is obviously a cool drink of water on a hot afternoon, but his chilled-out musings are hardly a patch on Ice Cube's ultra-laid-back gangsta anthem 'It Was a Good Day'."[8]

Lyrics

The lyrics depict a party filled with sex, marijuana, and alcohol continuing into the small hours of the morning. The iconic chorus, sung by David Ruffin Jr (D-Ruff), the son of former Temptation David Ruffin is:[9]

Rollin' down the street smokin' indo
Sippin' on gin and juice
Laid back (with my mind on my money and my money on my mind).

One critic describes the chorus as representative of "the G-funk tableau" emphasizing cruising culture, consumption of depressants, and materialism.[10] The last line is an example of antimetabole, the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures. The focus on money is shared throughout hip hop, including It's All About the Benjamins,[11] Money Makes the World Go Round, Get Money, and Foe tha Love of $.[12]

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Dr. Dre, Calvin Caday and Anita Sisaath, also producers of 2Pac's "Dear Mama", features a teenaged Snoop Dogg throwing a wild house party after his parents leave. His parents return home angry and evict the partygoers to confront Snoop Dogg. Ricky Harris plays Snoop's father, and Dr. Dre, Warren G, Nate Dogg and Daz Dillinger make cameo appearances. Six-year-old rapper Lil Bow Wow plays Snoop's little brother who is jumping on the couch in the intro. "I was in the 'Gin and Juice' video," comedian Eddie Griffin recalled. "I pop out of this little Volkswagen full of weed smoke with my hair standing on end."[13]

The small-budget idea was later re-purposed in videos such as J-Kwon's "Tipsy" and Oowee's "Why Cry", which features Snoop and is a shot-by-shot remake of the "Gin and Juice" video. The music video was parodied in the video for "DPG/K", where Snoop, carried on the front of a bicycle by Daz, gets hit by a car driven by B.G. Knocc Out and Dresta, two of Eazy-E's protégés with whom Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre had feuds at the time.

In April 2005, the video was fourth on MTV2 and XXL's list of the 25 Greatest West Coast Videos. Snoop Dogg wears hockey jerseys of the now-defunct Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League and Pittsburgh Penguins (with the name and number 'GIN AND JUICE' 94 on the back) in the video.

Live performances

Snoop performed the song live at the American Music Awards of 1994 on February 7, 1994, and on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1994.

Track listing

  • 12-inch single
  1. "Gin and Juice" (Radio Version) (No Indo)
  2. "Gin and Juice" (Radio Version)
  3. "Gin and Juice" (Laid Back Remix)
  4. "Gin and Juice" (Laid Back Radio Mix)

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Gold 400,000‡
United States (RIAA)[28] Gold 700,000[29]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States January 18, 1994
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • cassette
 [28]
United Kingdom January 31, 1994
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [30]

Covers

"Gin and Juice" has been covered by other groups, including alternative country group the Gourds in 1996, lounge singer Richard Cheese in 2004, comedians Naked Trucker and T-Bones in 2007 and singer and actor Paul Simon in 2010, during the Night of Too Many Stars event hosted by Jon Stewart. In 2004, a radio edit version of the song (used because the original version had explicit lyrics not suitable for television at the time) was played by a group of homeless drug addicts on the radio as they mock the pompous Dr. Stegman on the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital by horror novelist Stephen King. The song was the cover version sung by The Gourds eight years prior to the miniseries' syndication.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The 30 best G-Funk tracks of all time". Fact Magazine. July 26, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Snoop Dogg: Bush". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  3. ↑ Spanos, Brittany (August 12, 2015). "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Hip-Hop Songs of the 1990s". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Snoop Dogg: Bush". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  5. ↑ "American certifications – Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice". Recording Industry Association of America.
  6. ↑ "Best-Selling Records of 1994". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 3. January 21, 1995. p. 57. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ "VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs". prefixmag.com. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (February 5, 1994). "Singles". NME. p. 43. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  9. ↑ Shapiro, Fred R. (2006), The Yale Book of Quotations, Yale University Press, p. 717, ISBN 0-300-10798-6
  10. ↑ Quinn, Eithne (2005), Nuthin' But a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap, Columbia University Press, p. 144, ISBN 0-231-12408-2
  11. ↑ Banfield, William C. (2004), Black Notes: Essays Of A Musician Writing In A Post-Album Age, Scarecrow Press, p. 138, ISBN 0-8108-5287-X
  12. ↑ Werner, Craig Hansen (2006), A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America, University of Michigan Press, p. 314, ISBN 0-472-03147-3
  13. ↑ Blender, 2004, precise date unknown
  14. ↑ "Snoop Doggy Dogg – Gin and Juice". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  15. ↑ "European Dance Radio Top 25" (PDF). Music & Media. May 7, 1994. p. 18. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Snoop Doggy Dogg – Gin and Juice". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week. February 12, 1994. p. 22. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  19. ↑ "The RM Club Chart" (PDF). Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). February 12, 1994. p. 4. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. March 26, 1994. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg | Awards | AllMusic". Allmusic. Retrieved June 30, 2016. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  22. ↑ "Snoop Dogg Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Rap Music: Top Rap Songs Chart | Billboard". Billboard. March 12, 1994. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Snoop Dogg Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  25. ↑ "1994: Year-End USA Charts (Singles)". Billboard.com. Retrieved June 12, 2009. (archived by Top40-Charts.com)
  26. ↑ "The Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Year End Charts 1994". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
  27. ↑ "British single certifications – Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice". British Phonographic Industry.
  28. 1 2 "American single certifications – Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice". Recording Industry Association of America.
  29. ↑ "Best Selling Albums and singles of 1994". Billboard. January 21, 1995. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Single Releases". Music Week. January 29, 1994. p. 25.
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