Puneet Varma (Editor)

Gin and Juice

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Released
  
January 15, 1994

Recorded
  
1993

Format
  
12-inch single

Length
  
3:31

Genre
  
G-funk west coast hip hop gangsta rap

Label
  
Death Row Interscope Atlantic

"Gin and Juice" is the second single by rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg from his debut album Doggystyle. It reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, peaking at number eight. It earned a gold certification from the RIAA and sold 700,000 copies. "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 Songs of Hip Hop.

Contents

"Gin and Juice" was produced by Dr. Dre and contains an interpolation from Slave's "Watching You" in its chorus and a sample from George McCrae's "I Get Lifted" as its bassline; additional vocalists on the song include Dat Nigga Daz, Jewell, Heney Loc, and Sean "Barney" Thomas. "Gin and Juice" has been covered by other groups, including alternative country group The Gourds in 1996, lounge singer Richard Cheese in 2004, and comedians Naked Trucker and T-Bones in 2007.

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) is:

Rollin' down the street smokin' endo 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. 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, Money Makes the World Go Round, Get Money, and Foe Tha Love of $.

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 all angry and evicts 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."

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 "DPK", where Snoop, carried on the front of a bicycle, 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.

Covers/alternate versions

  • The Gourds covered "Gin and Juice" on their 1998 Gogitchyershinebox EP. It was re-released on their 2007 album Shinebox.
  • Hayseed Dixie covered The Gourds' arrangement of "Gin and Juice" in rockabilly style on their album "Grasswhoopin' Party Pack, Volume 2".
  • Lil' Mo sampled the song in her single "Gangsta (Love 4 the Streets)". The B-side includes a remix with new verses by Snoop Dogg.
  • Twiztid sampled the song in song "A Very Twiztid Christmas".
  • The Berlin Project covered the song on the band's first album Running For The Boarder in 1997. The song was one of the first songs to catch on in a viral nature via Napster
  • The Coup released an album titled Genocide & Juice
  • Richard Cheese covered the track on I'd Like a Virgin.
  • Sissy Bar cover the song on their Statutory Grape album.
  • Hot Rod Circuit did a cover of this song for Punk Goes Crunk.
  • Prince Fatty included a version as a bonus track on Survival of the Fattest.
  • Chubb Rock re-did this song on the album Old School, New Style.
  • Panic! at the Disco covered the song live on FNMTV with Snoop Dogg himself.
  • Lou Bega used the title in his worldwide #1 hit "Mambo No. 5".
  • 50 Cent referenced the line 'we don't love them hoes' in his song "Patiently Waiting" featuring Eminem.
  • Katy Perry also used the title in her song "California Gurls" which also featured Snoop Dogg himself. She later used the song in a video interlude on her Prismatic World Tour.
  • It was sampled by Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
  • Paul Simon covered the song during the 2010 Night of Too Many Stars on Comedy Central, accompanied by Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan.
  • Chamillionaire used the text phrase "With so much drama in the LBC. It's kinda hard being Snoop D O double-G" and changed it to "With so much drama in the industry. Hip-hop police are listening" for his chorus in the song Hip Hop Police.
  • Makiza sampled the song in song "La Rosa de los Vientos"
  • The Notorious B.I.G. used a modified version of the instrumental in his lesser known song "Road to Riches"
  • Demi Lovato sampled it in her song "Cool for the Summer" from her 2015 album Confident, using "with my mind on my money and my money on my mind" twisting it into "with my mind on your body and your body on my mind".
  • 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)

    References

    Gin and Juice Wikipedia