Released January 15, 1994 Recorded 1993 | Format 12-inch single Length 3:31 | |
Genre G-funkwest coast hip hopgangsta rap Label Death RowInterscopeAtlantic |
"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' endoSippin' on gin and juiceLaid 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
Track listing
- Gin and Juice (Radio Version) (No Indo)
- Gin and Juice (Radio Version)
- Gin and Juice (Laid Back Remix)
- Gin and Juice (Laid Back Radio Mix)