Snoop Dogg's classic debut album, Doggystyle celebrates its 20th anniversary today, and while this date will be an invitation to many to revisit the project, Snoop himself will likely not be among them-- considering he's never once listened to it through! Despite never sitting down to take in his own album, the rapper did have quite a few things to say about the project, including detailing the writing process of some of his favorite tracks, and explaining how the album set the foundation for everything he did later.
"I don’t believe I’ve ever listened to the whole album and I’m being honest with you." said Snoop in an interview with MTV. "I ain’t never listen to Doggystyle top to bottom. I may have listened to songs, but I’ve never listened to any of my projects top to bottom."
Snoop then explained how the way his debut was put together influenced his later work. "Back then it meant a lot because it was being able to stand on my own two feet and put out a project for the first and to actually be heard and seen for who I am individually." he said "Now what it means, it’s an accomplishment. Looking back at it, it was very well put together, it was standards, it showed me the way to do it, the only way to do it."
While the LBC rapper admitted that his albums have not all equaled the impact of Doggystyle, they could not have existed without it. "Even though I haven't always stuck to that high standard. But it gave me the blueprints of how to do it. Through my career, I've been able to put out projects that were strong and muscular like that, that were able to stand the test of time and become classics. I believe that project is what shaped the mode in me."
Snoop then offered some little know facts about 2 of his favorite tracks from the album. "Gz and Hustlaz was supposed to be a mic check." he revealed. "On that mic check I freestyled, and whatever came out is the record that you hear."
"Murder Was The Case" was a little less spontaneous. "[That] was kind of hard, because I was started writing on another beat. Once Dre gave me that beat, the story came to life."
Watch the full interview below.