Kendrick Lamar may have compared himself to the King of New York on his "Control" verse, but he's a West Coast rapper through and through. Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, one of the regions classics, celebrates it's 20th anniversary today, and to commemorate the album, K.Dot reflected on the project's influence in a review for XXL.
Lamar spoke of his introduction to the album, his favorite songs, and even went on to say that "there wouldn’t be a Kendrick Lamar without Doggystyle" (and we're pretty sure he wasn't referring to his parents' preferred sex position).
Read some excerpts from his reflection below.
On first hearing the album:
I actually listened to it when I was 6. Believe me, when you’re from Compton, Long Beach, Watts, South Central, Inglewood…that’s all they were playing around you as a kid. I couldn’t escape it. I remember seeing Snoop Dogg on this video station called The Box. Somebody kept ordering “Ain’t Nothing But A G Thang.” I watched videos a lot, so I was familiar with him.
On his favorite songs:
My favorite records are “G Funk Intro,” “Tha Shiznit,” “Pump Pump,” “Gz And Hustlas”… One of my favorite lyrics from the album is, “You’s flea and I’m the big dog/I’ll scratch you off my balls with my muthafuckin’ paws,” from “Doggy Dogg World.” It wasn’t the most complex line, but at the time, that’s all a 7-year-old could catch. I thought it was hard.
On the influence of the album on his own music:
I’m definitely influenced by that album. The structure. The cohesiveness. The skits. The flow. The melodies Snoop kicked. The raw raps. There wouldn’t be a Kendrick Lamar without Doggystyle. [What stood out about the album] was its sound. Albums that last that long have their own sound. It was nothing duplicated, that’s why it stood out. It was that G-Funk.