When the attention of any debate at hand turns to the quality of music today, you will often hear fans voice their opinion about how Hip Hop hasn’t been nearly as meaningful or as memorable as it used to be. The 1990’s marked a classic era of music in general and in that time several prominent names in the rap world began to make serious names for themselves.
 
Acts and individual performers like 2 Pac, Wu Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G., DMX, Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, and several others made lasting impressions in the music world that will not be forgotten anytime soon. When people look back to those times they often remark about just how different the music world was and long for days when that same excitement and hype will again remain consistent.
 
In 1992 the buzz on Calvin Broadus Jr., better known then as Snoop Doggy Dogg, was overflowing. Having then just aligned with Dr. Dre due to his relationships with Nate Dogg and Warren G, Snoop was on the verge of creating something truly memorable. The young West Coast rapper’s early contributions to Dr.Dre’s debut album, ‘The Chronic’ were definitely noticeable and word began to spread more and more.
 
Such intense exposure was most beneficial to Snoop and people began anticipating the release of his first album, ‘Doggystyle’, in November of 1993. At the time the record wasn’t fully embraced by everyone but it has since stood the test of time and is regarded as one of the premier albums of the 1990’s and one of the most important rap albums to ever be released. ‘Doggystyle’ would go on to debut at number on Billboard’s charts, selling an amazing 802,858 copies in its first week alone.
 
That period in time marked the beginning of a memorable ride for Snoop in the music industry, as he has since released eight solo albums and has the release of ‘Malice in Wonderland’ slated for later this year. Snoop has seen his share of ups and downs yet he has always found a way to persevere and remain relevant in terms of music.
 
A recent trip on the Project Covo forums lead me to come across a very interesting discussion concerning Snoop and the immense hype that was tied to him as an emerging artist in the early 1990’s. In their own words, the readers turned the clock back to a time when rap was different and Snoop was just about to crash their party. In their owns words, this is what the general public had to say about those early days of Snoop, his association with Death Row, whether or not other artists have been able to equal his buzz, and much more…

(James Jackson III))…
“I can still remember the 1st time I seen the video for ‘Who Am I’ with dukes introduction to the world off Deep Cover… to Snoop being the REAL reason Chronic was any good (everyone knows he ghostwrote that album for Gay Dre)…. to a year later when Doggystyle dropped. I was only like 12/13 at the time but goddamn…no rapper since has ever seen the hype Snoop saw… yeah that’. No rapper..not Eminem. not 50 Cent. not Jay Z. not Pac. not Big. not Nas. not Kanye. No Fucking One.”

(Strictly Street)…
“I bought the doggystyle cd the day it came out and I didn’t even have a cd player. only album that could match that hype was the wu-tang forever cd. school was empty the afternoon that came out.”

(Escobar Caesar)…
“Word… nothing could ever top seeing snoop ride the handle bars in the gin and juice video.”

(Niko 86)…
“Gin & juice was epic man, I wonder will rap ever be that exciting. people compare 50 and Snoops buzz. 50’s buzz wasn’t built on his music, it was built on his beef, on him getting shot 9 times & him talking reckless. Snoop’s was straight music, no publicity stunts. I wish I could go back to that era of getting excited about albums & the majority of albums being dropped were classics”

(Never-Lie Jenkins)…
“I don’t know man…when DMX first came out his hype was huge. I remember when 4,3,2,1 first dropped and X had his verse on there. I remember going to school the next day and everybody was like “yo who is that one dude…dude is sick!” lol. I knew when I seen that vid he was going to blow up…his delivery and style with the lyrics was just new and fresh.”

(Still DatShyt)…
“Wayne’s 08 buzz was bigger…the guy sold a million 1st week…snoop didn’t do that…”

(Danja29)…
“That Snoop sh*t was outta control… the only one I think came close to that was 50. I remember when Snoop hadn’t even dropped his own album yet, and my 40-something-year-old white music teacher was talking about how she was looking forward to that album. Sh*t was nuts. That to me was one of the first albums where everybody knew that sh*t. Lil’ kids, adults, teenagers, white people, black people, whoever. You were damn near surprised if somebody you knew didn’t know a song off that album.”

(TrifeKid)…
“Snoop was the only rapper in history to match his hype with his music.”

(James Jackson III)…
“yup… when the did the pac/dre/snoop/suge source cover and when the did the source awards where suge was like “any y’all dont want the producer…. all up in the videeooo… come to Death Row!! that incident… wasn’t until those 2 incedents transpired that people knew who suge really was… That’s when all the strongarming stories and sh!t started to come out… not when snoop was about to blow in 92/93”

(Papiflex)…
“biach snoops hype came from all the **** suge was doing behind the scenes that made people think Snoop was a real G.”

(Niko 86)…
“co-sign, the above, Suge was onthe low, all Suge cared about was his money & was heavy inthe business, & stealing eazy-e’s artists by convincing them their contract was fukked up, (DOC, Michelle etc),”

(CornerCommission08)…
“I know what snoop sold but I have yet to see a buzz bigger than when pac got out of jail and dropped all eyes on me……that time was insane…..”

(TUC2DaBoot)…
“Yeah it was definitely Snoop with that buzz… X is a kinda-distant 2nd, and 50 is a distant 3rd…And I don’t get Datshyt acting like Wayne sold a million… man if you wanna go by that, then Em with MMLP and 50 w/ The Massacre >>> Wayne’s Carter 3 buzz if you go strictly off sales w/o caring about the era it dropped in…Doggystyle was the most hyped album prior to release ever…”

(MegatronBomb)…
“snoop did 800k at a time where rap was still considered a fad and the internet didn’t exist. Snoop’s buzz>>>> any new rapper ever.”

(BusinessAsUsual)…
“I dont know fam…..its close my nikka..50 cent massacre was pretty crazy son..that fri sh it dropped was insane kust like snoop. I remember being in line at records shop who opened at midnight that mon to be open for the snoop **** and they dont do that for no one.real talk”

(StylesZeitGeist)…
“Marshall Mather LP sold 1.7million copies in its first week. That’s not including downloads or bootlegging. I think Eminem wins. Although Snoop is close. How about Nas? Dude got 5 mics without the album dropping.”

(TWEEZE)…
“you n!ggaz is on crack even high balling ass elites and martha stewart type people know who the fuk snoop dogg /snoop doggy dog iz lol…that n!gga did that $hit .you can never take that away from him or the west coast that n!gga had a hella of a buzz when doggystyle dropped…and prolly the main reson all you fakers want to be gang bangers cus I say he was like the man dude to bring that to the internatal spot
naw you cant fuk with snoop none of them n!ggaz metioned in this thread…pac iz very close though.”

(Slang Wright)…
“Yeah the buzz surrounding Snoop was unreal. I think the hip hop world was ready to explode waiting on that album. He had the biggest hype i’ve ever witnessed. A guy who came from outta nowhere. What makes his different is everyone, West and East coast was checking for him.”

Feel Free to Hit Chris up with Any Questions or Comments at Trimond@aol.com or www.Myspace.com/BoxingHarmony