Album Of The Week (26 Oct)

You don’t come up making music that stems from hip hop culture without owing something to the Death Row/Interscope artists and producers, and you definitely owe a little something to the cult classic from The Dogg Pound, ‘Dogg Food’. Released three months late on Halloween day in 1995, the album was the subject of a shareholder protest by Death Row's distributor resulting in organisational restructuring. As the fifth project coming from Death Row (following the "The Chronic," "Doggystyle," and the "Above the Rim" and "Murder Was the Case"), it moved 277,500 copies in its first week on shelves and shot to the number one spot on the Billboard charts. Daz Dillinger and Kurupt have led two of the most turbulent careers in rap history, as Tha Dogg Pound, they worked with Death Row's successful musical blueprint established by Dr. Dre and engineered it to great results. "Dogg Food" is seventeen tracks deep mostly by Dat Nigga Daz, Dillinger’s production alias. 

Dogg Food is a blend of hip hop and futuristic funk. From the very first song “Dogg Pound Gangsta’s” Dre’s inspiration is heard all over Daz’s beats. As a duo Daz and Kurupt make it clear that equal priority is granted to the production and raps, resulting in an unusually balanced and complete product. It is littered with focused sounds, longwinded instrumentals, hilarious skits, appearances from Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Tray Deee, Lady of Rage, Big Pimpin' Delemond, Mr. Malik, Big C Style, and Val Young with additional production by DJ Pooh and Soopafly. The album “Dogg Food" is complete with sexually explicit and misogynist lyrics on album favourites "If We All" and "Some Bomb Azz" that critics of gangsta rap often focus on. Overall, "Dogg Food" is an essential debut from two can't-miss talents showcasing the best of their label, their city, and their coast in the great year of '95. 

References:

https://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_doggfood.html

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/classic-rotation-tha-dogg-pounds-dogg-food-news.18432.html