Dogg Food

Dogg Food is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Tha Dogg Pound. Its controversial lyrics were the subject of shareholder protest (the album was supposed to be released in July 1995, as a result of the controversy from Time Warner, the release was delayed for three months). The album spawned two singles -- "Let's Play House" and "New York, New York," featuring Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg, respectively. It landed on the top of the Billboard 200 chart producing a first-week sales of 277,500 albums. Though it eventually sold over 2 million records (2x platinum), Dogg Food did not equal the success of preceding Death Row Records releases (The Chronic and Doggystyle). It is one of the last high-selling and critically acclaimed releases from the label, preceding only Tha Doggfather and 2Pac's albums as an anticipated album, and is the last album to be "officially" produced under the G-Funk (sub-genre) era of hip-hop which was pioneered by Above the Law. Though Dr. Dre was Death Row's premier producer, the album was mostly produced by Dat Nigga Daz, Dr. Dre mixed the album; Dogg Food led the way for Daz to become the top in-house producer for Death Row until his departure in the late '90s.

In the months leading up to the albums release, Kurupt appeared on BETRapCity and announced that "Reality" (a song that features Tray Dee) would be the lead single for the album. However, this song was never released as a single for the album.

The video for the second single "New York, New York" sparked some controversy when Snoop appeared in the video kicking down buildings throughout New York. This led to a response record by Capone-N-Noreaga, Mobb Deep & Tragedy Khadafi called "L.A., L.A.", with a music video in wich impersonated Dogg Pound members were thrown off the Queensboro Bridge. The trailer of the Dogg Pound was also shot at during the process of making the "New York, New York" video. The song is one of three tracks on the album not produced by Daz, as DJ Pooh provided the beat.

The songs opening track contains a line of disrespect towards rival rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, as Kurupt raps "Ain't Got No Love For No Hoes In Harmony". Picking up from where the beef had previous left off between Dogg Pound mentor Dr. Dre, and Bone mentor Eazy-E. This is consistent with most the Death Row releases up to this point, as the Chronic contains the Eazy E disses on tracks 1 and 2, Snoop's Doggystyle contains the Eazy E disses in a conversation (skit) with Daz, and the Murder Was The Case album contains a Ruthless slight in the track "What Would You Do?"

The track "I Don't Like To Dream About Gettin' Paid" is a remake of an original track recorded by 213 (Snoop, Nate, Warren G) before they were famous, and Nate Dogg appears in the chorus of the track. 213 had two underground songs "I Don't Like To Dream About Gettin' Paid" and "Long Beach is A Mutherfucka" that are still to this day rare and unreleased.