“Nuthin But a G Thang” felt destined to become a timeless rap song. The addictive sample of Leon Haywood’s “I Want’a Do Something Freaky To You” almost sealed its fate before you even get to the interplay between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. It’s one of those rare, magical moments in hip-hop that show how beautiful the genre and culture can be.
But did Dre know at the time what kind of magic he had on his hands? Initially, the track went through a couple of different phases before it was ready to go. In a 2015 interview with Big Boy, the legendary West Coast producer recalled how the original sample was based on an old Boz Scaggs song.
Moreover, the original recording was Snoop rapping the song from prison. “He called in, and I take the receiver of the phone to the mic,” he recalled. “You can hear jail sounds in the back and everything, he’s ‘1, 2, 3 and to the 4…‘”
Dr. Dre shares when He Knew ‘Nuthin But a G Thang’ would make history
Through a bit of crate digging, Dr. Dre stumbled upon the Leon Haywood classic. Immediately, he figured it would be a better foundation for what “Nuthin But a G Thang” became. “Took that back, recorded the track, Snoop got out, and we recorded the song at my house. It was a bedroom that I converted into a studio at my house,” he continued. “That’s where the first half of The Chronic was made.”
But did he know that it would become a future classic? Upon making it, not necessarily. But watching how people reacted to it firsthand told him a lot. “I played it at a house party and everyone wanted me to rewind it and keep playing it,” Dre shared. “That’s when I knew it was special.”
While most people adored “Nuthin But a G Thang”, one British writer at the time absolutely loathed it. For Smash Hits magazine, journalist Mark Sutherland trashed the song with a 2 out of 5 star rating.
“Dr Dre, on the other hand, really is hard,” he wrote. “You can tell by the way he swears, refers to girlies as “b*****s”, and gets real-life tough guy Snoop Doggy Dogg to rap over his slow ‘n’ sleazy hip-hop. All of which helped it sell two million copies in the States, but still doesn’t make it a good record. In fact, it ain’t nuthin’ but a load of old rubbish, but don’t tell the Doc I said so.”
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