"Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" is a song by American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

, featuring fellow American rapper

Snoop Doggy Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, on Dre's debut solo album, ''

The Chronic ''The Chronic'' is the debut studio album by the American hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It was released on December 15, 1992, by his record label Death Row Records and distributed by Interscope Records. Recording sessions took place in ...

'' (1992). The album's first single, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," reaching number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 20, 1993, behind "

Informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

" by

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, outperformed ''The Chronic''s other singles, "

Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')", or as a single titled "Dre Day", is a song by American rapper and record producer Dr. Dre featuring fellow American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, released in May 1993 as the second single from Dre' ...

", which peaked at number 8, and "

Let Me Ride "Let Me Ride" is a song by rapper and producer Dr. Dre, released in 1993 as the third single from his debut studio album, ''The Chronic''. It experienced moderate success on the charts, until it became a massive hit when Dre won a Grammy Award f ...

", which peaked at number 34. The single also reached number 1 on ''Billboard''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart, and was a hit in the UK, where it reached number 31. The song was selected by the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

as one of the 500 songs that shaped

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

. ''XXL'' magazine named it the top hip-hop song of the decade. The song samples "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" by

Leon Haywood Otha Leon Haywood (February 11, 1942 – April 5, 2016) was an American funk and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 1975 hit single "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You", which has been frequently sampled by ...

. In June 1994, it was reissued in certain European countries.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", directed by

, depicts Dre coming into

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

to pick up Snoop and go to a block party. Mingling at the party, they perform the first verses with a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

cookout and a game of

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

nearby. A female player's (Mercedes Ashley) bikini top is pulled down by "T-Dubb", an original member of the Long Beach rap group

Foesum Foesum is an American hip hop group whose members included T-Dubb, MNMsta and DJ Glaze. They recorded an album on Penalty/Tommy Boy Records called ''Perfection'', released on October 22, 1996. History In 1986, DJ Glaze and MNM created a DJ cre ...

, exposing her

breasts The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...

. For the next verses they go inside the house. A small sequence of events shows a snobbish female party-goer humiliated by being sprayed with shaken-up malt liquor. The video ends with Dre dropping Snoop off back at his house, with Snoop staggering up the driveway. The

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

edit censors nudity, drug paraphernalia,

Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper and producer known for his role in West Coast rap's 1990s ascent.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. Along with Snoop Dogg and N ...

with a

blunt Blunt may refer to: * Blunt (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name) * Blunt (cigar), a term used in the cigar industry to designate blunt-tipped, usually factory-rolled cigars * Blunt (cannabis), a slang term used in cannabis cult ...

, copyrighted logos, a

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

ball cap, and screen text. Many artists appeared in video, including

The D.O.C. Tracy Lynn Curry (born June 10, 1968), better known as The D.O.C., is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. In addition to a solo career, he was a member of the Southern hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew and later collaborated with ga ...

Daz Dillinger Delmar Drew Arnaud (born May 25, 1973), known professionally as Daz Dillinger (formerly Dat Nigga Daz and commonly Daz), is an American rapper and record producer. In the 1990s at Death Row Records, aided the catapult of West Coast rap and ga ...

Kurupt Ricardo Emmanuel Brown (born November 23, 1972), better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper and record producer who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo Tha Dogg Po ...

RBX Eric Dwayne Collins (born October 8, 1969) better known by his stage name RBX (standing for "Reality Born Unknown"), is an American rapper and songwriter from Long Beach, California. Early life and education Contrary to popular belief, Collins i ...

and

Suga Free Suga may refer to: * Suga, Iran, a village in Qazvin Province, Iran * Suga language, a language of Cameroon * Suga (rapper) (born 1993), South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer * ''Suga'' (EP), 2020 EP by Megan Thee Stallion * ''Sug ...

In popular culture

*In the 2015 biopic ''

Straight Outta Compton ''Straight Outta Compton'' is the debut studio album by rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987. Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988, the album was produced b ...

'', the song is shown being improvised by Snoop Dogg ( Lakeith Stanfield) and Dr. Dre (

Corey Hawkins Corey Antonio Hawkins (born October 22, 1988) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the TV series '' The Walking Dead'' and '' 24: Legacy'', as well as his portrayal of Dr. Dre in the 2015 film '' Straight Outta Compton''. In 2017, ...

Accolades

"Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" is listed in

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

. It is Dre's only song on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, ranked at number 419, not counting two other songs that feature Dre as a producer and on vocals,

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

's "

Fuck tha Police "Fuck tha Police" is a protest song by American hip hop group N.W.A that appears on the 1988 album ''Straight Outta Compton'' as well as on the ''N.W.A's Greatest Hits'' compilation. The lyrics protest police brutality and racial profiling ...

" and

Tupac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's "

California Love "California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring fellow American rapper-producer Dr. Dre and American singer Roger Troutman. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first sin ...

". ''

Q magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...

'' listed it as the 24th greatest hip hop song of all time and is featured in the game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. In September 2010 ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

'' included it at number 3 on their ''Top 200 Tracks of the 90s''.

Criticism

In 1998, CBS reported that Senator

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

(R-Kansas), who sought hearings in the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, said he was "concerned that the music industry is marketing its most violent and misogynist music to teens." The report added, "While industry executives assert that children are protected from this music, much evidence suggests that most hyper-violent albums are bought by children." Advisory labels were an outcome of the hearings. Musically, the funk orientation in hip-hop is often linked to "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" but its roots were laid by another rap group, Above the Law. "Nuthin' But a G Thang echoes Above the Law's Never Missin' a Beat" ic according to a 2016 article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Both groups interpolated the signature funk grooves of

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive fu ...

Track listing

* 1992 CD single # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Radio Mix) – 3:56 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (LP Version) – 3:58 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Instrumental) – 4:06 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Club Mix) – 4:38 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Vibe Instrumental) – 4:30 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Freestyle Remix) – 4:11 * 1994 CD single # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Radio Mix) – 3:56 # "Let Me Ride" (Radio Mix) – 4:22 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Club Mix) – 4:38 # "Let Me Ride" (Extended Club Mix) – 11:01 * 1992 12" vinyl # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Radio Mix) – 3:56 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (LP Version) – 3:58 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Instrumental) – 4:06 # "A Nigga Witta Gun" – 3:56 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Club Mix) – 4:38 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Freestyle Remix) – 4:11 * 1994 UK 12" vinyl # "Let Me Ride" (Radio Mix) – 4:22 # "Let Me Ride" (Extended Club Mix) – 11:01 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Freestyle Remix) – 4:11 * 1994 US 12" vinylImages for Dr. Dre – Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang
/ref> # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Radio Mix) – 3:56 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Red Eye Mix) – 4:25 # "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (Club Mix) – 4:38 # "Let Me Ride" (Radio Mix) – 4:22

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang 1992 songs 1992 singles 1993 singles Dr. Dre songs Snoop Dogg songs Death Row Records singles Interscope Records singles G-funk songs Songs about California Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Songs written by Snoop Dogg Songs written by The D.O.C. Songs written by Leon Haywood Songs written by Dr. Dre Songs about drugs