Liner Notes · No. 010
"Nuthin' but a "G" Thang" by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg: the B-side
Quick hall pass: the song that lost #1 to "Informer" got its own movie, a biopic scene, a Super Bowl cameo and a cumbia makeover. Here's the B-side.
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
A movie theme, a biopic and a Hall of Fame list
It became the theme of The Wash, a studio scene in Straight Outta Compton and a Rock Hall pick. Your rap-skeptic uncle remains wrong.
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The movie: In 2001, Dre and Snoop retooled the song into the title theme of The Wash, a comedy they also starred in. When your song is big enough, you don't license it to a movie. You make the movie. Most of us just made a mixtape for our crush.
The biopic: In 2015's N.W.A movie Straight Outta Compton, Snoop (played by Lakeith Stanfield) is shown working the song out in the studio. Somewhere a 1993 kid in a Starter jacket watched that scene and felt very, very old.
The paperwork: It's on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. A rap song shaping rock and roll. Your uncle who said rap "wasn't real music" would like a word. He's wrong, but he'd like a word.
Before you flip the tape, one question about that week in March 1993.
Which song kept "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" from #1 on the Hot 100 in March 1993?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- Live: the Up in Smoke Tour, Coachella 2012 (the hologram year), and a cameo inside the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show.
- Covers: a Colombian cumbia version, an Alien-movie parody, and Snoop's own 1998 sequel.
- Where Dre and Snoop are in 2026: a reunion album, the Olympics and a biopic on the way.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
44 cities, a hologram night and the Super Bowl
A 44-city tour, the Coachella night of the Tupac hologram, and a Super Bowl halftime where a few seconds of the beat did the job.
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The tour: Summer 2000, the Up in Smoke Tour: Dre, Snoop, Eminem and Ice Cube, 44 cities. The song lived in the Dre and Snoop part of the show, and the tour grossed more than $22 million. Meanwhile your summer 2000 highlight was a frosted-tips haircut. We have the photos.
Coachella: April 15, 2012. Dre and Snoop closed the festival's first weekend and went from "Deep Cover" straight into "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" early in the set. It was the same night as the Tupac hologram. Warren G and Kurupt also paid tribute to Nate Dogg, who had died the year before.
The Super Bowl: February 13, 2022, the halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Dre and Snoop opened with "The Next Episode," with an instrumental snippet of this song worked in, then went on with Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent. A few seconds of the beat was all it needed. Thirty years later, the song still works as a cameo.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
Cumbia, a sequel and a xenomorph
A Kris Kross sample, Snoop's own sequel, a Colombian cumbia and an Alien parody. Play them below, then vote.
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- 1993 · Kris Kross, "I'm Real." According to Wikipedia, the duo heavily sampled it on "I'm Real," a single from their second album, Da Bomb, released the same year as the original.
- 1998 · Snoop Dogg, "Still a G Thang." Snoop's own sequel, five years on, with the title as a callback. When you can't top it, you number it. Hollywood's been doing this forever.
- 2011 · Quantic y Su Conjunto Los Miticos del Ritmo, "Dre en Cumbia." A Colombian cumbia version from the Hip Hop En Cumbia EP. It premiered on NPR's Alt.Latino. Accordion beats talk box. Fight us.
- 2017 · How It Should Have Ended, "Nuthin' But an Alien." A parody that runs through the whole Alien movie series in Dre's style, made to hype Alien: Covenant. In space, no one can hear you lean back.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which G Thang wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where Dre and Snoop are now
Dre produced most of Snoop's Missionary, their first full album together since 1993. Snoop's on album 22, and a biopic is slated for 2027.
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The reunion: On December 13, 2024, Snoop released Missionary, produced in large part by Dre. It's their first full album together since Doggystyle in 1993, and it debuted at #20 on the Billboard 200. Thirty-one years between albums. Your gym membership has had a shorter gap.
Snoop, everywhere: In February 2026 he was NBC's special correspondent at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and the first honorary Team USA coach. On April 10, 2026, he released his 22nd studio album, 10 Til' Midnight, on Death Row and Gamma. Twenty-two albums. Most of us can't finish 22 push-ups.
Dre, back home: In May 2026, Dre and Kendrick Lamar reportedly attended a groundbreaking at their old Compton high school. And a Snoop biopic is slated for 2027. Somebody start casting the Starter jackets.
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