Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss
Snoop Dogg's sixth album, marking a new partnership with Pharrell.
Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss (stylized as Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$) is the sixth studio album by American rapper Snoop Dogg, released on November 26, 2002, through Doggy Style Records and distributed by Priority Records. It was his first album after leaving No Limit Records and debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 174,000 copies in its first week. The album received platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America and has sold over 1,500,000 copies worldwide.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Snoop Dogg
- Released
- 26 November 2002
- Recorded
- 2001–2002
- Studio
- Doggystyle Records Studio
- Diamond Bar
- Los Angeles
- California
- Genre
- Hip-hop
- Length
- 78:58
- Label
- Doggy Style, Priority
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don Doggy | 0:42 | |
| 2 | Da Bo$$ Would Like to See You | Calvin Broadus, Jr., Eric Brooks, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson | 1:59 |
| 3 | Stoplight | Broadus, Jr., David "Jelly Roll" Drew, George Worrell, William Collins, George Clinton | 4:26 |
| 4 | From tha Chuuuch to da Palace (featuring Pharrell) | Broadus, Jr., Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Robert Kelly | 4:40 |
| 5 | I Believe in You (featuring LaToiya Williams) | Broadus, Jr., LaToiya Williams, Tony Cottrell | 4:34 |
| 6 | Lollipop (featuring Jay-Z, Nate Dogg, and Soopafly) | Broadus, Jr., Shawn Carter, Nathaniel Hale, Priest Brooks, Justin Smith | 3:48 |
| 7 | Ballin (featuring The Dramatics and Lil' ½ Dead) | Broadus, Jr., Larry Reynolds, Ron Banks, Tony Hester, Donald "Lil' ½ Dead" Smith, Kevin Gilliam | 5:19 |
| 8 | Beautiful (featuring Pharrell and Charlie Wilson) | Broadus, Jr., Williams, Charlie Wilson, Hugo | 4:58 |
| 9 | Paper'd Up (featuring Kokane and Traci Nelson) | Broadus, Jr., Jerry Long, Traci Nelson, Farid Nassar, Dennis Lambert, Duane Hitchings, Franne Golde, Eric Barrier, William Griffin | 3:49 |
| 10 | Wasn't Your Fault | Broadus, Jr., Lenton Hutton, James Harris III, Terry Lewis | 4:30 |
| 11 | Bo$$ Playa | Broadus, Jr., Nassar, Clarence Satche, Donald Campbell, Tyrone Crum, Keith Harrison, Ralph Aikens, Robert Neal, Roger Parker, Shy Felder | 5:53 |
| 12 | Hourglass (featuring Kokane and Goldie Loc) | Broadus, Jr., Long, Keiwan Spillman, Drew, Gregory Johnson, Larry Blackmon | 4:20 |
| 13 | The One and Only | Broadus, Jr., Christopher Martin, Clinton, Alvin Joiner, Andre Young, Brian Bailey, Charles Glenn, David Axelrod, David Spradley, Eric Sadler, François de Roubaix, Garry Shider, Keith Boxley, Leo Graham, Lorenzo Patterson, Melvin Bradford, O'Shea Jackson, Tracy Marrow | 3:49 |
| 14 | I Miss That Bitch (featuring E-White) | Broadus, Jr., Eric White, Cottrell, Jerry Butler, Marvin Yancy | 3:12 |
| 15 | From Long Beach 2 Brick City (featuring Redman, Nate Dogg, and Warren G) | Broadus, Jr., Reggie Noble, Hale, Warren Griffin III, Nassar, Harry Wayne Casey, Tom Browne, Adrian Sear | 3:43 |
| 16 | Suited n Booted | Broadus, Jr., Keith "Clizark" Clark, Cecil Womack, Mallia Franklin | 3:16 |
| 17 | You Got What I Want (featuring Goldie Loc, Ludacris, and Charlie Wilson) | Broadus, Jr., Spillman, Christopher Bridges, Wilson, Drew | 3:36 |
| 18 | Batman & Robin (featuring The Lady of Rage and RBX) | Broadus, Jr., Robin Allen, Eric Collins, Martin, Neal Hefti | 5:02 |
| 19 | A Message 2 Fat Cuzz | 1:40 | |
| 20 | Pimp Slapp'd | Broadus, Jr., Josef Leimberg, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Worrell, Collins, Clinton, David Blake, Norman Durham | 5:42 |
| Total length | 78:58 | ||
Track listing from the source article.
Did You Know?
- Rolling Stone gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, noting Snoop's flow over tracks by Hi-Tek and The Neptunes.
- Spin rated it 8 out of 10, calling it "the most spirited pop record of his career."
- Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A−, stating "Snoop is reborn, a gangsta rap granddaddy in recline."
Music
The album began Snoop Dogg's long-lasting association with Pharrell and The Neptunes. The lead single, "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace", produced by The Neptunes and featuring an uncredited guest appearance from Pharrell, was released on October 15, 2002, with a music video directed by Diane Martel under the alias Bucky Chrome. The second single, "Beautiful", also produced by The Neptunes and featuring Pharrell and Charlie Wilson, was released on January 28, 2003. Its music video, directed by Chris Robinson in Brazil, omitted Charlie Wilson. Pharrell later admitted he did not think the song would be a hit, stating that he sang "flat as fuck" and only added Charlie Wilson because Snoop loved the track.
Release
The album was announced to be re-packaged with six pre-released versions of different album covers, though only several tracks were not included on each. Snoop Dogg's release also contains a two-disc DVD called Boss Playa: A Day in the Life of Bigg Snoop Dogg. The first disc features three music videos for "Boss Playa", "Pimp Slapp'd" (both directed by Pook Brown), and "That's the Shit"; the second disc is a DVD named "Doggystyle Porn", which includes the song "You Like Doin It Too". These tracks later appeared in an unreleased project version of the album.
Controversy
In early 2003, Snoop Dogg faced a lawsuit from a man who said his safety was at risk after a voicemail he left for the rapper ended up on the album's final track, "Pimp Slapp'd," a diss song aimed at Suge Knight. The caller, identified in court only as John Doe due to security concerns, had left the 50-second message in October 2002 without knowing it would be used. On the answering machine, he was referred to as "Jim Bob." He demanded the album be pulled from shelves, claiming in legal filings that he had received verbal threats and feared for his life and his mother's because of Knight's ties to the Mob Piru Bloods and the fact that both he and Knight lived in Compton.
The case was dismissed in February 2004 on grounds of common law appropriation of voice and emotional distress, with the court ruling that privacy is not guaranteed when leaving a message on someone else's recording device.
Track listing
The track "Da Bo$$ Would Like to See You" borrows from Diana Ross's "It's My House." "Stoplight" incorporates a piece of Parliament's "Flashlight." Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" appears in "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace." "Ballin'" uses a portion of "Fell for You" by The Dramatics.
"Paper'd Up" takes from both Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full" and Dennis Edwards's "Don't Look Any Further." Cherrelle's "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" is sampled in "Wasn't Your Fault." "Bo$$ Playa" features a sample from Faze-O's "Riding High." Cameo's "I Just Want to Be" is used in "Hourglass."
Tyrone Davis's "It's You, It's You" appears in "The One and Only." Jerry Butler's "I'm Your Mechanical Man" is sampled in "I Miss That Bitch." "From Long Beach 2 Brick City" samples The Evasions' "Wikka Wrap." "Batman & Robin" samples "Batman" by TeeVee Toons, Inc. Finally, "Pimp Slapp'd" samples "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang, "Tonite" by DJ Quik, "Flashlight" by Parliament, and "Streets Is Watching" by Jay-Z.
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