Today In Hip-Hop: Dr. Dre Releases ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’

On this day, November 12, in hip-hop history...

1992: Few songs are as representative to an entire movement of music as Dr. Dre's world-conquering single, "Nuthin' But A G Thang." Released in November 1992, Dr. Dre and his young protegé Snoop Doggy Dogg would drop an atomic bomb on the music industry with the release of "G Thang" that helped pioneer the burgeoning sound of G Funk, launch the successful, long-standing career of Snoop and powered Death Row Records into becoming the upstart rap record of the decade.

As the first single from Dre's massively influential 1992 album, The Chronic, "Nuthin' But A G Thang" would usher in an era of "G-Funk" or "gangster funk," a brand of smoothed out and melodic gangster rap music informed by the sound of George Clinton. The song would help to bring an era of commercial dominance by West Coast hip-hop in the early 1990s and power a growing Death Row Records to juggernaut status with the song's success. Meanwhile, the sing-songy single would also serve to help launch the popular career of Snoop Dogg - who was featured on and helped write the song - who would go on to become one of hip-hop's transcendent stars enjoying a career that continues on to this day.

21 years later, "Nuthin' But A G Thang" is widely considered one of hip-hop's greatest songs and one of the 1990s greatest musical artifacts. XXL would later name the record as the top hip-hop song of the decade.