Background
Though not quite matching the popularity of Dre's earlier hit, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", the single still did well commercially managing to reach number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1993 and number six, counting the 12 weeks spent, on the rap and hip-hop chart of that year's overall ranking. The song features a slowed-down interpolation of Funkadelic's "(Not Just) Knee Deep" as its bassline and features Jewell on vocals and RBX on chorus. An accompanying music video was directed by Dr. Dre.
The song was a diss track towards rappers Eazy-E, Dre's former accomplice from the group N.W.A.; Tim Dog, an East Coast rapper who slighted the whole West Coast rap scene; and Luther (Luke) Campbell, whose track "Fakin' Like Gangstas" from his debut solo album I Got Shit On My Mind, featuring JT Money from the group Poison Clan, was taken personally for making references to some of the popular rappers in the "gangsta" category. Snoop Dogg later made peace between him and Luke in the song "Hoez from Smokefest Underground". There were also some lyrics alluding to former N.W.A. rapper Ice Cube, who departed acrimoniously from the group in 1989 and ridiculed Dre on the track "No Vaseline", off his 1991 album Death Certificate album. "We gon' creep to South Central on a street knowledge mission," was a reference to Cube's production operation Street Knowledge Productions. However, by the album's release, Ice Cube was on friendlier terms with Dr. Dre, so the animosity toward him was downplayed; unlike Eazy-E and Luke, he wasn't parodied in the music video.
Read more about this topic: Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')
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