"Bitches Ain't Shit" is the final song of Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic. Though never a single, it was an underground hit that contributed significantly to the album's sales.[1] In addition to Dre's verse, "Bitches Ain't Shit" also features Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt and singer Jewell.[2] It proved controversial due to its prevalent themes of misogyny.[3][4]
"Bitches Ain't Shit" was originally a hidden track, but was added to the cover art from the 2001 reissue onwards.[5] It was a last-minute replacement for "Deep Cover", which the label felt was too risky to release on The Chronic in the wake of the "Cop Killer" controversy.[6]
Bassist Colin Wolfe later recalled: "One day, I was alone in the control room and Dre and Daz were up in the back room, trying to mess around on the keyboard for the 'Bitches Ain't Shit' bass line. So I stepped in the doorway and I could hear what they were trying to do. I said, 'Man, look out, y'all trying to do this.' I straight did it, recorded it, and then I was like, 'Yo, I got another part,' and did the high Moog part right after that."[12]
Lyrics
The song opens with the lines:
Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks Lick on these nuts and suck the dick Gets the fuck out after you're done And I hops in my ride to make a quick run.
These lyrics have become well-known in pop culture and hip-hop history as an example of misogyny.[13][14][15]
Dre's verse was ghostwritten by the D.O.C., a rapper whom Dre discovered in Dallas and who helped him form Death Row Records.[16] It never directly comments on women, but is actually instead intended as a diss towards Eazy-E who is referred to as a "bitch" and by his legal name Eric Wright. The "white bitch" refers to manager Jerry Heller.[17] Both of these references do not diminish the misogynistic intent, but intend to demean Eazy and Heller by comparing them to women.
Daz's verse continues the anti-Eazy sentiment, while Kurupt's focuses more on his resentment of women and sex workers. Snoop's verse tells the story of being released from prison and learning that his girlfriend Mandy May has been unfaithful, then going to her house to seek revenge only to learn that his cousin Daz is the culprit.
Eazy would later retort to the song with "Real Muthaphuckkin G's", which became his biggest solo hit.[18]
Critical reception
The song, and The Chronic in general, was released in the context of a moral panic about rap music in which the Parents Music Resource Center's "Parental Advisory" labels became prominent, a court case which deemed 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be album obscene, the Rodney King riots, a backlash against gangster rap from Harlem preacher Reverend Calvin Butts[19] and a number of high-profile legal proceedings against rappers, including Tupac Shakur and Dre himself for his assault of Dee Barnes. In Harlem, T-shirts reading "Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks" were sold on the street as a response to Butts' attacks.[20]
Criticism of the genre began to target from not just the violent but also the misogynistic content. Kyra Gaunt's The Games Black Girls Play quotes a Black woman named Malike's opinion on the song from 1993: "I don't admit to liking it because it is downing women in everything that the song says. I shouldn't like it, but I love the song 'cause it's the jam." Gaunt then comments that "(Black) women appear to be dissociating themselves from the misogynistic lyrics, but their stance leaves them looking like they are afraid to criticize Black men in public. It also leaves them looking like their participation is all about the body, not the lyrics."[21]
When Snoop was later questioned about his use of the word "bitch" by Kevin Powell, he responded: "It's just a word, you know, that you grew up with. It's some shit that's hard to shake."[22] Ice-T later compared it to the words "nigga" and "ho", arguing that the context was important and adding that he had often heard women say "All men are dogs".[23]
In October 1993, rap journalist Dream Hampton called the song "the best on the best album of a pretty slow year."[25]
In 1999, rap magazine Ego Trip named "16 Memorable Misogynist Rap Music Moments" and put "Bitches Ain't Shit" at #2.[26]
In the 2006 film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Jadakiss said about the song: "This shit is entertainment. If it was so bad like that, Snoop wouldn't have no fans or nothing like that. Snoop has been talking that 'Bitches Ain't Shit' shit since the beginning of time. (Women) want to hear that. They the main ones out there."[27]
In 2008, The Source chief editor Kim Osario recalled: "Once Snoop said, 'Bitches ain't shit,' it was a wrap for us."[28]
In a 2012 article commemorating the album's 20th anniversary, Billboard commented that misogyny is the album's elephant in the room and that "women are treated like disposable sperm receptacles".[29]
Answer songs and remixes
In 1999, Trina recorded an answer song called "Da Baddest Bitch" with the line: "Niggas ain't shit but hoes and tricks/Lick the pearl tongue, nigga, keep your dick/Get the fuck out after I cum, so I can hop in my coupé and make a quick run". In 2000, Lil' Kim also answered with "Suck My Dick": "Niggas ain't shit, but they still can trick/All they can do for me is suck my clit/I'm jumping the fuck up after I cum/Thinking they gon' get some pussy, but they gets none".[30]
In 2001, Dipset's mixtapeDiplomats Volume 1 offered a synthesis, "Bitches Ain't Shit (Remix)". In 2010, Boosie's mixtape Gone Til' December included "Niggas Ain't Shit". In 2011, YG's mixtape Just Re Up'd featured a new version of "Bitches Ain't Shit" with Tyga and Nipsey Hussle that samples the original and reached #90 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of these notable versions, "Bitches Ain't Shit" has been sampled many times over the years and has become a pop culture staple.
The Ben Folds version of "Bitches Ain't Shit" was first released as the B-side to his 2005 single "Landed". It was also later included on Supersunnyspeedgraphic and as a bonus track on the vinyl edition of Songs for Silverman.
Folds' version is a new composition featuring melancholy piano chords in a minor key, and in which only Dre and Snoop's verses feature. He originally wanted to cover Public Enemy's 1990 song "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya, Man" but found it "too symmetrical for a good melody". He then settled on "Bitches Ain't Shit", feeling it had similarities with a country song by Johnny Cash or a scene from a film by Quentin Tarantino.[33]
Folds' version drew criticism both for amplifying the misogyny of the original and for his intact use of the word "nigga", as he is a white man. While opening for John Mayer in 2007, Folds' performance of "Bitches Ain't Shit" was often booed by the audience. He would spitefully respond by playing it again or even a third time.[33] Folds later noted that the mostly white audiences were in his view offended only by "the dick-sucking stuff... Those white people were not concerned with the N-word at all. But me saying profanity, that’s simply something they don’t approve of. It’s not something that makes them feel bad."[34]
In 2012, L.V. Anderson wrote in Slate that Folds' cover "was part of an ugly mini-trend (of ironic hip-hop covers) in alternative pop... this bit of quasi-minstrelsy ostensibly pokes fun at Folds’ whiteness, but comes across as sneeringly chauvinistic".[35]
By 2019, Folds had decided to stop performing the song. He explained:
I don’t play it anymore because things are so explosive in the United States. It’s not that I fear inciting an explosion of sorts, it’s that I feel bad for anyone who isn’t white, who would have to experience that. It wasn’t like that when it came out. When it came out, I remember bouncers - big black dudes with bald heads standing right in front of me while I’m playing - they'd hear the lyrics to Dr Dre and they’re like, yeah! They thought that was great. Not so much now...
The song just had to be stopped. I had to stop playing it because - and I’ve had a lot of African-Americans tell me this - they don’t like to go out to big events with lots of white people. That made me think about a time when I looked down [into the audience] and we’re playing Bitches Ain’t Shit, and I saw a black couple pretty near me, and I’m like, how would I feel with the whole audience singing the N-word? Yes, 10 years ago it wasn’t a big deal, but now it is a big deal, because they’re being especially targeted. The N-word in this environment - no matter how ironically said - makes someone feel the divide, makes them feel like others are looking down on them.[34]
I’d like to apologize for putting it out and readjust course. For all the turmoil of 2020, this moment in our history affords us a once in a lifetime opportunity to become more aware, and admit when we’ve been part of a problem, so we can instead be part of the solution.[36]
Notes
↑ Baker, Soren (2018). The History of Gangster Rap.
↑ Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Gabe Alvarez, Jeff Mao & Brent Rollins, eds., Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2014), p 237.
↑ Anderson, Joel (20 November 2019). "The Reverend of Rap". Slate. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
Andre Romell Young, known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of Death Row Records. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1984, and later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy production.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group formed in Compton, California. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential acts in hip hop music.
O'Shea Jackson Sr., known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popularity, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
The Chronic is the debut studio album by American record producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It was released on December 15, 1992, by his record label Death Row Records along with Interscope Records and distributed by Priority Records. The recording sessions took place at Death Row Studios in Los Angeles and at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood.
Doggystyle is the debut studio album by American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. It was released on November 23, 1993, by Death Row and Interscope Records. The album was recorded and produced following Snoop Doggy Dogg's appearances on Dr. Dre's debut solo album The Chronic (1992), to which Snoop contributed significantly. The West Coast style in hip-hop that he developed from Dre's first album continued on Doggystyle. Critics have praised Snoop Dogg for the lyrical "realism" that he delivers on the album and for his distinctive vocal flow.
Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle) and 2Pac during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US $150 million a year.
Delmar Drew Arnaud, known professionally as Daz Dillinger or simply Daz, is an American rapper and record producer. As a member of Death Row Records in the early 1990s, he is credited with the label in pioneering West Coast hip hop and gangsta rap for mainstream audiences. Alongside Kurupt, he formed the hip hop duo tha Dogg Pound in 1992, with whom he has released eight albums.
Tha Dogg Pound is an American hip hop duo composed of West Coast rappers Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. They were among the first acts to sign to Death Row Records in 1992.
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Tracy Lynn Curry, better known by his stage name the D.O.C., is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Dallas, Texas. Along with his solo career, he was a member of the Southern hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew, and later co-wrote for and collaborated with the gangsta rap group N.W.A and Eazy-E. He has also worked with record producer Dr. Dre, co-writing his solo debut album, while Dre produced Curry's debut studio album, No One Can Do It Better (1989), which was released by Eazy-E's Ruthless Records in a joint venture with Atlantic Records. With Dr. Dre and record executives Suge Knight and Dick Griffey, Curry co-founded Death Row Records in 1991, which has signed artists including Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
"Gin and Juice" is a song by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on January 18, 1994, as the second single from his debut album, Doggystyle (1993). The song was produced by Dr. Dre and contains an interpolation from Slave's "Watching You" in its chorus and a sample from "I Get Lifted" by George McCrae. Tony Green created its bassline; additional vocalists on the song include Dat Nigga Daz, Jewell, Heney Loc, and Sean "Barney" Thomas. "Gin and Juice" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It earned a gold certification from the RIAA and sold 700,000 copies.
"Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" is a song by American rapper Dr. Dre, featuring fellow American rapper Snoop Dogg, on Dre's debut solo album, The Chronic (1992). As the album's first single it reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 20, 1993, behind "Informer" by Snow, outperforming The Chronic's other singles, "Fuck wit Dre Day ", which peaked at number 8, and "Let Me Ride", which peaked at number 34. The single also reached number 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and was a number 31 hit in the UK. Its music video was directed by Dr. Dre himself.
"Real Muthaphuckkin G's," or "Real Compton City G's" in its radio edit, is a diss track released as a single in August 1993 by American rapper Eazy-E with guest rappers Gangsta Dresta and B.G. Knocc Out. Peaking at #42 on Billboard's Hot 100, and the most successful of Eazy's singles as a solo artist, it led an EP, also his most successful, It's On 187um Killa. This diss track answers Eazy's former N.W.A bandmate Dr. Dre and his debuting, guest rapper Snoop Dogg, who had dissed Eazy on Dre's first solo album, The Chronic.
"Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')", or censored as a single titled "Dre Day", is a song by American rapper and record producer Dr. Dre featuring fellow American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and uncredited vocals from Jewell released in May 1993 as the second single from Dre's debut solo album, The Chronic (1992). "Dre Day" was a diss track targeting mainly Dre's former groupmate Eazy-E, who led their onetime rap group N.W.A and who, along with N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller, owned N.W.A's record label, Ruthless Records. In "Dre Day" and in its music video, which accuse Eazy of cheating N.W.A's artists, Dre and Snoop degrade and menace him. Also included are disses retorting earlier disses on songs by Miami rapper Luke Campbell, by New York rapper Tim Dog, and by onetime N.W.A. member Ice Cube, although Dre, while still an N.W.A member, had helped diss Cube first. After "Dre Day," a number of further diss records were exchanged.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry is a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. A focal point of the rivalry was the feud between East Coast–based rapper the Notorious B.I.G. signed by Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur signed by Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered in drive-by shootings within six months of each other, after which the feud entered a truce with a "peace" summit in 1997 at the behest of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Denise "Dee" Barnes is an American rapper and former Fox television personality who performed in the West Coast hip hop female duo Body & Soul and hosted a radio show on KDAY, prior to gaining wider fame as the host of Fox's hip hop show Pump It Up!, a weekly FOX TV rap music series on air from 1989-1992, according to IMDb.
The following list is a discography of production by American rapper and hip hop producer Dr. Dre. It includes a list of singles produced, co-produced and remixed by year, artist, album and title.
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