This is…
Excuse me a moment….
Okay, I’m good.
This is a west coast ass video. This is a Compton ass video, this is a Long Beach ass video, this is an L.A. ass video. This is crusing up and down Crenshaw, being out all times of the night and not coming hom until the sun is coming up, and having someone else drive your car because you are too far gone to do it yourself.
The beautiful thing about it is that it’s such a simple but effective video. Dre pulls up in the drop top to Snoop’s house. First of all, that dead ass grass in front of the house, and dudes hanging out in the front yard, I was immediately taken back to one of the neighborhoods I lived and played in. We have the following shot of sorts into the house, where 50-11 niggas are hanging about and running through the house and momma has the rollers in her hair, carrying a child and yelling at children, and the bum ass, I don’t know, probably an uncle or something because it’s always an uncle, who ain’t got a job but always worried about someone else’s job.
Seriously, why are all these people in this house? It takes me back to my granny’s house, because it seemed like my granny’s house always had people coming in and out of it and I am both happy and anxious at all these people being around.
Snoop and Dre go about their day, heading to a barbeque at a park, which, I miss those too, but too many guns about (and I am really thankful that this video didn’t end in that type of violence). Trigger warning, a woman gets her top pulled down (and even though I’ve posted the fully uncensored version of the video, the tiddies caught me off guard, I ain’t gon lie). Warren G rolls up a joint, a cute kid dances and they take off to an indoor joint where a stuck up woman gets sprayed with Olde English*.
Speaking of which, misogyny of the whole act of spraying this woman down with malt liquor because she isn’t really being friendly aside, who invited her? This question has plagued me for nearly 30 years. 30 YEARS MY NIGGA, 30 YEARS! What misguided soul looked at her, knowing fully well how she was and thought, “I think she’d really enjoy being at a hood spot.” Is this even her first hood spot? I want to know everything about this woman. What kind of occupation did she have? What kind of dudes did she deal with or want to deal with? Why do I feel like she pulled up in either a BMW or in a hooptie? Why did she come alone? What did she feel on the handrail of the step to make her draw her hand back in disgust? Where was she going in the video? Who was she looking for, the person who invited her?
This song was California Love status for me for a minute. Couldn’t really listen to it after listening to it so much (it was in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for God’s sake). I’m still not in a rush to listen to it again, but watching this video was fun.
*Olde English was my uncle’s malt liquor of choice back then.
