Some people claim this to be an unreleased demo featuring tracks recorded prior to his signing/joining with Death Row. Although I saw this floating around on various bootleg sites recently I was hesitant to post it. Same way I’m hesitant to share anything from those bootleg sites. I’m starting to get over it though. Actually, I think I’m starting to see the benefit of more transparency with the bootleg scene. Ultimately, artists can’t face their competitors if they can’t see them. In addition to that, I’m just sick of these corny wannabe mp3 blogs selectively posting rips and trying to come off like something special. Peace to Omer Saar for reminding me about it this morning. via Bay On Top, by way of The Hip-Hop Collection
Snoop Doggy Dogg – Over The Counter
When Snoop was talking with Cold 187 he was promised a deal. So Snoop waited….. and waited….. and waited. Nobody ever got back with him. In result, Warren G took 213 to Dre. After Dre heard “Sooper Dooper Snooper” he hooked up with Snoop quickly. About the same time, Cold 187 called Snoop. He told him they had a song ready for his vocals called “Never Missin’ A Beat” (the first minute or so of that track was to be for Snoop). But it was too late, Snoop turned him down. Another song “Pimpology 101” was intended for Snoop. Those two tracks were slapped on the album at the last minute as instrumentals.
So Snoop was with Dre. Dre was very, very, very impressed by Snoop’s smooth, calm, and charismatic demeanor. He wanted an album out immediately. So they went to work. Although, they failed to realize that they had no way of distributing the resulting album. At that time very late in 1991 Dre & Suge managed to hook up a weak deal directly with Time Warner. But the problem was that Dre was rushing everything before it was legal. Death Row was not yet officially a Record Company. It was more like a Record Organization of Dre’s respective partners.
So, Dre and Snoop record a few songs featuring many of the labels early artists such as RBX, CPO, D.O.C., Chocolate and everyone else. It featured producers such as Dre himself, Warren G, Chocolate, and DJ Glaze. Not all the songs were created at Death Row though. Some were recorded during Snoop’s wait on Cold 187 and before Snoop’s introduction to Dre. A couple were songs that Snoop really liked and wanted to include, recorded with Dj Glaze and Foesum in early 1991 that otherwise would never have been heard. He wanted these songs included also because he had hoped to bring the group Perfection (Foesum) onto Death Row because they were desperately searching for a stable deal. They were the only group that were apart of Snoop’s cirlce that never got their chance like RBX, Daz, Kurupt, and Malik got. Due to Foesum’s contracts with their record company and due to their own unorganized practices, they were never given a chance by Dre. “Let’em Understand Perfection” was the only chance they were given on Death Row.
Time Warner was not legally capable of Distributing the album, so it was shelved. Only promo tapes were pressed and given to LA radio station but never given authorization to play it. But knowing them they played the shit anyway. The song “Do You Remember” was the song most played by radio stations before they were stopped.Tracks Included:
“Let’Em Understand”
—-Before recording the Chronic, Snoop did a collaboration with the fellow Long Beach group Foesum (formerly – Perfection) which consisted of T-Dubb, MNMsta, DJ Glaze, Tender D (Waniac), Mellow D (Tripp Loc) and Travvy Trav (who died soon after the group formed). This is that song. It was aimed at Long Beach rapper Domino as a diss track for leaving the group early in the group’s career. It was also featured on the “Please Pass The Mic” compilation a long time ago. This was really Foesum’s chance to prove themselves to Dre. But Dre wasn’t feelin’ them. In the song “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” Snoop refers to this song
-“Perfection is perfected, so I’ma let’em understand”.“The Message”
—-This song was recorded with DJ Glaze before Death Row.“187” (“It’s On”)
—-This was the original inspiration for Deep Cover. It was going to be on the Deep Cover soundtrack, but they replaced it with Dre’s version, when Dre realized that he needed to come out first. On the first press of early Deep Cover cassettes it feature this song in the tracklist, but much like the situation with the original “Next Episode” it was not actually included.“Do You Remember”
—-This song was the most played by radio stations after it made it to the radio stations. They were stopped. This is the radio version.“True To The Game”
This is another song Snoop did with DJ Glaze. It’s an example of how long Snoop used to right his raps, before the D.O.C. taught him containment.“County Blues”
This was recorded while waiting on Cold 187, but before Death Row.So that’s the story. Many claim this album to be fake. Many claim it was a hoax created by a guy with too much time on his hands. But no one has ever asked Snoop himself, so we’ll never know for sure until then. Over the past few years “Over The Counter” has became sort of a myth in the hip hop underworld. You can determine it’s legitimacy.
Alright, it’s dropped:
These tracks are remastered, but only to the best they can be. They are not ran through any noise filters, so the hiss will be apparent.
Password: Bay On Top
