"Doggystyle" Gold Record Award, December 1993
Doggystyle is the debut album by rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., b. 1971) released on November 23, 1993, by Death Row Records. On his debut album, Snoop Doggy Dogg was celebrated for the lyrical "realism" that he delivers and for his distinctive vocal flow. Doggystyle was praised as one of the most significant albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the most important Hip-Hop albums ever released. Doggystyle debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 806,858 copies in its first week, which was the record for a debuting artist and the fastest-selling Hip-Hop album ever. The album was certified 4x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By November 2015, Doggystyle had sold 7 million copies in the United States, and over 11 million copies worldwide.
Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., b. 1971) better known as Snoop Dogg (and briefly as Snoop Lion) is a rapper, media personality, and actor. Nicknamed Snoop by his mother because of his appearance, Snoop Dogg was raised in Long Beach, California. He emerged in the early 90s when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "Deep Cover," and then on Dre's debut solo album, The Chronic. This intense exposure played a considerable part in making Snoop Dogg's debut album, Doggystyle, under Death Row Records, where the album was a commercial success.
When Death Row started to decline due to the murder of Tupac, the arrest of Suge Knight, and money issues, Master P bought Snopp Dogg out of his million-dollar Death Row contract. Master Psigned him to No Limit Records in March 1998 and Snoop Dogg debuted on the label with Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told later that same year. With the influence of his two cousins Nate Dogg and Lil' ½ Dead, his friend Warren G, and The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg built an extensive legacy and style of rapping in Hip-Hop as a West Coast rapper. Snoop Dogg popularized the use of -izzle speaking, using syncopation in his flow which gave audiences his laidback sound, as well as 'linking with rhythm' in his compound rhymes that used alliteration and a sparse flow with good use of pauses. Selling over 23 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide, Snoop Dogg is one of the most iconic figures to emerge from the early-'90s G-funk era.
Gold and green plaque with Doggystyle album cover and physical CD. The bottom left reads, “Presented to Suge Knight, To Commemorate the Sale of Over 50,000 Copies of the Death Row/Interscope recording ‘Doggystyle’ December 1993”. The bottom right plaque reads “Canadian Recording Industry Association, Certified Gold”.
