Robbed hit of the week 3/21/22 - Snoop Dogg & Tha Eastsidaz' "G'd Up"...

 

 

"G'd Up" - Tha Eastsidaz

from the album Snoop Dogg Presents Tha Eastsidaz (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47 (two weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the rap collective the Eastsidaz, who were put together by G-funk royalty Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus after he left Death Row Records at the turn of the century. He originally had rappers Crooked I and Lil C-Style in the group, which recorded a track for the soundtrack to the movie Ride in 1998, but when he property set up Tha Eastsidaz on his label Doggystyle, he recruited Tracy "Tray Dee" Davis and Kiewan "Goldie Loc" Spillman. Releasing Tha Eastsidaz in the beginning of 2000, the lead single was "G'd Up", feautring singer Danny "Butch Cassidy" Means. Written by the four of them with producer Kevin "Battlecat" Gillam, The result is more like branding than music, with the three trading verses about the bad part of L.A.. The best part of this is the overpowering bass and Cassidy's vocal, though the newbies' delivery isn't shameful. THe record ended up returning Snoop Dogg to the upper half of the Hot 100 since his top-20 crossover hit "Still A G Thing" in the fall of 1998...

 

While "G'd Up" climbed to #19 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, and #2 on their Rap Singles list, the track stopped just above the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 in February of 2000. Internationally, the single made it to #13 in Canada. The Eastsidaz album, released in February as "G'd Up" was cresting, rose to #8 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #5 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies.

The second release from The Eastsidaz debut, "Got Beef", slipped on the Hot 100 at #99, while rising to #55 on the R&B chart, and was a top-40 hit in Australia at #23. 

The group returned the following year for a second album, Duces 'N Trayz: The Old Fashioned Way, which landed a second top ten placing on the Billboard 200 at #4, while also reaching a high on the R&B Albums list at #2. The sole single from the set, "I luv it", was a minor R&B hit at #57. They also appeared on Snoop Dogg's own single "Lay Low", which went to #8 on the R&B chart and #50 on the  Hot 100. 

However things went sideways when Tray Deee, a longtime gang member, was convicted of attempted murder in 2005, putting him in jail for nine years. The duo faded away from that, with Snoop Dogg going back to reviving his solo career.

(3/10)