"Who Am I? (What's My Name?)", is the solo debut single from rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg's debut album Doggystyle. The song was a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #8 in 1994.
[edit] Background
The song, produced by Dr. Dre, features interpolations of Funkadelic's "(Not Just) Knee Deep" as its bassline and George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" in its chorus. The chorus actually says "Atomic doggy dog", with original vocals mixed in.
Additional vocals were contributed by Jewell, Tony Green and Dr.Dre himself. The follow-up version of it titled "Snoop Dogg" was released on his album, Tha Last Meal. The cover artwork is by Joe Cool. The song features the line "Shit that I drop 'cuz ya know it don't stop / Mr. One Eight Seven on a motherfuckin' cop", a reference to the "Deep Cover" by Dr. Dre and Snoop.
The song briefly features Dr. Dre, though he is uncredited he is clearly rapping near the end of the first verse.
Since then, other rappers have used the song's lines in their own songs, most notably Jay-Z, who would borrow the lines "Went solo on that ass / but it's still the same" and "What's my motherfuckin' name?" from for his own hit "Jigga", and Ja Rule, who used the latter line as the intro to "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", one of his many collaborations with Jennifer Lopez.
[edit] Music video
Fab 5 Freddy directed a CGI-driven music video for the song.[1] Snoop and others are able to morph into dogs (such as Doberman Pinschers and rottweilers, and the females Cocker spaniels) to evade angry fathers and run amok. One scene shows the animals wearing sunglasses, smoking cigars and gambling on dice games (a parody of the series of paintings titled Dogs Playing Poker). Other associates of Snoop make cameo appearances such as Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, and Warren G.
[edit] Tracklisting
- What's My Name? (Clean Radio Mix)
- What's My Name? (Clean Club Mix)
- What's My Name? (Explicit Club Mix)
- What's My Name? (LP Version)
- What's My Name? (Instrumental)[2]
[edit] Charts performance
[edit] Peak positions
| Chart (1994) |
Peak
position |
| Rhythmic Top 40 |
12 |
| Hot Rap Singles |
1 |
| Hot Dance Music/Club Play |
43 |
| Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks |
8 |
| Billboard Hot 100 |
8 |
| UK Singles Chart |
20 |
|
[edit] End of year charts
| End of year chart (1994) |
Position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] |
62 |
|
[edit] External links
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